England v South Africa: first Test, day two – as it happened

A long day, ending at seven, with the late summer sun already falling away. Advantage South Africa, who patiently gathered the runs they were offered and stored them nicely to the side. Are England missing the practise that comes with Championship cricket? It is hard to tell, as they are often rested from such games – I’m sure Ben Stokes will let us know in time. That’s it from us for today – thanks for sticking with our new system, quirks and all. Good night!

Jack Leach, who had a good day": “We are behind in the game but we’ve stuck at it really well. Trying to take wickets, it’s hard to sum up right now, but we could have got a few more. Got to keep at it. We were creating half-chances, we have to stick at it.

“I can feel Stokesy at mid-off, I feel that belief in me, and try to make the most of it. It is a mixture of things, confidence after playing enough Test cricket to learn through those games, and belief from performances.”

That felt like a mini epic – defiantly South Africa’s day but endlessly entertaining by England who threw themselves at it. After keeping things tight after that opening South African partnership, and Stokes flogging himself almost into the dust, Jensen and Maharaj took the South African lead from handy to important.

77th over: South Africa 289-7 ( Jansen 41, Rabada 3) Stokes screams in for the last over of the day, but Jansen is up to it and spins to the fifth, pulling Stokes past a diving Bairstow to the rope. He ducks safely under the final bouncer and that is stumps!

76th over: South Africa 285-7 ( Jansen 37, Rabada 3) Leach wheels in for what might be the last over of the day, but in fact he’s so quick that they’ll squeeze in one more Rabada edges the last ball but it squeezes past the slip and he picks up two.

75th over: South Africa 283-7 ( Jansen 37, Rabada 1) Stokes gets his man, but not before the pendulum has swung.

I don’t have an answer to this! Perhaps just that Test cricket is exhausting when you’re not in the groove?

That feels a bit like a wicket bought – 41 from 49 balls and a very handy little innings, which finishes with a blind flurry at a Stokes bouncer, well caught by Potts in the eye of the falling sun.

74th over: South Africa 277-6 ( Jansen 39, Maharaj 34) Oh dear. Maharaj takes no pity on his ex-Lancashire colleague, cracking two pitch-perfect fours.

Hi Tanja,” Hi Eva!

“I am not surprised that the comments box experiment has been temporarily suspended - I always feel that OBOers are like Archers listeners: not too keen on change.I wonder how large the overlap of these two groups is...I much prefer the e-mail option, btw!”

I think the venn diagram would be interesting! What else would you put in the mix? Real ale?

73rd over: South Africa 269-6 ( Jansen 34, Maharaj 31) Stokes has had quite enough, and in the manner of an elder sibling who can’t bear to let his siblings incompetently complete a task, grabs the ball. But it doesn’t quite work out. Jansen spins him to long-off where Jimmy Anderson gives chase,and they run four. A couple more in the same direction are chased down by Stokes as there are no fielders in place in this unorthodox field. Jansen hoists six from a short one, then four more. The lead stretches to 104.

72nd over: South Africa 253-6 ( Jansen 18, Maharaj 31) When all else fails, turn to Anderson. Maharah fizzes him through the covers for four, then leans back and absolutely pancakes him over midwicket for four more. In the last four overs, South Africa have picked up 27.

71st over: South Africa 243-6 ( Jansen 18, Maharaj 21) The dam rather leaking here in the last half hour. Seven off Leach including a lanky loft by Jansen to the long-on boundary.

70th over: South Africa 236-6 ( Jansen 14, Maharaj 18) Maharaj and Jansen rather milk Potts here, a four each as the lead creeps up to 71. A good crowd staying on to watch the last hurrah in the sun, as the rain falls outside my window.

69th over: South Africa 227-6 ( Jansen 10, Maharaj 12) And from the pavilion end this time, with half an hour left in the day, Jack Leach. His last ball nearly squeaks through the gap between Jansen’s bat and pad.

68th over: South Africa 226-6 ( Jansen 10, Maharaj 12) A maiden from the plucky Potts.

67th over: South Africa 220-6 ( Jansen 10, Maharaj 12) The shadow of a floodlight bisects the batter and the slips. Maharaj hits two boundaries in three balls off Broad, one an edge through the slips that has Broad down on his haunches, the other cuts a pie.

In defence of Bazball from Tim Maitland, “Before we all start writing Bazball obituaries, isn’t the state of this test match down to the toss and the enormous difference in the bowling conditions from day one to day two?

“If South Africa had batted first, they too would be struggling to avoid being put in a losing position by now.”

66th over: South Africa 216-6 ( Jansen 9, Maharaj 3) Potts ploughs on as the afternoon dips. Every run worth double.

