Day 3, 4th Test - SA vs Eng - Johannesburg

[Kirsty Harris]

It's a shame that Jones didn't leave that attempted catch for Tresco, as it would have been an easy catch for him, I suspect. 7 down would have swung things strongly towards England having a decent first innings lead, now we shall have to wait and see...

[Maranello]

You are right OF, I am somewhat confused by the regulations for this series too. And I am not alone, the Sky commentators were clueless before 4pm GMT (6pm local time) whether the play would continue or not, and then, why was it extended for 20 minutes only till 6.20pm? The sun is still out, its bright, and there were a few overs left from the day's quota, due to England's slow over rate.

[Maranello]

Yes Kirsty, Tresco would have taken that easily I suspect. I imagine Jones was not thinking straight after having hurt himself on the previous delivery, and so tried to overcompensate by going for a ball he would normally have left for 1st slip.

[Occasional Fan]

Dang!

I think I've worked out the time thing. Half an hour of permitted overtime due to inability of England to get through 90 overs in six hours, plus thirty minutes added to today due to time lost yesterday through bad weather, of which ten minutes was played at the start of play today, therefore close at 1620GMT. But, heck, you need a degree in advanced sums to deal with this! And I still don't know what the start time is tomorrow. I suspect we still have time lost due to weather from yesterday, and therefore 0800GMT starts tomorrow and Monday. Can anyone confirm?

Excellent effort from HH Gibbs today. Not a bad effort from the England bowlers, but I am sure that when he declared this morning Michael Vaughan would have wanted SA in and out today - and that was probably a reasonable expectation given the weather when he declared. Just rotten luck that a perfect bowling morning turned into a perfect batting morning in the ten minutes between declaring and start of play. Draw now looking the likely outcome, but who knows? Fast wickets tomorrow with England in before lunch and maybe there's a chance of a fast and furious race to a win on Monday. Don't think I'd take the risk of declaring and setting a target too low for the fourth innings though.

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

Jones is always flying around to first slip whenever he isnt needed.... but i think he was overcompensating for his little injury. well done Gibbs. great innings.

Also boucher was class, great way to prove selectors wrong for not choosing him for the first 3 tests.

I still think there is only one result, that is a draw. with saffers and england still to bat one innings, and 2 days left, i dont see how anyone can win this. unless england take 14 wickets tomorrow for under 300 runs. Thsi is really down to 2 things. extremley rubbish oevr rates, and england's POOR scoring rate on the first two days. dont you think if england had got those 411 runs in 4 or 5 sessions instead of 6, there would be more chance for manouvre?

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

Originally Posted by Trescothick

The collapse has started with Dippenar out for a duck!! M E Trescothick gets another catch... Good work England. De Villers and Gibbs can cause trouble but the rest won't cause too much trouble.

overconfidence. boucher made his return with a scorcher and there was no collapse. I cant help think why boucher was ever left out?!

[Occasional Fan]

Two points, RD1: first of all, England will not have the opportunity to take more than four wickets tomorrow. Once that's done, they bat again. Secondly, England took only five sessions to amass their 411-8 dec - yesterday morning was washed out.

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

Originally Posted by Mike_Hock

Yeah low to mid 80's on average. I've been very impressed with Jimmys pace though - been consistently around the mid 80's. Been quite unlucky also.

Can anyone think of anyone they dislike more in cricket then G Smith? Possibly Ganguly but I'd have to say Smith by some distance for me.

Lee, ponting and harmison, i dislike them way more than smith

[Maranello]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

I think I've worked out the time thing. Half an hour of permitted overtime due to inability of England to get through 90 overs in six hours, plus thirty minutes added to today due to time lost yesterday through bad weather, of which ten minutes was played at the start of play today, therefore close at 1620GMT. But, heck, you need a degree in advanced sums to deal with this!

Thanks for the research and the deductive reasoning OF, its all pretty straightforward, I would have hoped the Sky commentators and others in the crew would not be as dense as they turned out to be. I don't agree with the arbitrary 6pm (local time or 1600 GMT) cut-off, especially since it was breached today to make up time lost due to rain yesterday. If they can go beyond 6pm to make up time, they should also go beyond to make up overs lost due to slow over rates during the day, why carry on only for the 30 minutes from 1530GMT to 1600.

On a related note, England's over rates today were diabolical. Vaughan, even if he escapes censure for mouthing off yesterday, deserves censure for the abysmally slow over rates today, and this is not the first time in the series this has happened. In the third Test, England were able to ''eat out'' seven overs from a day's play and to my knowledge, Vaughan was not fined or even threatened with suspension. Quite the wrong approach by Clive Lloyd, the Match Referee.

[Rahul_Dravid_is_No.1]

Maranello the slow over rates have been in every day england have bowled in the whole series. it is beyond me how vaughan has been let off so far! it is unfair on the crowds and fans who want to watch a full days play, but cant because of, not bad over rates, but diabolical over rates.....

think back to the 2nd test. what if england had been bowling at a proper rate. there would have been more overs for england to bowl saffers out and maybe they could have actually won? i think its feesible to suggest that, although it is not certain. their slow over rates also backfired today, as well as the second test, because that meant a 3 and a half hour 3rd session, which will have totally exhausted the bowlers and fielders.