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 »

PreviewCrick VeneerGabba Gabba Hey What?!?Day OneSorry DayCrises? What Crises?Pepper SprayOn The Wrong TrackDay TwoTit For TaitHawkward SilenceDay Three------------------------------------------------------PREVIEW #Apart from the obvious, what do Paul Reiffel, Merv Hughes, Craig McDermott and Mike Whitney have in common? Hint: It's not umpiring, Test selecting, homemade porn or crap reality TV; as far as I know, anyway. No?  read more »

Ed "The Hawkeye" Hawkins will be keeping us up to date with all the action and betting news from the Fourth and final Test between England and South Africa. It's Kevin Pietersen's first ever Test as England captain and he's not the type to want to get off to a losing start...

18.35 Eng 49-1 CLOSE
England are 145 behind. If they lose an early wicket tomorrow - both Alastair Cook and Ian Bell will have to start afresh to make that more likely - we should consider backing them because despite SA's low total, this is a good batting wicket.

18.23 Eng 42-1
England have started well, which shouldn't be a surprise because the pitch is good. It is a surprise to some, though because they are hovering around the [1.60] mark. We could beack at that price but I'm holding out for a lucky SA wicket.  read more »

Whilst the media circus is frenzying around the appointment of the new England Cricket Captain and his first Test match in charge, the announcement of the limited overs squad to take on South Africa has passed relatively under the radar. Whatever the rights and wrongs of who is and is not in the Test squad, it is hard to argue that the limited overs squad is far wrong, especially after the inclusion of two of the best domestic one day players in England this year, in Samit Patel and Matt Prior. Andrew Flintoffs return essentially allows England to replace a pace bowler with an allrounder and a brilliant one at that. More importantly though, England seem to have decided that they want an aggressive keeper batsman who can open the innings and indeed bat through it if required.  read more »

Mickey Arthur this week denounced the recall of Steve Harmison as a desperate and short term move by England which took no account of the upcoming 2009 Ashes series. He was right. Michael Atherton tore into the selectors both in general and specifically for recalling Harmison in The Times, stating that they were sending out the wrong message about selection. He was right. Harmison would have been a temporary and short sighted pick. He is bowling well at present and would undoubtedly take wickets, but he doesnt play ODIs, he doesnt travel as every Tom, Dick and Harry knows and he takes a good few matches to get into form, largely because he doesnt put in the training which other players do.  read more »

Right...The new season is upon us and the team for South Africa's tour of India will have to be selected. An eye towards Australia's tour of India later in October will also have to be kept.

There are a few stable spots, a few likely changes in the future depending upon the way the SA tour shapes up, and a few unsettled spots lingering.

Let's begin at the top - the opening slots.

India's Goal For The Upcoming Season - To win the next two test series which will propel them upwards towards their goal to be the best test nation.

Both South Africa and Australia present a consolotaion opportunity to win back the rubber which India might have liked to be retaining instead this year.

India does well with good starts as the Perth and Adelaide tests showed. That was also a contributor in England, and was never starker than versus Pakistan late last year and in the initial stages of the tour Down Under.  read more »

Sri Lanka registered a comprehensive eight wicket victory to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Mahele Jayawardena along with Kapugedera finished the Sri Lankan innings after it got a shaky start. The much threatening partnership of Sangakkara and Jayawardena was broken by Patel as he dismissed the Sri Lankan keeper. Sangakkara chipped the ball back to the bowler and was easily taken by Patel to give India it’s second wicket. The partnership of Kumar Sangakkara and skipper Mahela Jayawardena added to India’s worries as both the batsmen continued to pile the runs and move closer to the target. Munaf Patel got India a much needed early breakthrough as he removed Sanath Jayasuriya. Sanath, who charged down the track, got a top edge as was taken by Irfan Pathan.  read more »

For those of you who are regular readers you will be all too familiar with my musings over the years about the England One Day International side. Finally we seem to be making some progress. Firstly, Alistair Cook is no longer opening the innings, fabulous. He is undoubtedly a fantastically talented Test match cricketer, albeit slightly out of form at present, but he is just not a modern day limited overs batsman. Ian Bell has at last been elevated to the role of opener, one he has enjoyed success in before. His innings against the Australians at the last World Cup demonstrated that he could score quickly, through a vast array of strokes. Notably he has the ability to use his feet and hit over the top, something Cook patently struggles with.  read more »