Match report and reaction
Stumps! England 116-6 (Pope 61, Broad 0)
The umpires have called it a day, which is both disappointing and completely understandable. That photogenic rain is not about to relent. “It is still absolutely lashing down,” says Ian Ward on Sky.
We only got just over a third of a full day’s play, but it was enough for South Africa’s four horsemen of the apocalypse to ride roughshod over England’s top order. Kagiso Rabada was superb as ever, Anrich Nortje expensive but effective, and Marco Jansen grabbed the big one, the wicket of Joe Root.
For England, Ollie Pope shone like a beacon in the gloom with a fluent 61 not out. His team need him to turn that into a hundred, along with a few biffs from Stuart Broad – who owes England both runs and wickets – and some sturdy resistance from Messrs Leach, Pope and Anderson. This could be a pitch on which 180 is a decent score. Or Dean Elgar could do a Graeme Smith and make England’s efforts look puny.
That’s it from me. Thanks for your company, your views on England’s aggression – not so pronounced today, but still too much for some – and your pairings of players in the same team whose cap numbers were miles apart. Play is going to start half an hour early for the rest of the match, so I’ll see you at 10.30 tomorrow (when the forecast is fine). And if anyone in your family has been doing A-levels this summer, the best of luck for the morning.
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