South Africa v England: third ODI – live!

13th over: South Africa 51-1 (De Kock 23, Bavuma 14) Bavuma looks comfortable out there, knocking the ball about – I was surprised he didn’t start the Test series, given how few South African batsman had proved themselves capable at that level. He takes two singles from this latest Jordan over, De Kock adding one. Suddenly, South Africa are consolidating a promising position.

12th over: South Africa 48-1 (De Kock 22, Bavuma 12) Root comes on for a twirl against his rabbit and De Kock nicks him … but there’s nee slip! Then, the ball after next, he cuts four more through point, and that’s South Africa’s first big over, nine from it.

“Speaking of burnout,” says Guy Hornsby, “permission to heartily salute Barney Ronay for his excellent article yesterday on Jofra Archer. Aside from the selfish management of his injury, which if it’s been around since the World Cup, is unforgivable, the language used when referring to his work ethic, or character, or application, suggests something far less palatable. Conscious or not, he’s been treated very poorly indeed, while being undermined all along. As it’s been said, if you don’t think he’s trying, you don’t know anything about bowling. I hope they see the error of their ways.”

Agreed. Also, fast bowling is hard; finding rhythm is hard; elite sport is hard; Archer is young and inexperienced; people are foolish.

11th over: South Africa 39-1 (De Kock 14, Bavuma 11) Jordan replaces Curran – who bowled a nifty spell, beating De Kock’s bat as many times as anyone can have done in a similar number of balls bowled. A wide and two singles from the over, the second sprinted as Roy shied at the striker’s; had he hit, De Kock was in trouble.

10th over: South Africa 37-1 (De Kock 13, Bavuma 10) Bumble notes that in Durban, they knew it was going to rain after they started, so why did they not try for a T20 in the time? A good point. Back in the middle, Bavuma drives four down the ground to close the powerplay, which has gone well for England.

“Talking of not picking the strongest team,” says Smylers, “England have, sadly, often done that against Ireland. That may have seemed the case in those countries’ 2009 ODI , when they tried out a couple of uncapped players. But both Adil Rashid and Joe Denly played in the following ODIs against Australia. And here they are 10½ years later, still again in the team together.”

It freaks my absolute nut out that England are thinking about binning Denly for Sri Lanka to get Bairstow in. Bairstow isn’t out of form; he needs to solve a technical flaw. They need to help him sort it, which isn’t going to happen out in the middle, nor carrying drinks.

9th over: South Africa 31-1 (De Kock 12, Bavuma 6) How on earth do England go about picking a side for the T20 World Cup? It ain’t easy being this good. Talking of which, is there a better first half-hour or so of any film? Pulp Fiction and the Godfather, maybe – feel free to send in other selection. In the meantime, after a single to De Kock, Bavuma flicks four to midwicket, following up with a single.

8th over: South Africa 23-1 (De Kock 11, Bavuma 0) Mahmood’s final ball swings well away from Bavuma, who lets it by.

“I suspect you’re right about QdK being ‘one of those boys’,” says David Horn. “I went to school with Rob Henderson (played for the Lionsand Ireland, in rugby). We once opened the batting for our school’s ‘old boys’. I watched from the non-strikers as he belted 20 odd from the first over, before succumbing to a second-ball duck myself. However, he never once beat me at table tennis. Not sure we ever played, but I was briefly school champion. So.”

We’re all feart of something.

This has been a dayboo spell from Mahmood, and what a meteorite this is, beating Hendricks with a bit of in-duck off the seam and caressing the top of his off-bail, leaving the other intact!

8th over: South Africa 23-0 (De Kock 11, Hendricks 11) Mahmood donates width, overpitching too, and Hendricks doesn’t need to be asked twice, clouting four through the covers.

Incidentally, contrary to information previously supplied, Rob will be with you later. Please send aggravation to [email protected] or @DanielHarris.

“Given the introduction of central contracts, isn’t it odd that so many England cricketers suffer burnouts?” asks James Debens. “Playing for Yorkshire, England, his local pub team and the factory side of his favourite woodbine manufacturer, I am certain that Fiery Fred Trueman sent down 76,000 overs in the 1957/8 season, fuelled by nothing more than stout, pickled eggs and the momentum of his heavily pomaded thatch of hair. People were just tougher in the 50s, marinaded like conkers by their rudimentary diets and toiletries. There’s no real evidence for this, but it is scientific fact.”

Eee I’d love a Woodbine.

7th over: South Africa 18-0 (De Kock 11, Hendricks 7) Curran pins De Kock on the crease with length, then slings down a yorker which swings late and diddles him all ends up. Then it’s back to seam, another delivery leaving him as he plays and misses again! But after five dots, the final delivery is too straight and is flicked off the pads for a sprinted two.

