He now has 559 Test dismissals, four short of his hero Glenn McGrath who sits fifth on the all-time list. It's not always the case that someone so decorated is so accommodating - indeed there have been times in the past when Broad might have contested the notion. But he took the demotion with grace, and Stokes lauded his senior man: "For Broady to understand the bigger picture about why I wanted that to be the option was an absolute credit to him."
The prospect of this switch emerged after the England Lions match against South Africa at Canterbury, where the feedback to the main group was of Robinson's joy against Sarel Erwee. After missing the series opener at Lord's, and getting match-ready in the shadow of England's innings defeat, the cord was pulled in Manchester to great effect.
Robinson was unlucky to just take just the one wicket for 48 on day one - "he was on the best none-for that I've ever seen," Stokes said at the post-match presentations - but bagged England's best figures of the match on day three, with 4 for 43 as South Africa folded for 179 to confirm defeat and make it 1-1 going into the final match at The Oval.
As it happens, despite the seed of an idea being planted at the start of August, and revealed to Broad on Wednesday, Robinson was only informed he was opening from the Brian Statham End after Elgar had won the toss on Thursday morning and opted to bat first.
"I got told 10 minutes before we were going out I was taking the new ball," Robinson said on Saturday night, "and then got the nod as we walked onto the field.
"I was buzzing because I feel that's my strength - making the batsman play as much as possible with the new ball. So it was a nice confidence booster from Stokesy and Baz as well."
For the 28-year-old, who now boasts 44 dismissals at 20.93 at Test level, this felt like the turning of a page in a 14-month international career that has already been punctuated with controversy and misfortune. Of the 10 matches he has missed since making his debut at Lord's against New Zealand at the start of the 2021 home season, one was due to a suspension after the emergence of historic offensive tweets, three were because he was not fit enough to cope with the rigours of a Test winter, and the four at the start of this summer were due to a combination of Covid-19, back troubles and a dental issue.
"It's been a tough six months with injury and a few doubts about myself," Robinson said. "So it's really satisfying to get the win here and make a decent contribution at the end.
"I've tried to keep my head up, be quite positive and try to work as hard as I can to just get back into this environment. I was chuffed to be in this squad before we played the first Test, and to play this one I was over the moon. It's just great to be back and that winning feeling - you just can't beat it."
It was a statement that resonated beyond the dressing-room because of the implication that Robinson was not as professional as he should be. But there were also some who felt the public chastising was not the best approach. Robinson, however, accepts nothing said was incorrect, and that Lewis, who remains part of the backroom staff but will be moved back to the ECB pathways at the end of the summer, was not saying anything he hadn't told Robinson in private. Since working together at Sussex, the pair have a strong relationship.
"It's not easy but we're an honest group," Robinson said. "I took that on the chin and took it as a wake-up call as well. So I've used that to drive me forward in the last six months and, when times have got tough, I've just used that as a drive to try and keep positive.
"I've always had that positive mindset that I would get back," he added. "I think people don't realise that me and Jon go back quite a long way. He was my bowling coach at Sussex for three, four years. So we do have that honest relationship. It's just hasn't obviously come out in the press before, but we do have that honest relationship where we can say what we feel and how we felt and we just moved on after that. We spoke about it, moved on, and like I said it drove me for the last six months to get to this place today."
It is a place where, now, training no longer feels like a chore. "I've become a bit of a gym freak," he added with a smile, "which I never thought I'd say.
"I wake up in the morning and I'm like, I've really got to go to the gym. Yeah, so it's become a bit of a habit, whereas before it was a chore and I think that's really helped me as well. The running three times a week, the gymming three times a week, it's just ingrained in me now, which hopefully will help for years to come."
The real change has been one of mindset rather than diet and behaviour, something triggered by chats with Stokes during the period in which Robinson was sidelined. Much of that was of the standards expected, but there was empathy, too. Stokes used himself as an example of someone who did not fully appreciate the importance of fine-tuning your body until later in his career.
"When he first started international cricket he wasn't in the shape he is now, and I spoke to him about how he got there - mentally, physically, the lot. And he really helped me in that stage of building back to this point today. Along with the England medical team and everyone behind the scenes, they really helped me. I'm not there yet, I'm not the finished article at all, but we're well on the way of getting there hopefully."
Robinson regards the last six months as something of a blessing in disguise. An intense first half of his career has given way to a much quieter one in which he has been able to improve his numbers without a ball in his hand.
"We've got obviously the last Test and then we've probably got six, seven weeks again before Pakistan," he said. "So I have the opportunity again to go to the next level again. So that's what I'm thinking at the moment, just using that time as wisely as I can to improve myself as best I can."
Beyond their world-class ability is longevity, which has offered England an earthing, even in troubled times. And while they are still around, Robinson says he will absorb as much of their knowledge as possible while also working out how he might replicate their endurance, popularity and, ultimately, legacy.
