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 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 »

Headingley 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....

18.38 SA 322-4 STUMPS
The umps have got together and offered the batsmen the light which they accept.

Prince (134*) and de Villiers (70*) walk off to the dressing room in the knowledge that they are unlikely to have to bat again today. The pair have frustrated England all day and put on 179 runs together. The tourists lead by 119 runs and will likely set themselves to bat only one innings in this match

England's bowling attack was punished at Lords and is being thoroughly tested here at Headingley. Wickets, only one fell today, have been hard to come by and Vaughan has had to rely on Flintoff who has now bowled 28 overs.  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 »

Sunil Gavaskar called it India's greatest win on TV yesterday. Plenty of other worthies have said things along similar lines.

Granted that the venue was Perth, an Australian citadel. Granted too that no Asian team has won before. And granted three that India's pace attack consisted of two 23 year olds and a 19 year old.

But, is this India's greatest win?

Was this win greater than Headingley 2002, Adelaide 2003, Rawalpindi 2004, Jo'burg 2006 or Calcutta 2001?

Calcutta halted an Australian juggernaut that had done something that no other cricket team in the world had come close to achieving. And after the capitulation at Mumbai and the follow on, did India even have a hope in hell to dream of a comeback?  read more »

The Hawkeye View - Ed Hawkins tells us why the West Indies' awful record on swinging wickets suggests South Africa should secure a series win

THEY sure do have swing in the Caribbean. Unfortunately for the West Indies' cricketers it is the musical kind and not the sort which makes a cricket ball bend and dip. When the third and deciding Test against South Africa begins in Durban on Thursday, West Indies could be made painfully aware of that fact.

From the point of view that West Indies' batsmen need to get to grips with the moving ball, they could not have chosen a better venue than Kingsmead, which is a stone's throw from the ocean. When the tide is in it swings. When it is humid it swings. In short, it swings quite a lot.

But from the point of view that the whole world wants to see a resurgence in the West Indies' game, the venue could not be worse, particularly as Chris Gayle's team have given a South Africa side who were as short as [1.09] to win the series an almighty fright.  read more »

"The Hawkeye View" - Ed Hawkins gives us his take on Ian Botham's comments that England should stop playing Test matches in London and looks ahead to the second Test at Headingley whrere he expects Prince to score runs.

Timing is everything in life, let alone when it comes to staking a wager. So spare a thought for Ian Botham, who has espoused that Test matches should be taken away from London (because England never win there with one win in the last 11) and played elsewhere.

"English cricket is about winning matches" said Botham as he looked forward to the start of the second Test on Friday in Leeds, a long way from the capital that he can't stand, and no doubt a victory for England. The problem is England don't win in Leeds, either. Certainly less than Lord's or The Oval, the two grounds which Botham had in his sights.  read more »