3rd Test: South Africa vs England at Johannesburg

AB de Villiers wins the toss and elects to bat. Cook admits he would have batted first also. The pitch looks hard with patches of grass. With overcast conditions, bowling first might not be the worst thing in the world for England.

Quinton de Kock suffered a freak knee injury last night and South Africa have been forced to fly Dane Vilas in from Port Elizabeth this morning. Hardus Viljoen, a big, strong young lad, makes his debut as South Africa opt for a four-prong seam attack.

South Africa have weathered the first 30-minutes without trouble. The pitch has offered good carry but there has been little in the way of movement, although England have bowled too short. It's early, but this has the makings of a long day in the field for England. South Africa 25/0.

Jimmy gets one to bounce on van Zyl but the ball doesn't carry. Typically, the Wanderers gets quicker as it goes along, so this could be a really tough wicket to bat on, come days 2 and 3.

Just looking through the numbers, the average first innings score here is 316. Teams winning the toss and batting first at the Wanderers have won 15 matches and lost 7.

A poor shot selection from van Zyl gives England their first wicket. A bit of a loosener from Stokes in his first over and van Zyl attempts a half-hearted pull shot at a ball wide of off-stump but only succeeds in spooning it up in the air for a simple catch for Bairstow behind the stumps. A poor delivery from Stokes, but and even poorer shot from van Zyl. South Africa 44/1.

South Africa make it through to lunch without any further damage. 73/0. I thought England's bowling in the first hour left a lot to be desired. Broad and Anderson were too short and neither got the ball to swing. Finn was the pick of England's bowlers, and in tandem with Stokes they created some pressure.

I know I am biased, but these Kookaburra balls are less than ideal for a bowler. They offer very little swing in comparison to the Duke balls, have almost no seam, and they get as soft as a she-mouse's belly after 25 overs. One way to level the playing field between the batsman and bowler is to get rid of them completely.

England on the wrong end of the DRS. Aleem Dar gives Amla not out on an lbw appeal, replays show the ball would have hit the top of middle, but not hard enough to overturn the original decision. That is the problem with the DRS, and MS Dhoni's comments from earlier in the week, ring very true here.

Good captaincy from Cook, he brings on Moeen, who promptly gets the breakthrough of Elgar, and then brings on Finn at the other end, who finally gets some reward for his excellent bowling with the big wicket of Amla. A good 10-minutes for Cook and England. South Africa 127/3.

South Africa 152/3 at tea. An enthralling session of cricket. England bowled much better, especially Finn, who was tremendous, but South Africa stood tall and lost just the two wickets. AB is looking ominous, opting to be ultra aggressive right from the first ball faced.

Big, big wicket in the second over after tea. AB gloves one to Bairstow and Stokes has the vital breakthrough. Bairstow has four catches and South Africa are 161/4.