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 »

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 »

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 »

Author: Clobber
Subject: England in New Zealand 2008
Posted: 04 January 2008 at 1:02pm

Might as well start this since the England squads have been announced. The big news is that Matt Prior has been dropped from both forms of the game with David Graveney announcing that his keeping needs to improve. And to think this guy gets paid to be so knowledgeable. Tim Ambrose comes in almost out of the blue - James Foster must be sleeping with Graveney's wife or something to be so consistently overlooked.

In other news Andrew Strauss also makes a return to the Test squad, leaving a potentially tricky decision down the road for the selectors in relation to the batting order.  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 »

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 »