England vs South Africa LIVE: Cricket score and updates from second Test at Old Trafford today
England head coach Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have plenty to ponder in Manchester
England are taking on South Africa on day one of the second Test today and Ben Stokes’s side are looking to bounce back from a comprehensive defeat at Lord’s. The South African bowling attack ripped through the English batting line-up, led by the pace of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen, and England must come up with a way to stem the loss of wickets at Old Trafford this week if they are to level the three-Test series.
England make one change with Ollie Robinson coming into the bowling attack to add height and bounce, with Matthew Potts dropping out. Zak Crawley retains his place in the starting XI despite his continued struggles as opener, with Harry Brook waiting in the wings and tipped for a call-up for the third and final Test should Crawley falter once more here. South Africa are expected to stick with the same team which won the opener.
Who will win the second Test in Manchester? Follow all the latest score updates and live commentary from Old Trafford below.
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Dean Elgar has no intention of letting Ollie Robinson ‘intimidate’ South Africa
South Africa captain Dean Elgar has no intention of letting Ollie Robinson’s return “intimidate” his side, insisting his own attack are more than ready to reprise their match-winning efforts at Old Trafford.
England captain Ben Stokes confirmed Robinson’s recall to the side during his post-match press conference, suggesting the 6ft 5in seamer would be able to cause problems with extra bounce on a pitch that traditionally offers good carry.
If the surface does prove lively, that will also interest a Proteas attack that boasts more pace and hostility and rolled England over twice in last week’s innings victory at Lord’s.
Even so, Elgar approached the question of England’s selection with an unexpectedly spiky manner.
“I love the mind games, really enjoy it. If there’s going to be extra pace and bounce, I’m pretty sure our fast bowlers are going to get that out of the wicket,” he said.
“I’m pretty sure England have made the change for their own reasons. It doesn’t change the way I want to see us play the game and it definitely doesn’t intimidate me.”
Dean Elgar has no intention of letting Ollie Robinson ‘intimidate’ South Africa
England captain Ben Stokes confirmed Robinson’s recall to the side during his post-match press conference.
Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen have a natter with Sky Sports
Two of the South African pace quartet have had a chat with Nick Knight
“It is a message we take with great honour,” Ngidi says of praise from the great South African fast bowler Allan Donald. “That gives me goosebumps.
“That is the beautiful thing about the attack – we all bring something different. That really helps us in all conditions. You just want to get their top five, it really does open up the game. It’s knock the head of the snake – their top four, their top five.
“For me, it is pretty simple: you want to bowl a ball on a good length and hit the top of off. It gets simpler and simpler the longer the format gets.”
Jansen says of his preferred modus operandi: “The general idea for me is to stick around that off-stump area and if the ball swings back in that is a bonus. Bring all modes of dismissal into play. If it doesn’t swing as much, I try to be as close as possible to the stumps.
“If they come at you, now and then you are going to create chances.”
England vs South Africa
Stokes, by the way, is currently marking out his run-up, with the assistance of England bowling coach Jon Lewis at the other end of the tape. The overheads suggest it could be a bowling day, but the pitch looks firm and a little dry – I suspect South Africa might fancy a bat if they win the toss, however tempting it might be for Dean Elgar to stick England in and let his seamers again go at a frangible batting line-up.
Joe Root salutes Ben Stokes’ courage in opening up about mental health struggles
A number of the England players watched the documentary about their captain at a premiere screening in London on Monday night, and Joe Root came away impressed, but not surprised, by Stokes’ courage in opening up about his struggles with anxiety and panic attacks that nearly caused the all-rounder to walk away from the game.
Joe Root salutes Ben Stokes’ courage in opening up about mental health struggles
Root joined the rest of the England Test squad at a London screening of ‘Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes’ before heading north for the second Test
On this day in 2019…
It’s a big week for Ben Stokes, with the release of his Amazon Prime documentary tomorrow, which by all accounts is an excellent, revealing watch. There’s also a series to square, of course, with the England skipper vowing that he will lead from the front after a summer of mixed returns with the bat.
If he’s looking for some positive reinforcement this morning, he might just have draw on some fond recollections of his afternoon at Headingley three years ago.
England vs South Africa Second Test
England have confirmed that single change, hoping that Ollie Robinson can extract some extra bounce from a firm Old Trafford surface. South Africa, meanwhile, may well be unchanged – but the Manchester surface can suit spin, and a dry weekend forecast may just bring Simon Harmer into contention. If the visitors do opt for two tweakers, Lungi Ngidi is the likeliest seamer to be left out – which would be mighty cruel…
England seek to square the series at Old Trafford
Pleasingly, despite a few spots of overnight rain, it is a dry, if cluody and a touch sticky, morning in Manchester, but we look set for an on-time start at Old Trafford in a little over an hour.
England’s Baz-ball bubble was rather burst by South Africa’s brilliant bowling blitz at Lord’s – can Brendon McCullum’s side get back on track and level the series?
Robinson pushed himself to ‘absolute extreme’ to win back England spot, says Stokes
Ben Stokes has revealed Ollie Robinson pushed himself “to the absolute extreme” to win back his England place after concerns were raised over his fitness for international cricket.
Robinson has replaced Durham’s Matthew Potts in the attack for the must-win second Test against South Africa at Old Trafford, his first appearance in seven frustrating months.
The Sussex seamer last played in the final match of last winter’s Ashes, a series that saw his conditioning publicly called into question by bowling coach Jon Lewis as he struggled to meet the full demands of the five-day game.
He was reduced to a watching brief in the subsequent tour of the West Indies, ruled out of all three Tests due to back spasms, and had an interrupted start to the county season due to a variety of unrelated issues.
England were never likely to give up on the 28-year-old, not with 39 wickets from his first nine appearances and an enviable average of 21.28, but they needed to know he was willing to put in the hard yards they required to restore faith.
A strong showing for England Lions during their recent tour match against the Proteas confirmed he was in more robust shape and Stokes paid tribute to his efforts after confirming his recall.
“I was very honest and truthful with Robbo. I feel that’s something people deserve. Rather than just have a conversation and getting through it easy, I’d rather let him know exactly where I stand,” he said of the pair’s initial exchanges.
“That enabled him to go away and work on what has been asked of him. All I can say is he’s done that to the absolute extreme. He’s worked hard behind the scenes.
“I think it’s obviously been a very difficult time for Ollie because it wasn’t that his form was letting him down. It was his body. That’s obviously a very tough thing to deal with. But I think he can look back on that and use it as something to always to look back on and to gain experience from that.
“He’s here in the team and he’s playing this week. So everything that’s gone on in the past is something that he’s obviously grown from, and he’s learned a lot from about himself. Not just as a person but as a player.”
Ollie Robinson recalled as Matthew Potts drops out of England XI
Ollie Robinson has been recalled to the England attack for Thursday’s second Test against South Africa, replacing Matthew Potts for his first appearance in seven months.
The Sussex seamer has not featured for his country since the final game of the Ashes in January due to a series of fitness problems, but has been given the nod at Emirates Old Trafford.
Robinson persuaded the selectors he was ready to go with a strong showing in the England Lions victory over the tourists in Chelmsford earlier this month, with Potts dropping out after struggling for rhythm in last week’s innings defeat at Lord’s.
That is the only change to the XI, with openers Zak Crawley and Alex Lees retained despite lacking major runs this summer.
Zak Crawley has struggled for form with the bat this summer (Adam Davy/PA)
England vs South Africa LIVE: Day one, second Test
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