SECOND ONE-DAY INTERNATIONAL, Trent Bridge:
South Africa 26-2 (7 overs) v England
A stunning catch from wicketkeeper Matt Prior helped to reduce South Africa to 25-2 in the sixth over of the second one-day international at Trent Bridge.
Graeme Smith opted to bat first in the day/night match, and almost ran himself out in the first over, Ian Bell missing the target from barely five yards.
Herschelle Gibbs was the first to go, caught by Prior off the inside edge.
Stuart Broad added another wicket when Prior flew in front of first slip to pouch Smith Opposition reprisals in Zimbabwe ...
Live text - England v S Africa ...
Gritty Kiwis win to level series ... with a one-handed effort.
LATEST ACTION (ALL TIMES BST)
By Ben Dirs
e-mail tms@bbc.co.uk (with 'For Ben Dirs' in the subject), text 81111 (with "CRICKET" as the first word) or use 606. (Not all contributions can be used)
SOUTH AFRICA INNINGS
8th over -
7th over - 26-2 Whether Prior should have been going for that at all is a moot point seeing as he snaffled it, it really was a tremendous take. Kallis nurdles to mid-wicket for a single and new batsman De Villiers is on strike. Anderson now has 0-17 from four overs, he's looking it very good nick.
6th over - Smith c Prior b Broad 9, SA 25-2 Smith looks to drive and gets a thick inside edge to mid-wicket for no run. Talking of Carry On, I just made that noise that Sid James used to make when Babs Windsor bent down to pick something up - peachy cover-drive from Smith. ANOTHER WICKET! Smith fences at a ball that nibbles away and Prior takes a magnificent catch diving to his left, taking the ball in front of Shah at first slip. Stick that in your kayak and smoke it, cricket's back in the spotlight...
"If Albie Morkel is a Woody Allen character, surely Vernon Philander was played by Sid James in one of the Carry On films?"
Mark Beauchamp in the TMS inbox
5th over - 21-1 Anderson really in the groove here, delivering the ball at over 90mph and right in the slot. But he errs slightly with the last ball of the over and Kallis rocks back and twirls him through backward point for four. Lovely stroke that.
"Whilst, as an Essex fan, I am obviously distraught by the omission of Bopara, I feel that Pietersen has obviously got some ability as a captain as he has dropped Cook! Hopefully now Ali can work on his formidable, natural Test ability and become a future England Test legend. Bring on Aussies 2009!"
Paul in the TMS inbox
4th over - WICKET - Gibbs c Prior b Broad 10, SA 16-1
"If you wanted to polish your ball with a legal substance, what would it be?" emails Carl Evans from France. I've got to be honest, I haven't given it much thought, although a honey and mustard glaze might be nice. AND ENGLAND HAVE GOT A WICKET! Broad gets one to nip back and Gibbs, advancing down the track, feathers an inside edge to Prior behind the stumps. Good start for England, here comes Kallis. Kallis is off the mark with a nurdle to leg.
3rd over - 15-0 Three runs to Smith to long-leg, and if wasn't for an athletic piece of work from Wright, it would have been four. Gibbs gets lucky, prodding at an Anderson delivery outside off-stump only for the ball to fly past Flintoff at third slip. Not sure if Freddie saw that late, but he was only able to stick out a speculative right mitt. Anderson drops short and is flogged through mid-wicket for four by Gibbs.
2nd over - 4-0 Broad shares the new ball with Anderson, and Bell looks like he's come straight to the ground from The Lizard Lounge - another inexplicable misfield at point and Smith nicks a couple. Nice lines from Broad, however, and it's a rather sleepy start to this one-dayer - and not much chat from you lot either. Pull your fingers out...
1st over - 1-0 Smith shoulders arms against Anderson's first delivery and is clipped on the top of the pad - bit of movement, but it struck him well outside the line. High risk first run from Smith after a prod into the covers - Bell should have hit the stumps from 10 yards away, and that's a big early let-off. Spot on first over from Anderson, right on the money.
"Don't know about 'classier performer than Wright', Bopara is classier than Collingwood and most of the rest of the England team!"
Matthew Trudgil in the TMS inbox
"Please ask your perplexed friend the more pertinent question: how can they think that Paul Collingwood is a better cricketer than Ravi Bopara?"
Tim, Totnes in the TMS inbox
1427: Let it go JR! I know, we'll all a bit depressed, but they're over, they're not coming back for four years - LIVE WITH IT! Here come the South Africa openers, skipper Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs...
"What with shooting, fencing, and riding (as well as swimming and running), is modern pentathlon the toffest sport ever? Did they drop cigar-cutting and brandy-quaffing from the old-school seven-event version?"
JR, London, in the TMS inbox
1420: Christopher Read emails to ask whether I will be using auto-refresh for today's game: the answer, in short, is 'no'. While it was a rip-roaring success during the Olympics, we've decided it's a bit too fiddly for the crash, bang, wallop of one-day cricket as it requires me to add coding to every entry I make. Sir Beefy on Sky reckons 260-270 is a decent score on this Trent Bridge deck...
1413: You have to feel a bit for Bopara - he only bowled two overs at Headingley and didn't get a bat. I think I have to agree with my colleague, the Essex all-rounder strikes me as a classier performer than Wright.
England: Ian Bell, Matt Prior (wk), Owais Shah, Kevin Pietersen (capt), Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Samit Patel, Luke Wright, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, James Anderson
South Africa: Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Andre Nel, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini
1402: South Africa skipper Graeme Smith calls correctly and decides to have a bat. Overcast and blustery at Trent Bridge, the England seamers will fancy their chances. However, England will have the inconvenience of chasing under lights. South African all-rounder Albie Morkel, who sounds like a character from a Woody Allen film, comes in for Vernon Philander.
1400: Afternoon all. It's the second one-day international of the NatWest Series today, and we're up in Nottingham for this one. Former skipper Paul Collingwood has returned from a four-match ban and is back in the England team in place of Ravi Bopara. The man opposite me is perplexed: "How can they think that Luke Wright is a better cricketer than Ravi Bopara?"
(BBC)
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