There was a bit more to Day 1 than my last post. The first spells by James Anderson and Stuart Broad were pretty good. Broad got a wicket but Jimmy didn't. James Anderson swung the ball both ways, which is a great ability. Without a doubt, he is the best swing bowler in the world at the moment. Anderson lacked enthusiasm and was struggling from a knee injury but his bowling wasn't that bad. He deserved the wicket of Kallis much earlier than he got it. Kallis was out lbw, the umpire gave it not out and so did the fucking review system. There have been 3 instances so far when the review system has given the wrong decision. Once, Kallis was out off Anderson, then de Villiers was out, caught by Prior off Swann, a few balls before he actually got out and then the most bizarre, just before lunch on Day 2, Morkel was given out off Swann but the HawkEye said it's going over the top! Oh come on, HawkEye is not always right, hot spot works better than that.
Currently, England are 143/3 on Day 3 after bowling South Africa out for 418. Anyone can score runs but the key wickets are Strauss, Pietersen and Trott and they have got rid of 2 of them. The thing is, for England to collapse on any given day, you have to get these 3 out quickly. If these 3 score some runs, the rest can take it to 350. There are more chances of a draw or South Africa winning it than England winning it as the pitch is deteriorating. On this ground, England have never lost a Test and South Africa have played 14, won 11, 2 drawn, lost one to England!
Swann is a champion bowler. He took 5 wickets in the South Africa 1st innings. He doesn't have a natural talent for spin bowling but he is very smart, strong mentally. In County, he used to open the batting and play as a handy spinner. I don't know why Rashid and Tredwell, called as cover, are in the squad. I don't know why teams do this. There is no use of keeping a player in their 15 man squad when he is not going to play in the series. England have more than 15 because a few were called as cover for injured players. These guys should just be playing matches for England performance squad or development squad since the County season is over rather than sitting around. I also heard that County matches will be played early next year at Abu Dhabi so that players can play more, which is a good news.