It’s lightening up a bit - some patches of blue sky, and clouds are white, not grey right now. But should still be good conditions for our bowlers, esp. Anderson.
We got another 59 since I posted. 
This is the biggest unknown for me in the series - how South Africa will cope with our attack.
I think England would’ve wanted 500 at lunch yesterday, seeing the swing today they may well think that almost 400 is challenging enough.
Broad and Anderson will be straining at the leash I reckon.
Ha! That’ll teach me to look at timestamps.
SA are 16-1 - Petersen went for 0 lbw to Anderson. So a pretty good start for England.
Not seen the innings. How much swing/turn were the bowlers getting?
Hells bells. Last time I ,looked England were about 1 for 300. Now all out. Strange.
It is a source of great satisfaction to me that this comment is (presumably) serious. 10 years ago such an occurence would have been commonplace, 20 years ago it was practically guaranteed :).
Watched much of the morning session, as my TV provider has given me a Sky Sports trial for a few days. Swann was really building pressure on Smith, but he soaked it up and finally got a few away. Amla is another class batsman, and they are looking really solid now. There is some uneven bounce already, so the new ball in 15 overs might give us a chance, but I’d be really surprised if we made a break-though before then.
I was being serious. 
I haven’t seen a ball of the match, but a draw looks very likely. From the scorecard it seems a pitch that when you are set you are pretty right.
I’m glad Amla got his ton- he is a good player.
And we finally got a wicket, to a ball attacking the stumps. Which is what I think you need to do on this pitch. I can understand our reluctance, as both Smith and Amla are so strong on the on side. Also, we’ve taken a lot of wickets over the last couple years by strangling the batsmen. But I hope we change our tactics a bit for the rest of the series, against those two at least.
Kallis not who you want to see at 264-2. At least the ball is still pretty new.
But you can attack the stumps without drifting onto the onside. McGrath did it pretty successfully for years.
I was looking at the RSA side and thought that Kallis must be just about over the hill. He has possibly the best bowling figures for the side (economy) and bats pretty well. What a fine all rounder.
Sure, but get it a bit wrong and you can concede a lot of runs quickly. Our seamers tried to keep it outside off stump, as neither Smith nor Amla like to come forward to drive. It didn’t work, as they had the concentration and technique to wait it out, the ball did nothing and the execution wasn’t great. Anderson in particular bowled too short this morning. Also, with the slowness of the pitch, not many edges are carrying. Easy to be wise in retrospect, but I think we got our tactics for the seamers wrong today.
Why couldn’t they give me a free trial of Sky during the West Indies series instead of this one? 
Highlights of the day were Strauss breaking his sunglasses (he knocked them off his hat into the air while fielding, and smashed them to pieces with his return throw), and Atherton and Botham exchanging horror stories.
Botham: I set a world record here, for conceding 217 runs in an innings.
Atherton: When I was captain, the West Indies racked up a score over 700.
Thought Swann bowled pretty well, but with only slow turn on offer it wasn’t good enough against Smith, Amla and Kallis. They all have a good technique against spin, and have made a lot of runs on the sub-continent.
Well I guess the question now is when Smith will declare? Will he instruct his batsmen to go fast for a session and give his atttack five sessions to get the English out and set a cheap target, or will he play cautiously and see how much of a lead he has at the end of the day? I hope he goes with the former.
Meanwhile in the other tour going on at the moment the Black Caps have ‘celebrated’ the announcment of the new coach, the little-known Mike Hesson, by being bowled out for 149 by a West Indian Presidents XI.
I can’t see Smith declaring much before tea. Why would he? Only one side can win now. His lead isn’t big enough yet.
If the pitch doesn’t break up it will probably be a draw. If it does break up, he won’t want to bat again.
Hashim Amla, ladies and gentlemen!
Well, we got the shit kicked out of us here and no mistake.
Saturday was a pleasant day in the sun. Nice to spend the first decent day of the summer watching some cricket. The gentle accumulation of runs and total lack of England looking like getting any wickets was a bit more disturbing mind. Amla, Smith and Kallis just utterly murdered us. I don’t even think England bowled that badly - we just didn’t look like getting any of them out after the first hour of play.
England need to play better cricket in the next game. That’s it. Bat better. Bowl better. Field better. They’ve been second best here in everything.
England bowlers looked uni-dimensional and lacking in intensity. Hope they bring in Finn in next match.
SA batters have always been ruthless in good batting conditions.
Well, for a while it looked like we might scrape over the line. But Prior’s departure triggered the loss of 4 wickets in 10 overs, so we’re done.
The mental aspect of just staying in - which I acknowledge is much easier to say than do - does continue to elude all but Cook and Trott.
The biggest positive in the game is that I managed to get plenty of painting done on my flat over the weekend. As much as I admire Smith, Amla and Kallis’ batting, there was only so much I wanted to see of them.
South Africa’s attack also looked flat on Day 1, but Trott and Pietersen gifted their wickets. They then had the better of the overhead condition to bowl with on Day 2, and took full advantage. Second innings, their seamers gave us a bowling lesson, by attacking the stumps far more than we did. There wasn’t a single slip catch in the match until late in the 4th innings. Swann bowled pretty well, but perhaps a bit quickly. I saw a few of his slower deliveries dip and really grip.
Not what I was hoping to see, fingers crossed for more helpful pitches for the rest of the series.