England v. Sth Africa - Test Series

[Donny]

SA are 3/516 at lunch.

Smith played on and was out for 259. Dippenaar is 46 n.o. and they lead by 343 runs.

[Donny]

Dippenaar was out for 92 and Boucher hit out for 68 from 51 balls.

The declaration came at 6/682, Sth. Africa's highest total in Tests. This gave them a lead of 509.

At stumps, England had lost both openers to be 2/129 and still 380 runs behind.

[HAL]

I see.

[Donny]

[JLC]

The thing that annoys me the most is that the England batsman get themselves out. In the first innings half the batsman threw their wickets away.

This morning Butcher and Hussain played dumb shots and got themselves out after both being well set. The pitch is pretty good for batting and Hussain especially wont want to see the replay.

Stewart gone for a duck and surely that was his last innings at Lords. Good catch from a good ball.

jlc

[Donny]

Can't help but agree, JLC.

Butcher and Hussain added 126 for the third wicket when Butcher (70) clipped one straight to Kirsten from Hall.

Hussain's dismissal was sad. He'd done the hard work and with 5 sessions left in this Test, a BIG innings beckoned. His skied attempt at a pull shot, on 61, looked awkward enough but with only minutes to go till lunch, it was a 'rush of blood' shot that should never have been an option.

Stewart (0) did get a very good ball from the ever improving Ntini which he prodded into the slips cordon. It was Ntini's 8th. wicket for the Test.

At lunch, England are well and truly on the ropes with a score of 5/208 and still 301 behind.

[Donny]

England lost McGrath in the first over after lunch which meant they'd lost 3/0 in 7 balls, either side of the break.

When you consider SA had partnerships of 133, 257 and 123 on the same track, it's a bit of a worry.

[Donny]

Sth. Africa won by an innings but not before Andrew Flintoff entertained the crowd with 142 from 146 balls. He hit 18 fours and 5 sixes. It was the highest score by a #7 batsman at Lords.

England's total fell 92 short of making SA bat again.

Ntini took another 5 wickets, giving him a 10 wicket haul for the Test and joint Man of the Match with Graeme Smith. It was the first time a SA bowler took 10 wickets at Lords.