"Watching them two is so inspirational for me." he said. "That's how I want to be: I want the crowd cheering my name and that's what I'm driving to do.
"I had a point today when I was fielding at mid-off and I thought 'I don't want to do this for 18 months. I want to do this for five, six years' and I feel more driven today than I did at the start of my career. I feel in such a good headspace now, after this week's game, I can drive on and push on a lot more."
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor for ESPNcricinfo
#Eng #2nd #Test #bowler #ball
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It was an especially helpful knock alongside Stokes, who scored 103, as the pair put on 173 for the sixth wicket. Having come in on 147 for 5, still trailing the Proteas by four, the absorption of pressure and the subsequent accumulation of runs, which sped up when Foakes was batting with the tail, was a nod to a lot of introspection and hard work paying dividends for the 29-year-old.
His first century came in his first innings in this format, back in November 2018 in Sri Lanka. Since then, he has established himself as a reliable No. 5 for Surrey: seven of his now 13 first-class hundreds have come for the county - he began his career at Essex, for whom he has three - at an average of 43. While he struggled at first to truly get to grips with batting lower for England, and adopting an altogether different mindset, this was a sizeable step in the right direction.
"It's a different role, at Surrey I just bat five and just play," Foakes said. "When you get on quite challenging wickets batting at seven, obviously there's a good chance you lose wickets quickly and you have to play a different way. I think for me it's learning how to do that as well as I can. Just because it's not my natural game. Finding a way to be able to, quite early on in my innings, put pressure back on the bowler rather than just batting.
"When I bat at five hundreds are definitely something I think about, but at seven I think more about just trying to contribute because obviously you're not going to get as many opportunities to get a hundred. If I can get 40 with the tail and dominate that partnership, that's my job. Getting a big partnership here and getting a century definitely gives me some confidence going forward."
There was palpable relief at getting another significant score on the board 14 Tests and four years later, not just with the celebration of fist pumps to himself before receiving a warm embrace from his partner at the time, Ollie Robinson, and the appreciation of a packed out Emirates Old Trafford.
Since his debut, Foakes was either thrust in and out on a whim or missed out through injury, as happened at the start of 2021 when he tore his hamstring. Then, during the Headingley Test against New Zealand earlier this summer, a bout of Covid-19 ruled him out of the second-half of the match and the next Test against India. Twin failures at Lord's (6 and 0) heaped more misery on him, but he has come out the other side in impressive fashion. An average of 26.91 coming into this match has already improved to 31.82 thanks to the red ink.
"I just felt awful in that game [Headingley]," he said. "Getting the opportunity of being number one and then pretty soon after getting something like that is very frustrating, I've had a bit of stuff going on since I first played but I'm used to little setbacks like that
"To be honest, in my first 10 games I was kind of looking and thinking 'jeez how hard is Test cricket'. The West Indies tour [in 2019], the wickets out there - and then I came in for those three in India [last year] and it was obviously crazy to bat on and I guess this is a different role as well.
"I think it's just that I've been a little bit out of touch," he said of his performance at Lord's last week. "I haven't been lining it up as well as I'd like in the last couple of Championship games and then in the first one at Lord's. So for me it was just working out how to do that better. That's what I worked on between these two games. And I felt like I did line it up better and play better.
"Because it's not my natural game, it's just trying to work out how to play best. And I think sometimes I haven't got the balance right because I'm not an explosive batter. If I'm trying to get the score up I can start pushing at the ball and things like that and playing at balls I shouldn't be. It's been really clear, obviously practising in a different way for that role, but also being really clear when I am just going to bat or when I have to push the button... how I'm going to do it. Don't just throw my bat outside off stump. I'm happy to get out if I'm doing this or this, but not just giving it away."
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor for ESPNcricinfo
#Eng #2nd #Test #2nd #day
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Elgar's logic had been dictated to a large degree by South Africa's team selection, with Simon Harmer restored to the XI as a second spin option alongside Keshav Maharaj, and given his prowess for Essex in the County Championship over the past five years, he could yet come into his own later in the match, on a ground where he has claimed 15 wickets at 17.60 in his three matches against Lancashire.
For the time being, however, Harmer has been limited to an exploratory final over of the day, while the absence of the lanky left-armer Marco Jansen looks like a potential oversight on a pitch offering consistent seam movement as well as extra bounce for England's quicks - not least the restored Ollie Robinson, who utilised his high release point to challenge both edges of the bat, and hinted at a renewed commitment to his fitness levels in the quickest spell of his Test career to date.
Though he claimed a solitary wicket in his first outing since the Hobart Test in January, Robinson was a handful in each of his 14 overs, spread across three spells, not least for the opener, Sarel Erwee. Despite his key contributions to the Lord's win, Erwee was never allowed to settle as Anderson and Robinson hounded him in a probing new-ball pairing, and after playing-and-missing relentlessly in an unconvincing 12-ball stay, Anderson found his inside-edge to carve an opening in the fifth over of the day.