65th over: South Africa 215-6 ( Jansen 9, Maharaj 2) Jansen edges, but there isn’t a slip so the ball drops into the shadows. Broad keeps Maharaj on his toes. The camera pans back and the crowd sprinkled in red look like fruit on a merrily-laden cherry tree. The lead creeps up to fifty.

Hello Daniel Lees: “I kid ye not. Every time I leave the room to cook dinner for me and the boss, plus the kids (two separate pasta dishes....successful parents that we’re not) we take a wicket. Given my late afternoon consumption of rose wine, you can expect the remaining 4 wickets to fall before close of play. After that, I’ll just cross my legs and stay in the room, promise!”

64th over: South Africa 210-6 ( Jansen 6, Maharaj 0) A 6:3 leg-side field as Potts runs in to Maharaj, ex of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Just the one run.

63rd over: South Africa 210-6 ( Jansen 6, Maharaj 0) Somewhere in the ether someone, apologies if it was you, sent a great message about how under Stokes’ captaincy games don’t drift. I now can’t find it but it was very observant. England, inspired by their captain, clinging on with both hands to this South African innings, desperate not to let it escape out of sight. And the lead has been restricted to 45.

Dangle, dangle: Verreynne caught in two minds in the crease, some extra bounce, and a slither of an edge. Stuart Broad’s 100th Test wicket at Lord’s!

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62nd over: South Africa 210-5 ( Jansen 6, Verreynne 11) From nowhere, Verreynne goes on the charge, slashing at Leach and skewing him ugly and wide for three. Nearly, nearly, but no cigar.

61st over: South Africa 206-5 ( Jansen 5, Verreynne 8) Did I mention the slips? England still have plenty. Four await Stuart Broad but no reward. With an hour or so to go, the lead is 41. England playing cagey, teasing cricket.

I think that the new box contraption has now been retired for the day – so feel free to email me at the usual address: tanya.aldred.freelance@theguardian.com

60th over: South Africa 202-5 ( Jansen 3, Verreynne 5) One off Leach’s over, and they pause for the final drinks break of the day.

Harry has been scratching around with a pencil. “By my (admittedly out of date) B grade in GCSE maths calculations, if Jimmy is still bowling in internationals at the beginning of next year, he’ll be closer to 60 than the age he was (21) when he first played his debut (vs. Zimbabwe, 22nd May 2003). (Quite remarkable - although it would be handy to have the version of his early self bowling this afternoon to level things up a little)

59th over: South Africa 201-5 ( Jansen 3, Verreynne 5) Time for Stokes to rest that knee and Stuart Broad to pick up the tab. The sun on his bronzed face turns him briefly into a modern day Botticelli angel. He dangles temptation but the towering Jansen resists.

“This” writes Jon D, “is a tough South Africa side and won’t fold as easily as NZ and India. It is going to come down to England’s middle order versus South Africa’s top order. I think South Africa will take it as their technique is superior to England.”

58th over: South Africa 200-5 ( Jansen 3, Verreynne 5) Verreynne cuts Leach through point and over the rope to release the tension.

57th over: South Africa 195-5 ( Jansen 2, Verreynne 1 ) Ooooff, Stokes’s leg doesn’t look pretty. It gives way in the follow through after one ball and then he limps back to his mark. A last ball no ball tests his patience but he duly turns on the thunder once more. Surely that must be it for this (magnificent) spell.

“Hello from the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire (Sheffield),” writes Nick. “England’s batting, for all the magic we’ve seen in the last four tests, still clearly has deep flaws and against a proper pace attack they’ve come up woefully short. ||I remember a few months ago McCullum said that Crawley would never be a consistent player, but he’d back him 100%. But is it even possible to have a successful career as an inconsistent test opener? There’s only so many times a team can find themselves at 20-2 and 50-4 and recover, before they eventually start getting blown away by good bowling attacks.||Already in this test we’re seeing excuses for Eng’s first innings, with commentators saying most batsmen got out to good balls. But Eng have bowled plenty of good balls and beaten the edge themselves, so why aren’t South Africa’s batsmen getting out to them quite so easily? At some point you’ve got to question their concentration as well as their techniques.”

And the new ball does the business! Stokes slams one into VDD’s knee-roll which provokes such a jolt that he embarks on one of most hopeless reviews on record. He’s shortly on his way and Stokes is in one of his magic spells.

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56th over: South Africa 192-4 ( vd Dussen 19, Jansen 1 ) Another maiden from Leach, and after half an hour of being on top, England ask, and get, the balls changed.

55th over: South Africa 192-4 ( vd Dussen 19, Jansen 1 ) Fully distracted by my daughter reading out the Royal Family’s A level results, but can reliably say that was great ball by Stokes. His career in a nutshell – 100 percent skill, 200 percent effort.