v 
today
How many games have the Saffers had rained off, seems like it’s more than 1
Weather watch
BBC Weather’s Simon King: "At the moment it is dry and there are a few showers moving east through Shropshire so there could be a little bit of rain in the next hour, but the trend today is drier and brighter. So after this morning it should be absolutely fine and it is going to feel quite muggy.
“Tomorrow at Trent Bridge sunny spells, a chance of some showers and then for England at Headingley, England have been lucky and it is going to be dry again on Friday.”
Play to start at 12:00 BST
OK, the good news is the outfield is drying up and we’ll have play.
The bad news is that play is still 55 minutes away. The toss will be at 11:30 BST for a 12:00 start.
The worst news is the match has been reduced to 49 overs per side.
That is just annoying.
South Africa are 20 for 1 with 42.2 overs left
WICKET
Du Plessis b Ferguson 23 (SA 59-2) 14.4 overs
SA are on a Nelson and Amla is gone, misjudges the line completely and gets skittled
55 from 83
111-3 from 27.4 overs
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Markram gone, trying to up the run rate, misjudges a shot, leading edge for an easy catch
38 from 55
SA are 136-4 from 32.3 overs
Worth pointing out the bit I saw, the ball was actually swinging early doors
'tis spinning a fair bit too
Been a lot of talk (some of it from me) about the format of the tournament leading to a lot of dead rubbers. And the top four being all but confirmed this early would seem to bear that out. But I don’t think the ICC could do much about Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa all being this unexpectedly poor. At least one of them should have been genuinely challenging.
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3.33pm A pretty good finish for South Africa. They’ve made 75 in the last ten overs. “A bit of a sticky wicket, there’s been a lot of rain,” van der Dussen says. “We know it’s not a 300 wicket. It’s a try and get to 250-260 kind of wicket. That’s what we set out to, and we got to 241.”
Will that be enough, though? The ball is stopping on the batsmen, the new ball swung for New Zealand - and South Africa will hope it swings for them too - and the slower balls are really sticking on the pitch. I’d say it’s about 60-40 in New Zealand’s favour at the moment. Join us in half an hour for the chase. Back soon.
33/1 off 7
Current Partnership :
20 runs, 4.4 overs, RR: 4.28 (MJ Guptill 16, KS Williamson 3)
Last Bat :
C Munro c & b Rabada 9 ( 5b 2X4 0X6) SR: 180.00
FoW :
12/1 (2.1 ov)
Guptil rocks back pulls the ball and his back foot slips and takes out his leg stump.
73-2 15.3 overs
Williamson looking dangerous
Taylor snicks one down the leg side - gone for 1 off 2 balls! 74-3 16.1 overs
And another! 80-4 18.3 overs
Morris to Latham, OUT , Morris is on fire! Latham’s been very uncertain against his right-arm-over angle, and this one’s just back of a length, pitches on leg stump and seams away slightly to kiss the outside edge as Latham looks to defend off the back foot
TWM Latham c †de Kock b Morris 1 (4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 25.00
Neesham gone Morris returns and gets him caught at slip.
137-5 32.2 overs after a stand of 57
Game on now, but Williamson still there.
The bloke with the unspellable name is expensive and is the only possible problem for SA
Unless SA get a wicket quickly the game will run away from them
Tahir’s last over - 2 almost catches then last ball there IS a nick but no appeal and no review Williamson would have been out!!
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Jeez the SA fielding has been so inept you could be excused if you though they’d been bought.
New Zealand look odds on now with 17 needed from 18 balls.
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Calm quality 4 from last ball of penultimate over leaves SA needing 8 to win from 6 balls
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Fuck sake, how long do they need between overs?