Elgar fared little better, even after a reprieve on 10 when Robinson was denied a catch at short leg after overstepping. After taking 16 balls to get off the mark, Elgar had been limited to a solitary punched boundary through long-off when Broad - entering the attack as the hour mark approached - hit a good length outside off with a hint of away movement. Jonny Bairstow at third slip stooped low to gather, and South Africa's captain was gone for 12.
Keegan Petersen connected with a trio of off-side boundaries - two of them firm cuts and one fat edge past the slips - in his innings of 21, but Broad's hungry introduction cut short his progress. This was the first time since the Cape Town Test of 2009-10 that he and Anderson had not shared the new ball when playing together, and in his third over, more steep bounce on a good length kissed the edge of the bat as Petersen got squared up with flat feet. Joe Root at first slip swallowed the edge to leave South Africa wobbing at 41 for 3.
Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen compiled the beginnings of a fourth-wicket stand to restore South Africa's hopes of reaching lunch without further damage. But Stokes, in a typically golden-armed intervention, had other ideas.
Stokes' first breakthrough was reminiscent of Ian Botham's maiden Test wicket in 1977 - a rank long-hop that deserved to get the treatment, but instead induced the error from the batter. Markram swung lustily across the line, but managed only a steepling top-edge to Foakes, running back towards fine leg.
One over later, van der Dussen was gone as well, to an each-way bet of an lbw decision from umpire Chris Gaffaney. The ball thumped the front pad very close to the inside edge, and carried through to the keeper. Van der Dussen reviewed, but the decision stood, with DRS returning an umpire's call verdict on both impact and the top of the leg bail.
It didn't take long after lunch for the wickets to flow again - two in two for Anderson, as first Harmer and Maharaj were nailed on the front pad for plumb lbws. Kyle Verreynne then became Broad's third, as he snicked another off-stump lifter through to Foakes for 21, but England's habitual struggles to see off the tail resurfaced before tea as Rabada took to the long handle with Nortje for company.
Straight after the break, however, Robinson earned his first wicket since the Hobart Test in January as Nortje was pinned plumb lbw, before Rabada - with only Lungi Ngidi for company - aimed a wild hack at Jack Leach to be caught at slip.
That left England with a full session in which to survive or thrive, and given neither of their efforts at Lord's had extended beyond 45 overs, there was no immediate guarantee that South Africa would not be batting again before the close. Sure enough, Alex Lees was caught behind in Ngidi's first over, before Ollie Pope's skittish attempts to force the pace came a familiar cropper at the hands of Nortje's genuine pace.
But it was Root's extraction, at 43 for 3 in the 14th over, that could truly have rattled England's cage. As at Lord's, his dismissal was prefaced by a loud groan of "oh no!" - such is the surety of his shot selection, he's equally sure when he's got his choices wrong - as Erwee at first slip juggled a full four times before clutching a precious chance to his chest.
Crawley by this stage was deeply entrenched on a dour 7 from 34 balls - a far cry from the flowing attributes for which he has been retained in the team. And yet, his innings was characterised first and foremost by good choices, a steadfast refusal to be lured outside the eyeline, and a blank-batted resolve to see off anything and everything that challenged the line of off stump.
He struck just one four in his first 69 balls - and that, off Ngidi, was a freebie into his pads - before picking off a sweep against Maharaj in the dying moments of the day. But, with the match situation set in stone by South Africa's early collapse, Crawley's lack of hurry was in itself a positive option, in the truest sense of the mindset shift that Brendon McCullum has set about instilling in his players.
It certainly offered Bairstow a bedrock from which to push into his own evening's work. This was not a return to the dashing displays that had lit up his efforts against New Zealand and India, but nor, in the circumstances, did it need to be. And yet, six peppered boundaries kept his innings ticking along at a strike-rate of 84, to ensure England as a whole were still easing along at a notch under four an over - and to ensure the sight of Broad in his pads on the pavilion balcony, ready to be unleashed as the "Nighthawk" if the need had arisen. In spite of the manifest flaws on display, they could not have dreamed of a match situation that plays more clearly to their strengths.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
#Match #Report #South #Africa #England #2nd #Test
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"If they are firing in the middle order and we conduct ourselves like we have been doing of late, our Test side can only grow. But they are here, they are being backed. I don't see a change. Consistency is key to success, and even consistency in selection. It's a tough series playing against England away from home. You need to back your horses that you've been backing for a while now."
Markram has only recently moved into the No.4 role after effectively being dropped as an opener in New Zealand following a poor run. He had scored 140 runs at 15.56 in five Tests before that. But, Keegan Petersen contracted Covid-19 and missed the trip, which opened up a spot for Markram to bat at No.3. He scored 76 runs in four innings on that tour and 16 runs at No.4 at Lord's. Van der Dussen has done better, but only slightly. He has scored 233 runs in his last six Tests at 23.30 and has not scored a half-century since his unbeaten 75 in West Indies last year.
