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 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 »

South Africa have their backs against the wall after Michael Vaughan enforced the follow-on. The sun is shining at Lord's and England's bowlers have their tails up. Ed Hawkins is watching it all and reporting on all the action from the price on the draw to the best cakes to go with his afternoon cup of tea.... 18.31 SA 242-2 CLOSE Turgid stuff here at HQ today. And it is a depressing thought that there is likely to be similar fare on offer tomorrow. England's body language is reminiscent of stalemates past against Sri Lanka and Pakistan when they looked tired and shorn of ideas. It is difficult to suggest what they can do to take the remaining nine South Africa wickets given that the new ball did not bring the clatter of victims that they had hoped.  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 »

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 »