decider for england
Wicket! Stan B. Cross 8 (South Africa 14-1)
Stan is cleared except for one that he shouldn’t have done. After the half-tracker is bowled to the point through the belt, Cross lifts it up and brings it to a touch. The bails fly off and it is the first wicket of the summer for England.
Take a Quick Walk Down Memory Lane With Peter Hall:
“July 1965. I was a little boy in the back of a Morris 1000 going on vacation with my parents. There is no car radio, so my task was to tune a small primitive transistor radio for cricket commentary, as we did for the West Country: not an easy task! Yet we heard that Truman took his 200th wicket against the West Indies. One of my earliest and greatest cricketing memories.”
This is cute, cheers Pete.
4th over 10-0 on South Africa (Stan 4, Wolvaardt 2)
Bell is battling her radar here. According to TMS, he has long levers, nicknamed “The Shard”. But it is throughout the show, conceding four byes down the leg. Oh, but she’s a handful when she turns right, bats her right hand. She pats Stan’s front foot and a major appeal is turned down.
3rd over: South Africa 4-0 (Stan 3, Wolvaardt 1)
A girl from the cross. Beautiful area around the top. Steyn is attentive, as he has to be with moving the ball so far away. Good thing that
for those interested You can follow the live commentary on TMS here.
2nd over: South Africa 4-0 (Stan 3, Wolvaardt 1)
It’s Lauren Bell from Marcus Trescothick & She’s a touch looser. Maybe some tremors. His first is a floaty hal-volley that Wolvaardt drives – essentially – to point and they squirt a single. Next is a spongy half-tracker pulled out of the street for another. Things get a little tough and there’s a big shout-out to LBW, but it’s always on the rise.
1st over: South Africa 2-0 (Andrey Steyn 2, Laura Wolvaardt 0)
Kate starts at Cross River’s End and is immediately on the money. Starts on a fine line around the off peg and wraps Steyn to the pads as well. She straightens up a bit and clips nicely through midwicket for a couple.
Clouds are gathering. It was looking difficult to win the toss when the sun came out a few minutes ago. It quickly feels like a bowling paradise. England would love it. However, there is a certain Laura Wolvaardt to contend with. It’s a big wicket, that’s for sure.
teams
Debutants are enough for both the teams.
For England, Lauren Bell, Ellis Davidson-Richards, Emma Lamb and exciting 20-year-old fast bowler Izzy Wong pulled the whites for the first time.
For Safas, Andrey Steyn, Laura Wolvaardt, Lara Goodall, Sune Luss, Anneke Bosch, Nadine de Klerk, Sinalo Jaffa, Tumi Sekhukhun, Nonkululko Mlaba all play their first Test. However this is to be expected as the Proteas last took part in this grand old format in 2014.
Toss: England win and one bowled
Heather Knight wins the flip of the coin and decides. “Looks like a good, tough pitch, but if we’re going to get anything out of it it’s going to be this morning,” she says. South Africa captain Sune Luce is happy to bat and can’t wait to kick in: “This is an amazing opportunity for South African women’s cricket. We have nine newcomers who are excited to move forward.”
everyone is kind of a newbie
John Price makes a great point: “I’ve read a comment or two that debutants haven’t ‘played much cricket with red ball’. I think that’s misleading – women’s two innings in the country outside Test level So the debutants would have played absolutely zero. I think that’s the point of the problem with women’s test match cricket. Test is considered the pinnacle of first-class play. If not a first-class game So it becomes something of an anomaly – skills, style of play etc. don’t develop in this format.”
Preface
Good morning, dumela, saubona, gooey more, hosit!
Welcome to the start of this one-off Test between South Africa and England. It’s cloudy and gloomy here in Taunton, but I can tell you that bright, lit anticipation blankets County Ground. Days like these don’t come often. South Africa last played a Test in 2014 and in that time the English donned whites on only six occasions. The disparities in the game are easy to see, but those battles are for another time. The next four days are for celebration.
Safa is free from the clutches of his golden generation. Speedster Shabnam Ismail, metronome Ayabonga Khaka and big hitter Chloe Tryon were all kicked out yesterday. He was joined by regular captain Dane van Niekerk in the spectator list.
England itself started a new chapter. They start a Test without any of Anya Shrubsole or Katherine Brunt. That’s 421 international wickets, in case you were wondering.
The game starts at 11am BST, with the toss at 10.30am. My name is Daniel (but you can call me Dan). I am happy to make my debut in OBO. drop me a line on twitter @danielgallan Or email me at [email protected] catch you in something