Verreynne is the player with a lot more slack. Not only is he the wicketkeeper and likely to be in that role for the long haul but he is one of only four South African batters to score a century in their last 11 Tests. His only serious competitor at the moment is Ryan Rickelton, though he is not thought to be South Africa's first-choice gloveman. While South Africa have won eight of those matches, they remain concerned with the line-up, especially in difficult conditions.
Though he has not said it outright, that was one of the reasons Elgar chose to bowl in cloudy, humid conditions at Lord's, even though he is usually a bat-first captain. England are expecting Old Trafford to present more challenges for batters with Ben Stokes explaining Ollie Robinson's selection as being due to extra pace and bounce in Manchester.
Elgar brushed that off as tactical talk, and, as he so often does, leaned on South Africa's stronger suit to counter that. "I love the mind games," he said. "If there is going to be extra pace and bounce, I am pretty sure our fast bowlers will extract it."
#Eng #2nd #Test #Trafford #South #Africa #middle #order #pressure #score #runs
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However, as England trained on Tuesday afternoon at Emirates Old Trafford, ahead of the second Test, which begins on Thursday, there was an unshakeable sense the players knew their talismanic captain a lot better. Maybe not with regards to persona or humour, or wonts and desires. But of why he is who he is, how he has come to be who he is. And, fundamentally, how the fact he is their leader and one of the best cricketers this county has produced is as much because of and despite circumstance.
Players left the theatre struck by being presented with the red-eyes and cold trauma of a man coach Brendon McCullum jokes is often regarded by those around him as "bionic". Some of those present who contributed to the film as a talking head knew the framing of the movie but were still affected by seeing a mate come forward about their anxieties on the big screen. Conversations in private brought into the brightest lights.
Despite his humility, there is a lot more from the former captain than that. And of all the reviews published so far, perhaps the most important ahead of Friday's release comes from Root. He believes absolutely that the film will have enhanced Stokes' status amongst the group and thus inspire a dressing room to come good for him.
"I think it's very powerful what he's done, to be honest," Root said. "To share his journey and his story and everything that he's had to go through. Not just with us as team but the rest of the world. I think it's quite a powerful thing and, you know, I can't see how it won't better the environment that we're playing in. And it takes great courage and shows great leadership actually, that it's okay to not be okay sometimes, and to ask for help and go and do what he's done. So it can only be a good thing.
"When you see everything that he's dealt with and put it all together and think that's only in a four- or five-year period - wow. You can forget that. Everything that's engulfed that period of time and weighed upon him throughout that journey, and I think it's quite remarkable actually that he is where he is now having been through all that."
Root admitted there were topics even he wasn't aware of. Though he expected there would be some stuff Stokes kept to himself, even if the pair are thick as thieves. "You know Ben - he has not always found it easy to tell everyone where he's at, how he's feeling," Root said.
It will be fascinating to see how Root is with Stokes going forward in a professional capacity. So far he has focused on scoring runs, with 583 at 83.28 and three centuries across five Tests this summer, though a blip of 8 and 6 at Lord's coincided with the first defeat under Stokes and new head coach Brendon McCullum. It was put to Root that over the last two years, if he does not make one fifty in the Test, England lose. Typically, he lays that on himself: "Well, it's your job, to score runs, as a batter. It's something you pride yourself on, you want to contribute to wins. That's part and parcel of it. The better you get the more expectation there is."
But after watching the documentary, he might wonder how captaincy may exacerbate some of the issues Stokes has raised. Because no one knows better than Root just how the role can grind you down. The troughs across his five years in charge were such that acknowledgement of his undoubted quality as one of the best batters - if not the best Test batter - this country has produced was dwarfed by criticism of his captaincy.
By the end, the barbs and pressure, particularly off the back of a second demoralising Ashes defeat and then a loss in the Caribbean, had started to rob him and loved ones of his true self. "I had loved leading my country," he said in his exit statement. "But recently it's hit home how much of a toll it has taken on me and the impact it has had on me away from the game."
No one will be more aware of those signs than Root. And it might be that while Stokes takes it upon himself to captain by sympathy to his players and encourage them to show their best selves while at times sacrificing himself, the former skipper must bring the empathy to ensure his friend has all the necessary support in one of the most challenging jobs.
"I think it's just a great example to everyone that regardless of what may be perceived on the outside everyone has those vulnerabilities and can get themselves into a very difficult place. To come from there you do need help and support from others. It's a great wake-up call. You've got to make sure the guys around you [are okay] and do what you can to reach out when the time's right or if you see something.
"I love batting and I love Ben. I've said it enough times! I want to try to help us win as many games as possible and score as many runs as I can. It's very easy for me. I don't play cricket to be the best captain or score the most runs, I play to win games and enjoy that with the lads I play with."
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor for ESPNcricinfo
Source
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Tesla Model 3
Source: Tesla
YouTube has removed a pair of videos from its platform which showed Tesla drivers conducting amateur vehicle safety tests using their own children in place of mannequins in the road or the driveway.
