Headingly played host to some pulsating cricket on day one of the second test - runs, plenty of wickets and a little bit of controversy. Ed Hawkins takes to the hot seat on day two as England bid to regain the initiative....

11.40 SA 107-3
The weather conditions at Headingly are crucial and England backers had absolutely no luck yesterday. Well, it looks like the gods are smiling on visitors again today. The sun is well and truly out now and Anderson are is unable to generate any movement with the ball.

England drift to [5.10]

11.40 SA 107-3
The weather conditions at Headingly are crucial and England backers had absolutly no luck yesterday. Well, it looks like the gods are smiling on visitors again today. The sun is well and truely out now and try as the might Flintoff and Anderson are unable to generate very little movement with the ball.  read more »

It's a crucial day in the context of the series. After last night's fireworks England, spear-headed by a rejuvenated Andrew Flintoff, are looking to use the new ball to run through the Proteas' tail. Ed Hawkins follows all the action live. Send him your questions and comments at hawkeyeview@hotmail.co.uk.

19.14 England 297-6
England are still in this game. FIghting hard. And it is all down to the concentration skills of Paul Collingwood, who is 101 not out. England lead by 214. Remember, the average fourth-innings all-out total at Edgbaston is 196. The highest successful chase in the fourth-innings is 211. SA have a new ball immeditaely tomorrow. Should be fascinating. See you then.  read more »

Ed Hawkins is on hand with betting angles and all the action from the second Test 18.54 England 152-4 CLOSE A late flurry of wickets for the Kiwis - nightwatchman Sidebottom was last out - enlivened a rather quiet day. It was pretty dull stuff from England and all we would have needed to drift into a fully comatose state was for Paul Collingwood to sleepwalk out to the middle. He may be a decent one-day cricketer but recently Colly hasn't been able to muster a shot in anger. I don't know whether he has kids, but if he does he won't have trouble getting them off to sleep. All he would have to do is get padded up in his whites and go into his stance. They'd zonk out in no time. I'm off for a lie down now with images of Colly batting in my head.  read more »

Kevin Pietersen made all the headlines on day one with one of the best innings seen at Lord's for several years. Will Kev and Ian Bell really punish Graeme Smith for electing to bowl first? Keep apace with the action and the latest from the Betfair markets. Ed Hawkins is in the hot-seat once again.

18.14 RAIN STOPPED PLAY South Africa 7-0
That might be it for the night. England have had 3.2 valuable overs but they've wasted them.Sidebottom and Anderson did not make the batsmen play.

18.01 South Africa 0-0
England's field: four slips, two gullies, mid on, mid off and deep backward square (Monty). They are going to have a real go tonight. The draw has come out to [1.51]and England are [3.10]. Smith played and missed at the first one but England's best hope of getting him is a leg before. Vulnerable to the ball that swings in, he often tries to play around his front pad.  read more »

Don't worry Jacques, it's sunny this morning! Ed Hawkins is at Lords for the first Test against the Proteas and he'll see play start on time. Stay up to date with the cricket, and the odds, in his live blog.

18.41 England 309-3
England are in charge after seeing off South Africa's battery of pacemen, largely thanks to the brilliance of Kevin Pietersen. The first session was something of a phoney war after the much-hyped Proteas fast-bowlers looked gun shy. But after lunch, they bowled bullets and with three wickets for three runs in 13 deliveries showed what they are capable of. From there it was the KP show. His century will have warmed the wallets of many top-bat punters who were on him to put his old country to the sword. England are on the cusp of a first-innings 400 for the first time in 12 months. It would take something remarkable for them to lose from such a position. Rain is forecast for tomorrow which could juice up the pitch and gives hope for those of us who were hoping for wickets with the new ball. The prices are: England [3.85], South Africa [7.80] and the draw [1.63]  read more »

Don't worry Jacques, it's sunny this morning! Ed Hawkins is at Lords for the first Test against the Proteas and he'll see play start on time. Stay up to date with the cricket, and the odds, in his live blog.

18.41 England 309-3
England are in charge after seeing off South Africa's battery of pacemen, largely thanks to the brilliance of Kevin Pietersen. The first session was something of a phoney war after the much-hyped Proteas fast-bowlers looked gun shy. But after lunch, they bowled bullets and with three wickets for three runs in 13 deliveries showed what they are capable of. From there it was the KP show. His century will have warmed the wallets of many top-bat punters who were on him to put his old country to the sword. England are on the cusp of a first-innings 400 for the first time in 12 months. It would take something remarkable for them to lose from such a position. Rain is forecast for tomorrow which could juice up the pitch and gives hope for those of us who were hoping for wickets with the new ball. The prices are: England [3.85], South Africa [7.80] and the draw [1.63]  read more »

It's backs to the wall time for England at Headingley, with the home side trading at [100.0] for victory before the off. Cricket betting maestro Ed Hawkins is on hand to keep us updated throughout the fourth day's play

18.30 SA win by 10 wickets
A fully deserved victory for South Africa, who won virtually every session in the Test. England will name their squad for the third Test at Edgbaston - which starts on Wednesday week - on Saturday and it would be a surprise if the names Pattinson and Ambrose are included. England have to go back to four bowlers with Andrew Flintoff as one of them. If they do that, they have a chance of squaring the series in Birmingham. It is their most successful ground. I'll be blogging for that, too so join me again.  read more »

It's backs to the wall time for England at Headingley, with the home side trading at [100.0] for victory before the off. Cricket betting maestro Ed Hawkins is on hand to keep us updated throughout the fourth day's play

18.30 SA win by 10 wickets
A fully deserved victory for South Africa, who won virtually every session in the Test. England will name their squad for the third Test at Edgbaston - which starts on Wednesday week - on Saturday and it would be a surprise if the names Pattinson and Ambrose are included. England have to go back to four bowlers with Andrew Flintoff as one of them. If they do that, they have a chance of squaring the series in Birmingham. It is their most successful ground. I'll be blogging for that, too so join me again.  read more »

Ed Hawkins is at HQ for day one of the first Test. Play is underway and there's been an early wicket!

13.40 New Zealand 3-1
I reckoned that it would be worth backing England at [1.91] before play began and that first wicket has given punters the opportunity to lay off at [1.73]. Probably worth holding fire for a bit, though because batting conditions are tough and another wicket could be just around the corner.

13.32 New Zealand 2-1
Aaron Redmond has gone for a duck as James Anderson get ones to leave the right-hander, who is well held at slip by Cook. And congratulations to Anton from Essex who emailed in the lunch break to tell us that he was on England for highest first innings opening partnership. "By my count only three of NZ's last 20 opening partnerships have been 50 or over, eight of them in single figures." Worth remembering for the rest of the series that stat  read more »

Ed Hawkins is in the blogging hotseat again. England are struggling on day three of the second Test, can they turn it around?

17.55 England 31-1
This is something that has been bugging me for a while: Graeme Smith's cap is too small. It does nothing to banish your reputation as a big head, Graeme. Nor does showing off that you have a big head mean you are brainy. That thinking died out years ago.

17.34 England 22-1
Michael Vaughan is finding batting a struggle. He has been pranged on the finger by Dale Steyn, who has caused him problems in the past. Twice in his career, Vaughan has been bowled by full swinging deliveries by Steyn. One of those was at Lord's. On both occassions he was guilty of playing across the line. So to counter that, Vaughan has taken a leg stump guard. It is working so far because Vaughan is playing much straighter. However, it shows how Steyn has got into the mind of the England captain and forced him to tinker with his game. Really, he should be just going out there and backing his ability  read more »