Boxing Day Test : South Africa v England at Durban

Stokes out rather cheaply. A bright and breezy start that showed promised but he will be disappointed with his dismissal. The pressure was beginning to build with 16 dot balls and Stokes couldn't resist pulling at a ball that wasn't all that short from Morkel. With the new ball available in less than 9 overs, England will need to dig deep for the next hour or so. 196/5.

Compton gets a thin bottom edge through to AB and departs for a fantastic 85. He deserved a century. Batting conditions have been much better this morning, and given that this pitch tends to flatten out as the Test matches progresses, England will need as many runs as possible. 247/6.

Mo gets worked over by Morkel. A couple of bouncers, then one on fourth stump and he knicks it. England in a bit of bother now at 253/7.

Morkel has been brilliant this morning. Conversely, Steyn hasn't been quite the same and his pace is noticeably down. There was some talk on commentary that he might have some shoulder stiffness.

Morkel on a roll. Woakes out lbw first ball. He opts for a review and replays show the ball would have clipped leg stump by the thinnest of margins. England in serious trouble now. Half hour ago they were in control of this Test and were looking at 350+, now, they will do well to get 275+.

Bairstow takes a nasty short ball from Morkel off the shoulder and is then out flashing at a wide ball the following over. England 267/9. A very disappointing morning session given the position they were in.

A deep batting lineup has failed to live up to expectations. With no Jimmy, England are in a tough position.

Broad and Finn get England over 300 before Steyn picks up his fourth wicket of the innings. England 303 all out. A par score on this wicket. At 49/3 England would have been thrilled with that. However, coming into this morning session at 179/4, they will be disappointed not to have reached at least 350.

119 - 4  after 44 overs

Trail by 184

AB 49 , Elgar 60*

131 - 4 after 49 over

South Africa trail by 166 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings

Elgar 67*

Stumps, Day 2

South Africa will become the new West Indies
by
CricketAnalyst

Quote:"Recently, SA cricket has been in decline. They just about managed to beat a woeful Indian limited overs side (after losing to Bangladesh) that will be destroyed in Australia. They got hammered royally in the Tests 3-0. Now we are seeing that even against England without Anderson, their line-up is as solid as paper. Amla should have been out twice before his 3. One of the five white slots is being wasted on Van Zyl, Faf is looking diabolical, and the reservation guys can't bat. A year ago, when Bangladesh U19 destroyed SA U19, I said in 4 or 5 years Bangladesh will be a force. One of my arguments was that if you remove AB, Amla, Styen and Morkel (all already ageing) and replace them with normal players (let alone add 4 such players to Bangla) South Africa would get destroyed by Bangladesh. Now, just an year later, not only did they actually beat SA, the brittleness in SA is getting exposed, Styen is getting old and injury prone like Vernon, Morne has little time left, AB will go soon and eventually, what remains? The Ram Slam shows how bare the cupboard is. The best youngsters Riley, Reeza, Delport are just not good enough to compete. Hardly any of their players can get foreign contracts and even the weaker member of the national squad are getting exposed horribly. Their national selections and administration is subject to political meddling and is getting inferior players in, driving talents away and fostering bitterness in the squad (Literally the most cited reason for what happened to WI). Even on a Marquee Boxing Day match they are getting only 11k attendance (for what is genuinely excellent cricket in glorious weather). Their average Ram Slam match (very low quality T20 compared to other leagues) they get more than that.

The only reason people are not realizing the reality of SA is because they can't see beyond some results which are mainly due to 2 or 3 ATG level players who won't be there long. Like the unfortunate demise of West Indian and decline of Pakistani cricket, this too is on the cards unless the T20 takes over and alters incentive and governance structures."