The tests were to determine if a slow-moving Tesla equipped with the company's latest driver assistance systems would automatically avoid colliding with pedestrians — in this case children — walking or standing still in the road.
After CNBC reached out, a YouTube spokesperson, Elena Hernandez, wrote in an e-mail Friday night:
"YouTube doesn't allow content showing a minor participating in dangerous activities or encouraging minors to do dangerous activities. Upon review, we determined that the videos raised to us by CNBC violate our harmful and dangerous policies, and as a result we removed the content."
The specific policy that YouTube cited is pertaining to harmful and dangerous content. The company removes videos that encourage dangerous or illegal activities that risk serious physical harm or death when it is aware of them. The spokesperson said, "Specifically, we don't allow content showing or encouraging minors in harmful situations that may lead to injury, including dangerous stunts, dares, or pranks."
Tesla markets its driver assistance systems in the U.S. as a standard package called Autopilot and a premium option called Full Self-Driving (or FSD) that costs $12,000 up front or $199 per month. It also offers some drivers access to an experimental program called Full Self-Driving Beta if they attain a high score on the company's in-vehicle safety tests.
None of these systems make Tesla cars self-driving, nor safe to use without a driver behind the steering wheel, attentive to the road and able to steer, brake, or accelerate on short notice. Tesla's owners manuals caution drivers that the systems do not make their cars autonomous.
In a video posted on Aug. 14, a Tesla owner and investor in the Elon Musk-led company, Tad Park, drove a Model 3 vehicle at eight miles per hour towards one of his children on a road in the San Francisco Bay Area. No one was hurt in the test.
The video had tens of thousands of views before YouTube, a division of Alphabet's Google, removed it. Alphabet also owns Waymo, the autonomous vehicle technology developer and robotaxi operator.
Park is the CEO of Volt Equity, and portfolio manager of an autonomous driving technology focused ETF called VCAR. "I have experienced the product myself, and believe in my investments," Park told CNBC. "We did extensive safety precautions so that kids were never in danger."
In a follow-up email, Park wrote, "First we tried on a mannequin, then we tried with a tall basketball player, then finally one kid stood and my other kid crossed the street."
He said the car was never traveling more than eight miles an hour, and explained, "We made sure the car recognized the kid. Even if the system completely failed, I was prepared to take over at any time. I had a sense of when I was going to need to brake if the car was not sufficiently slowing down."
The tests were a success in Park's view, because the car slowed and did not strike any object, pedestrian or his kids. Asked if he would do it again, he said: "I do not think further tests are necessary, but if I did, yes, I would do this test again."
"That being said, I wouldn't recommend people to deliberately try this at home," he added.
Park conducted the tests in part as a rebuttal against a national advertising campaign from software company founder Dan O'Dowd criticizing Tesla's driver assistance features.
The video, now removed, was posted on a YouTube channel named Whole Mars Catalog, which is run by Omar Qazi, a shareholder and major promoter of Tesla on social networks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk frequently interacts with the blog and Qazi on Twitter.
In addition to YouTube, CNBC reached out to the California DMV and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ask whether such videos are safe or legal.
NHTSA said on Aug. 16, "NHTSA advises the public that it could be highly dangerous for anyone to attempt to test vehicle technologies on their own. No one should risk their life, or the life of anyone else, to test the performance of vehicle technology."
The agency also noted, "As NHTSA has stated consistently, no vehicle available for purchase today is capable of driving itself. The most advanced vehicle technologies available for purchase today provide driver assistance and require a fully attentive human driver at all times performing the driving task and monitoring the surrounding environment."
The California DMV told CNBC via email: "As advanced vehicle technologies become more widely available, DMV shares the same concerns as other traffic safety stakeholders about the potential for driver misunderstanding or misuse of these features. DMV has previously indicated to Tesla and continues to emphasize the importance of providing clear and effective communication to customers, buyers and the general public about the capabilities, limitations and intended use of any vehicle technology."
The California DMV recently alleged that Tesla is engaging in deceptive marketing or false advertising where its driver assistance systems are concerned. It is also in the midst of a lengthy safety related review of Tesla's technology including FSD Beta.
Police in the town where Park conducted the test drive did not respond in time for publication. Tesla did not immediately return a request for comment.
Fast News
Chilean legislators will begin random drug testing in the next few days after a proposal making it compulsory was approved last month, despite criticism from some lawmakers.
The first 78 Chilean deputies to be tested were randomly drawn this week, and will now have their first series of drug tests, in an effort to raise the standards of transparency in parliamentary work.
The new proposal states that all legislators will need to be tested twice every four-year term, and any positive results will be made public.
"There is nothing more important than giving people transparency, that their parliamentarians are not consumers," right-wing Deputy Juan Antonio Coloma told the country's public TV channel on Thursday.
'Unacceptable show'
It comes as the Finish prime minister said she would do a voluntary drug test after being filmed on a night out.
