Steve Harmison with a cap, yesterday. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images
3pm To recap, it’s raining, it’s pouring, Rob Smyth’s snoring, and there’s unlikely to be any play for the next hour. I’m off to write a Fiver but will keep you abreast of the weather, drop-by-drop.
Riffs, while u wait Anyone got any riffs to pass the [...]

South Africa are left with a mountain to climb. Photograph: Getty Images
1) South Africa need 21 off 1 ball, World Cup semi-final, Sydney, March 22 1992
For such a cerebral game, cricket can be hideously dunderheaded, happy to toss commonsense into a sea of bureaucracy and another word that begins with ‘bu’. The denouements to the [...]

Graeme Smith is undergoing treatment but admits his back is causing him pain. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images
Graeme Smith could face a late fitness test before facing England at Edgbaston tomorrow. The South Africa captain revealed he is suffering from a back injury sustained during his side’s three-day game against Bangladesh A at Worcester [...]

Alastair Cook: time for a career-defining innings? No, no apparently not. Photograph: Scott Heavey/Action Images
66th over: England 156-6 (Ambrose 1 Flintoff 2)Kallis takes a spell and Steyn is on. “Only Flintoff’s beard stands between South Africa and victory now” comments Keith Flett, lost somewhere in world of his own. A maiden, Flintoff picking out [...]

Flintoff will replace Paul Collingwood. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images
Andrew Flintoff will make his first Test appearance for England in 18 months in the second Test against South Africa at Headingley, captain Michael Vaughan has confirmed.
Vaughan stated that Flintoff will bat at No7, though he could not confirm who he would replace, as the final [...]

Flintoff said he had no worries over his fitness. Photograph: S Forster/Getty
Andrew Flintoff believes he can become a better player than ever in Test cricket as he prepares to return for England after a lengthy injury lay-off.
After being kept out of the Test side for 18 months by a succession of injuries, Flintoff has [...]

I never thought it would be this easy. Photograph: Tom Shaw/Getty Images
49th over: South Africa 110-0 (McKenzie 42 Smith 60)Don’t worry, there’s Jacques Kallis to come after this you know. “Dear Mr. Bull” writes the extremely polite Michael Gorman, “When did “gift” become a verb? (If there was anything interesting about the cricket, I wouldn’t [...]

South Africa players celebrate victory after Ricky Januarie’s try. Photograph: Ross Land/Getty Images
The world champions are back on track, but this win required an individual try out of nothing from Ricky Januarie with five minutes to go while they were down to 14 men. Victor Matfield, stand-in skipper in the absence of John Smit, had [...]