83rd over: England 236-4 (Sibley 87, Stokes 16) That could be the end of the no ball. Ben Stokes decides to get his eye in by destroying Pretorius’s morning confidence with a six farted straight back whence it came, followed by a reverse switch for four. He’s got the bit between his teeth this morning, don’t go anywhere.
82nd over: England 223-4 (Sibley 85, Stokes 5) A disdainful swat from Ben Stokes dispatches Pretorius for the first boundary of the day. Still with the old ball here, apparently Anrich Nortje is not on the field, sick.
An email pops up from Tom Bowtell entitled “exciting Philander Stat.”
Morning Tanya! It’s going to be a hugely tense day for stats lovers. A glance at Philander’s current career stats shows he has 222 wickets at 22.05. However, if he concedes another 32 runs without taking a wicket, he’ll momentarily have the holy grail career figures of 222 wickets at 22.22. There is so much that can go wrong: a wicket with the new ball, a selfish slog from a batter which skips the average from 22.21 to 22.23, there are even rumours he isn’t fit, so he might not even bowl enough overs to concede the runs.
All we can do is watch and hope.
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81st over: England 219-4 (Sibley 85, Stokes 1) Ok, so that wasn’t the last over with the old ball. du Plessis gives Maharaj a go from the other end. It was nearly a seven ball over actually as the umpire lost count of how many balls Maharaj had bowled. Not sure if they still transfer pebbles from hand to hand to count the over out. Just a single to Stokes with a sweep behind square
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80th over: England 218-4 (Sibley 85, Stokes 0) Dwaine Pretorius bowls a last over with the old ball, Dom Sibley is watchful. A maiden. A few hazy clouds float above Table Mountain but the sky is blue and the temperature a blissful 22 degrees.
John Starbuck has been musing in Yorkshire:
Good morning, Tanya, from windswept Yorkshire. As a matter of curiosity, are there any stats on Root’s declaration/win history? And how do they compare with other England captains?
Who do you think I am, Rob Smyth? If Rob happens to be reading he’s probably got those stats in his morning milk jug. If not, I promise to try and research at drinks.
A pre-start email! Hi Danny Outram.
Whilst it was refreshing to see Dom Sibley’s long drawn out openers innings, I hear time and time again that it is the duty of the openers to take the ‘bite’ out of the new ball and allow the lower order batsman to get their eye in with a scuffed cherry that has less zip to it. Therefore would it have not been better had Sibley given away his wicket 10 overs ago?
Unless an opener carries his bat, what is the ideal time they should spend at the crease?
I’m not sure if there is an ideal time, it would all depend on game circumstances, pitch, weather etc etc. But I think in this England line-up which has such a propensity for collapsing, but such an abundance of stroke-players, actually staying in at one end and scoring, however slowly, gives the others the freedom to play their own game.
Interesting interview with Graham Thorpe, England’s batting coach . He talks about the simplicity of Dom Sibley’s technique. Says he said to him, there’s time to talk about the areas of where to develop your game but when you’re in the heat of the battle keep doing what you do. Important to work on his technique outside off stump but without getting into his head too much.
Vic Marks was on the radio this morning and saying that this is the first time England have ever played four players under 23 in the same match. I’m not doubting Vic’s stats, but can this really be true?
Anyway, it looks a beautiful day at Newlands. Shaun Pollock is in a suit and Mike Atherton and Ian Ward are in shirt sleeves. Ward’s hand is in his pocket, of course. The only other person I’ve noticed with such a pocket obsession is Aussie PM Scott Morrison. Apparently whereas in England you need overcast conditions to move the ball about, in South Africa the heat bakes the pitch a bit and the edges come up and it jags around. That’s the science bit. South Africa have this morning to try and keep in the game with the new ball.
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And Sachin Tendulkar follows where Virat Kohli dared to tread:
“Spinners look forward to bowling with the scruffed ball, taking advantage on day five of the roughs created on the wickets.”
“All that is part of Test cricket. Is it fair to take that advantage away from spinners? There is T20, there is one-dayers and then there are T10 and 100-ball cricket. Test is the purest form of cricket. It SHOULD NOT BE TINKERED WITH.”
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It’s all over at the SCG. Another century for David Warner, five wickets for Nathan Lyon and, as crackle follows snap, Australia claimed all five Tests of the summer inside four days for the first time.
Preamble
Good morning! It’s all a bit back-to-work-Monday here in the UK, but over in Cape Town England have been busy putting in the hard yards all weekend thanks very much. Dom Sibley, England’s answer to Desperate Dan, has, in between lunging awkwardly and munching cow pie, done what England’s team of cavaliers has been desperate for someone to do: score slow (his first 50 runs took 50 overs), boring, unremarkable and steady runs.
In the words of James Anderson “That’s what we’ve been missing for a couple of years. Hopefully he’s going to cement his place and will get confidence from this knock and go on tomorrow. More importantly, hopefully he can go on in his career in the next few years.”
Sibley will start tomorrow just 15 short of a century, with the middle-order guns for company. By mid-morning drinks he should be nearly there – the perfect morale booster for the rest of the tour and just what England need with his opening partner Rory Burns now likely to be nursing his ankle and off cricket for the rest of the winter.
Of course there’s always the possibility that England will pull out of their classic collapses – South Africa lost their last 7 wickets for 66 after all. But with a lead of 264 already, and a change in the wind direction to help the fast bowlers, another 50-100 runs and they’ll be safe. Safeish. Pretty safe. Let’s settle on safe enough.
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