The Chilean proposal, however, has divided lawmakers along party lines in a country that is in the process of voting on a new constitution, looking to overhaul national politics.
"I do not agree with the procedure," independent legislator Marcela Riquelme told TV Nacional de Chile, with others calling the measure an "unacceptable show".
Legislators who refuse to take tests could be referred to the House Ethics Committee.
Source: Reuters
Rabada was duly named Player of the Match for his seven wickets, including 5 for 52 in England's first innings, but Nortje was the game-breaker on day three, as he steamed in with speeds touching 95mph to rout England's middle order with three for none in ten balls in the mid-afternoon, including England's star batter of the summer, Jonny Bairstow, for the second time in the match.
"I definitely didn't think that waking up this morning," Elgar said during the post-match presentations, when asked if he had envisaged such a swift denouement, given his side had come into the day with an overnight lead of 124 and three first-innings wickets remaining. "I was thinking the guys have got to bat long and hard and try and extend that lead, and when it's our turn to come and bowl, we've got to put the ball in the right area thinking it might flatten out.
"But Nortje's spell was something that just broke the back," he added. "He ran in with a lot of intent and a lot of anger, and it was great to watch from where I was fielding, I'm sure it wasn't nice to face."
"My [captaincy] decisions come with a lot of positivity into the camp," he said. "We want the guys to go out and express themselves. Even though we play in a South African way, it's our way, it's a unique way, and slowly but surely we're building on that. For me, the toss is just a decision that one guy has to make and the rest have to follow, and the guys are doing a great job with that. I'm very grateful with the young squad that I have."
"I've got a very good think-tank behind the scenes," he added. "We've got good coaches with a lot of advice, and I process the advice as well. Sometimes you just go with gut and a bit of luck. Things worked out today, with Kesh [Maharaj] obviously getting a few wickets and then bringing on Anrich who bowls with the speed of light when he gets it right. But I never settle for what I have, I'm always trying to get better with my job."
"Obviously, we're disappointed to lose. It'd be silly for me to say anything different," Stokes said. "But if we dive into this too much, about one result in a three-match series, then we're not looking forward to what's coming ahead. Now we've got two more games to bounce back from this. And then hopefully, take the series 2-1."
The crushing manner of the defeat, Stokes added, would not deflect the team from continuing in their recent proactive manner.
"Absolutely not," he said. "I look at captains before me, captains after me. They're always going to get criticised at certain times about the way that they want to play. That's just part and parcel with life, I guess.
"We know that, when we perform to the capabilities that we're capable of, then we can go out and put some incredible performances like everybody's been able to see in the four games before this. This isn't a wake-up call or anything like that. It's just, unfortunately, we were unable to execute in the way that we wanted to play this week against South Africa."
Stokes did, however, hint that the ECB's white-ball focus had been a factor in his team losing some momentum from the highs they had achieved against New Zealand and India six weeks earlier. Unlike South Africa, England's players did not have the benefit of a red-ball warm-up match to reacquaint themselves with the longer game's rhythms, and he suggested that would be an issue worth considering for the future.
"I don't want to use that situation as an excuse whatsoever. Maybe there could be an opportunity to put a first-class game in there for the lads to go off and just get out there in the field, whether it be a bowler or a batter, but I think if I'm looking at that and using that as an excuse, it's not really what I want to be saying."
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
World Cup organisers have sent 1,300 buses onto the streets of Qatar's capital Doha in a test of what they have called one of the most elaborate transport operations ever mounted for an international event.
"This is the most complex transport operations ever mounted for a major sporting event," said Ahmad al Obaidly, chief operating officer of Mowasalat, on Thursday.
Mowasalat operates Qatar's bus and taxi services.
In the first scrutiny of their years of preparations, organisers mimmicked the schedule for the busiest days of the tournament when about 300,000 fans could be in Doha at the same time.
Amid sweltering summer heat, hundreds of air-conditioned but mainly empty buses went out to stadiums, metro stations and pickup points.
At the Al Wakra metro station in the Doha suburbs, more than 1,000 Mowasalat drivers pretended to be fans to be ferried to the Al Janoub stadium five kilometres away.
The Al Bayt stadium, where the opening game will be held on November 20, does not have its own metro station.
With more than one million people expected to descend on the tiny Gulf state for the tournament, the government is taking no chances with their multi-billion dollar preparations.
And getting the football hordes around the city and between the eight stadiums promises to be one of the biggest challenges.
READ MORE: FIFA increases squad limit to 26 players for 2022 Qatar World Cup
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3ZqjcIDAeA[/embed]
'No fan will be left behind'
Hundreds of buses without passengers plied the 25 kilometres to the nearest station in the new city of Lusail, as they will when they take England and US fans to their match.
The buses even made the return journey after midnight to copy conditions for the Group B late night game.
"We want to make sure our plans are going in the right direction," said Thani Al Zarraa, mobility operations director for the Qatar organisers.
