England v South Africa: second men’s one-day international - live

1m ago 08.03 EDT Our first email of the day is from regular correspondent John Starbuck:

Daniel. Good afternoon, Well, that didn’t go well, did it? A prediction that the match would start at 13:00 already overturned by events. Just goes to show that very little is predictable in international cricket, especially when England are involved. Let’s all cross our fingers, except when emailing you; though typing an email with crossed fingers might well become a rite of passage for OBOers. Share

9m ago 07.55 EDT According to Harry Brook, and Stuart Broad on comms, Sonny Baker hasn’t been dropped because of the pasting he received two days ago. The argument is that on this pitch Saqib Mahmood’s fuller length will be a handful. South Africa have two spinners. Which is…interesting. Lord’s isn’t really a grippy sort of surface. The bowlers in reserve are Kagiso Rabada (being rested) as well as young Kwena Maphaka and Codi Yusuf. But not of them can bat. So Senuran Muthusamy comes in as much for his willow-wielding as his orb-tweaking (just go with it). Share

16m ago 07.49 EDT Teams England: Duckett, Smith, Root, Brook (c), Buttler (wk), Bethell, Jacks, Carse, Archer, Rashid, Mahmood. South Africa: Markram, Rickelton (wk), Bavuma (c), Breetzke, Stubbs, Brevis, Bosch, Muthusamy, Maharaj, Burger, Ngidi. Share

17m ago 07.47 EDT England win the toss, have a bowl “We think it’ll hopefully have a bit in it from thje start,” says Harry Brook. He says it’s a “new day” and that the “series starts today”. It actually started on Tuesday, but we know what he means. Sonny Baker, after getting loads of tap, misses out and is replaced by Saqib Mahmood. Temba Bavuma also wanted to bowl. “We’ll just have to do a job with the bat,” he says. The injured Tony de Zorzi, as well as the unwell Wiaan Mulder are absent from the team that did the job on Tuesday. Mathew Breetzke and Sunaren Muthusamy enter the fray. Share

32m ago 07.32 EDT Delayed start The sun may be shining but the outfield is still a little wet. That means we’ll have the toss at 12:45 with play underway at 13:15. Share

34m ago 07.30 EDT What did you make of Harry Brook’s seemingly blasé comments after their heavy defeat on Tuesday? The skipper said: “Not ideal. Not a great start to the series – one of those bad days and we have to move on as soon as possible.” Look, I get that players shouldn’t dwell on disappointing results. And that looking forward is healthy. But wouldn’t a little apology to the paying public have been welcome? Couldn’t he have acknowledge that an international game is expensive and time consuming, that many people would have taken a day off work, that some kids might have been watching England live for the first time? I’m not saying Brook should serve jail time. It’s only cricket after all. But some sort of recognition for their abject show would have been welcome. Share

50m ago 07.14 EDT This week's Spin The covers are on after some heavy, but brief showers. So while we wait for things to get underway, why not tuck into this week’s Spin. It’s from yours truly on the magic of cricket scorecards. I’ve always loved them. I love looking at them. I love filling them with little names and numbers. So I decided to write about them with the help of two legends of the craft. Hope you enjoy it: The Spin | ‘They’re like time machines’: the endless magic of cricket scorecards Read more Share

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