I don't know why Ntini was dropped.I know he's in bad form,but he should have been in the XI today.

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Karthik Venkatesan

An the English openners are off to a blinder against the South African bowling - The Batsman smashing the bowlers all over the park - oh sorry thats what I was hoping for - ahh reality 1 run from the first three overs.

Well done England you did not lose a wicket.

You have got to be kidding me, 5 runs off the first 5 overs - they are aware that this is ODI and not a test match. They need to take the fight up to the bowlers and not just sit there waiting for a bad ball to come along - they need to make the bowler bowl the bad deliveries. The four and now the 2 have been a bad line, but is was just a poor delivery and not forced by the batsman.

England edge close to double figures before they lose their first wicket. Galloping on to 15 for 1 off 8 overs... wow warp factor 10 Mr Vaughan. Bell got 7 from 23 balls.

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I have a dream.... (Martin Luther King)

I have to agree with you AY. We just seem to not know whether to stick or twist. As usual it seems our score will depend on whether Pietersen fires. The gap between us and the good one day sides seems to be most evident in the top order. We must give some credit to SA for accurate bowling but I take your point that a Hayden or Jayasuria would have made an effort to hit them off their length.

Massive innings for Vaughan now having taken so long to get going.

This pitch looks really flat to me and we are going to have to get a move on. As I write this Strauss pings a 6 into the stand!! Really anything under 280 loses IMO. Also it will be interesting to see if our opening bowlers exhibit the same discipline as their SA counterparts.

Well what a good start for England.

I must admit i thought the Vaughan one was sliding down on first view but Bucknor got it right according to Hawkeye.

All England's hopes rest on KP.

Just as I was about to start my "Countdown to Vaughn's first ODI cenury" thread, he goes and gets out!!

Vaughan gone now; probably just as well as our best player now comes to the crease. The worry is he can't keep getting England out of trouble. Excllent first over from Nel. I really like him as a bowler; not the most talented of all time but a great attitude and is always prepared to put the hard yards in.

Vaughan now gone and due to the poor run rate by the openners, and they are now both out - this has once again placed emmense pressure on the rest of the team. South Africa will be extremely happy with this start.

I can not see the English bowlers restricting the South African batting, as it was not just the bowling by South Africa that made the scoring so slow, but the batting attitude of the English Openners.