Obaidly said 3,000 buses had been purchased and there would be more than 4,000 on the streets for the World Cup.
The company has also doubled its number of drivers to 14,000 for the event. Most have been brought in from South Asia and Africa.
They have been trained in "defensive driving" to avoid on-the-road hazards and there are "contingency plans" for troublesome spectators, the executive said.
Each bus also has five CCTV cameras monitored at a central command centre for troublemakers.
After the tournament, Qatar's older buses will be given away and as part of its World Cup legacy, it will be "one of the first countries in the world to have a pure electric public transportation service," said Obaidly.
Al Zarraa advised visiting fans to plan their trips in advance and "be patient". But the bus company chief promised: "No fan will be left behind."
READ MORE: Ticket sales for Qatar World Cup launched at reduced prices
Source: AFP
Amidst the tumult, a return to more familiar rhythms - albeit with the expectation of a modernist twist here and there. For five days this week, it might even be possible to pretend it is Situation Normal in the febrile world of international cricket, where a packed house at Lord's will burble and murmur in that inimitably disinterested fashion as England and South Africa do battle once again in the grandest old format.
It is rare, but hardly unique, for the Lord's Test - the traditional centrepiece of the English summer - to begin this late in the season. Last year's India Test got underway on August 12, an early indicator of the sport's direction of travel given the onset of the maiden season of the Hundred, while in 2017, West Indies became the first visiting team to play a Test at the ground in September.
But with the provisional dates for next summer's Ashes suggesting no August Tests at all for the first time in 139 years - thereby clearing the players' decks for full participation in the ECB's new centrepiece event - the challenge to an inherently insecure format seems especially real this year. Just as the County Championship has been condemned in recent years to the margins of the summer, so it seems the parent format is to be shunted the same way. The forecast week of rain, amid the hottest, driest summer on record, feels like an apt comment on such prioritisation.
All of which seems deeply ironic given the narrative of the summer so far. England's world-beating white-ball team has failed to win a home series for the first time since 2013, and while the Hundred has had its moments (where there's a Will, there's a way, as Messrs Smeed and Jacks can attest) it would take a well-remunerated cheerleading commentator to pretend that the contests we've so far witnessed have been the apogee of sporting endeavour.
"The Yorkshireman inside me is still saying 'dig in, play straight and get behind it'," Root said after his matchwinning 142 not out against India. "Then there's the captain on the other shoulder saying 'be a rockstar'. So you're fighting between the two of them, sometimes."
Quite apart from the entertainment that England's new attitude has offered, the imperative for such fireworks is equally plain to see. It's not simply the Hundred that is putting the squeeze on Test cricket - the explosion of franchise tournaments is turning the screw like never before, with Cricket South Africa's IPL satellite event and the oil-rich pickings of the UAE-based International League chief among them, meaning that the five-day game needs to adapt to survive.
The format needs to be entertaining, both to encourage the best players to keep putting themselves forward to play it, but also to be recognisable to the coming generation that might not have the defensive techniques to dig out for a 180-over draw, but possess the range and power of strokes that might even make a 500-run chase seem attainable.
Such are the genre-busting issues that England's new approach has brought bubbling to the surface. Not that South Africa yet seems fully sold on such nonsense, of course. Dean Elgar, their hard-bitten captain whose nuggetty technique so resembles that of his forebear Graeme Smith, has spoken in withering terms about the "Bazball" phenomenon, and having played an integral part in two hugely impressive, albeit old-school, run-chases against India earlier in the year, he's well within his rights to point out that traditional Test values still have their place.
"I don't see that there's longevity in brave cricket," he told Wisden Cricket Monthly. "I see things evening out over time in Test cricket. Had New Zealand taken their opportunities, England would have come away with egg on their faces."
And yet, they come into this game off the back of a full-frontal Bazballing against England Lions at Canterbury - defeat by an innings after conceding 672 at close to a run a ball. As the Lions skipper Sam Billings put it afterwards: "You'd be pretty stupid to ignore that, if I'm honest. If that's not a wake-up call…. because we're not even the best XI."
England: WWWWL (last five completed matches; most recent first)
South Africa: WLWWL
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Alex Lees, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (capt.), 7 Ben Foakes, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Jack Leach, 10 Matthew Potts, 11 James Anderson
South Africa (probable): 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Keegan Petersen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Rassie van der Dussen, 6 Kyle Verreynne, 7 Keshav Maharaj, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Anrich Nortje
Kagiso Rabada underwent a fitness test on Tuesday and is due another check-up after straining the medial ligament on his right ankle. With Duanne Olivier already ruled out of the series with a torn hip flexor muscle, South Africa will be particularly keen for their attack leader to come through fit and firing, and signs were promising on match eve. Beyond that assessment, the main decision could come down to the selection of an extra batter if they choose to overlook the up-and-coming allrounder Marco Jansen. Ryan Rickelton has been in fine form in the Championship for Northamptonshire, although there's the outside chance that Khaya Zondo could be called up for his second cap, having not batted on debut against Bangladesh in April.