6th over: South Africa 16-0 (De Kock 9, Hendricks 7) This is impressive stuff from Mahmood, who’s not threatening especially but who’s line and length are making scoring hard. My guess is that the batsmen are waiting for the spinners, but in the meantime this is a useful maiden.

5th over: South Africa 16-0 (De Kock 9, Hendricks 7) De Kock is warm, moving into another full one for Curran – it’s ever so slightly overpitched – and straight-pushing – straight straight-pushing – three down the ground. He strikes me as one of those kids who was mortifyingly good at everything – though pretty sure I’d have had his measure at leyning.

4th over: South Africa 10-0 (De Kock 4, Hendricks 5) Mahmood finds some away movement, but Hendricks plays with soft hands and gets a single to third man. Another follows to De Kock, but that’s it for another quiet over.

3rd over: South Africa 8-0 (De Kock 4, Hendricks 4) Cuzz T is bowling beautifully here, his first ball slanted across De Kock then beating him with bounce and a soupcon of movement. Lovely stuff. De Kock then puts bat on one! What a player! But he gets no run, only for Curran to drop a little shorter; that one, he eases away for four through backward point. He’s quite good.

2nd over: South Africa 4-0 (De Kock 0, Hendricks 4) Here comes Mahmood for his first over in ODI cricket, and he’s into his stride quickly, sending down three dots. But then he strays wide, and Hendricks is onto him immediately, timing a square drive to the fence. That came on very nicely, but this is still a decent start for him and England.

1st over: South Africa 0-0 (De Kock 0, Hendricks 0) Curran starts well, his second ball beating De Kock with some away movement, then his third doing likewise off the seam. That’s a lovely length, and in commentary Mark Nicholas notes that Woakes would fancy these conditions. Oh yes! Curran beats the outside edge for the third time in a row, and completes a maiden.

Alastair Cook is, unsurprisingly, really good in the studio. He says that under Eoin Morgan, the principle has been established that if you want to play limited-overs cricket for England, you have to be good enough to win a game on your own.

On Sky, David Lloyd rhapsodises Saqib, who he says is an “international cricketer”. He was only ok in New Zealand, but James Anderson also speaks highly of him. Quite how he breaks into the Test side from here, who knows, given England’s sudden strength in depth, but the best players have a way of forcing the issue.

The pitch looks a belter, and I kind of wonder why England have played two spinners. Well, I know why they’ve played two spinners because Morgan told us: with the T20 World Cup coming up, the T20 series is the priority, but there’s doesn’t look to be much in the pitch for them, and the short boundary square of the wicket will be testing.

South Africa: De Kock, Hendricks, Bavuma, Van der Dussen, Smuts, Miller, Phehlukwayo, Hendricks, Ngidi, Sipamla, Shamsi.

England: Roy, Bairstow, Root, Morgan, Denly, Banton, Ali, Curran, Rashid, Jordan, Mahmood.

Quinton de Kock would also have fielded, on the basis of overhead conditions, but doesn’t think the pitch will change too much. Lungi Ngidi comes in for Bjorn Fortuin.

He says it’s a decision dictated by conditions. It’s cloudy now and there’s one very short boundary, plus it’s hard to break partnerships when they get set. He also think its a privilege to participate in pink day – South Africa are in all pink, England in oink shoulders, in aid of breast cancer – and that Saqib, Moeen and Rashid come in, the former making his dayboo and the latter to get some cricket before the T20 series. Dropping out are Sam Curran, Parkinson and Woakes.

Which brings us onto an imminent problem: is T20 in the process of becoming close to a separate sport?

Which brings us back to the original point, really: it’s great to see young players – I mean who doesn’t want more Tom Banton – but the reason we’re seeing England play who they’re playing is because they’re not that bothered whether they win or lose. That doesn’t feel right.

State of play: South Africa lead the three-match series 1-0, with this match to play. The chances of rain – and storms – are less than they were last night, but still well in the game.

Like all normal people, I have a preternatural obsession with elite sport that means I can watch as much of it as there is and more – never mind more elite cricket. But this here series raises a very obvious and significant question: what is the point of it?

Obviously it passes the time, and there’s a lot to be said for that. But when one team has deliberately not picked its strongest squad nor its strongest teams, it makes you wonder. England want to win, but they don’t want to win that much. Which is why Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler are absent, having played too much, and why Jofra Archer is absent, having played way too much.

Ultimately, for those talented enough, it is no longer possible to play every series in every form of the game, which doesn’t sound right at all. The spectacle is still worth plenty, because nice to see young players given a go, but the point of this whole rigmarole is to identify the better team, not to identify a star of the future. Being really good at something oughtn’t to be punished by burnout, FOMO or the absence of any time at home.

Obviously we must still enjoy things for what they are, but I’ve not a clue how we work them out from here.

Play: 10am local time, 8am GMT.