Rain is in the offing after weeks of drought in London, with the contest set to traverse the downpours over the coming five days. That may, in turn, play a part in the conditions, with Lord's traditionally a venue where you look up, not down, at the toss. To date, the pitch looks fairly green, although a lot of that grass is likely to be removed before the first ball is bowled.
"The opposition seem to be doing a lot of talking about it. We don't really speak about it that much. They've got a style of play, we've got a style of play." Stokes on Elgar's criticism of the term "Bazball"
"With all due respect, I am really not going to entertain that anymore. We've chatted about it long and hard. I just want to crack on with the cricket. I think the game deserves that respect. Mudslinging is a thing of the past for me and we are not going to go back and forth on that." Elgar's last word on the B-word
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
"Duanne presented with significant discomfort involving his right hip flexor muscle at the close of play on day three of the four-day tour match," team doctor Hashendra Ramjee said. "After clinical assessment, he was referred for an MRI scan which revealed a grade 2 tear involving the right pectineus muscle.
"Due to the extent of the injury, he has been ruled out of the three-match Test series against England and will return home where he will commence his rehabilitation with the Gauteng Central Lions medical team."
Olivier was the best of the South African quick bowlers in the tour game, sending down 13 overs for returns of 2 for 59, even as the Lions put up 672 in their only outing with the bat.
The first Test will be played at Lord's from August 17, and will be followed by the second and third Tests, at Old Trafford (from August 25) and at The Oval (from September 8).
Squad: Dean Elgar (capt), Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Khaya Zondo, Glenton Stuurman.
ICC chairman election process tweaked
The ICC Board also approved a change in the process to elect the next chair of the board. That election is due to take place in November 2022 and will now be decided by a simple majority, instead of a two-thirds majority - a system which led to a protracted and fractions process last time. That election brought Barclay to the chair and he is expected to fight for another term. The next chairperson's tenure will run from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2024.
ICC continues to monitor Afghanistan cricket
The ICC's working group as well as representatives from the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) updated the ICC Board on the situation in the country and specifically on women's cricket. ICC representatives are hoping to meet with ACB and government officials in the coming weeks an ICC release said to take the matter further.
New members
With the addition of Cambodia, Cote D'Ivoire and Uzbekistan the ICC now has 108 Members in total, including 96 Associates.
Meanwhile, Cricket Russia has had its membership terminated. The board had been suspended at last year's AGM for continued non-compliance since July 2019 on several criteria revolving around the board's governance.
Sri Lanka 315 for 6 (Chandimal 80, Oshada 50, Nawaz 2-71) vs Pakistan
While spinners found turn, it wasn't the rapid variety that causes collapses. The quicks found some movement off the surface, but only while the seam was hard. It was a batting-friendly day. And if anything, Sri Lanka may be kicking themselves for losing one wicket too many.
It was Chandimal, the form batter in the Sri Lanka side, who pushed Sri Lanka forward better than anyone else, however. Two of his first three boundaries boundaries were streaky - an inside edge past the stumps off Yasir Shah, and a outside edge past slip against Naseem.
But eventually, things settled, and Chandimal was in his confident-but-measured self, finding gaps through cover when he went for the big drives, working the singles square on either side of the pitch, but rarely employing the sweep apart from when he was looking for a boundary. He got to fifty off the 99th ball he faced, and hit a couple of sixes off Yasir Shah soon after - one over deep square leg when Yasir sent him a long hop, and the other over wide long-on, when he got down on one knee to clatter Yasir.
As with several of Sri Lanka's batters, Chandimal was out against the run of play, when he had been under little pressure from the bowlers. He ran down at Nawaz, got nowhere close to the ball, tried to launch him over cow corner anyway, and ended up just giving a leading edge out to point, where Fawad Alam gobbled a straightforward catch.
Oshada, Sri Lanka's other half-centurion, had also attacked the spinners in the morning session. He used his feet to hit three sixes in the arc between midwicket and long-off, although the first hour had largely been defined by watchfulness and defence. He got to his half century, raised his bat, and was out moments later, edging a big-turning Nawaz delivery behind, as he sought to defend.
His was the first of three top order wickets to fall for 28 runs. Kusal was out from that unlucky run out off the ball that turned out to be the last of the first session. Soon after resumption, a Dimuth Karunaratne reverse sweep found backward point, and Sri Lanka's captain was out for 40, again despite the lack of serious pressure upon him. This, though, came in Yasir's best spell of the day, in which he also tested Mathews and Chandimal.
While Sri Lanka did not put on a century stand, they had three that surpassed 50, and only one that was worth less than 24. Dickwella's busy 42 not out off 43, in which he hit five boundaries and a six, perhaps edged the day for the hosts, though there's plenty of work to be done by the lower order.
At stumps, Sri Lanka were dreaming of a total in excess of 400. Pakistan one south of 350.
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf
