* Live updates from Newlands as tourists bid to square series * Burns and Archer add to England injury woe on ‘cursed’ tour * And you can email Tim or tweet him @timdelisle 10.51pm GMT MORNING EVERYONE and welcome to England’s first Test of the 2020s. It feels like the last Test of an Ashes winter: half the team injured, replacements flying in, wheels falling off. Two weeks ago it was South Africa who were in disarray. Now they’re one up and feeling quietly pleased with themselves, while disarray, like a Greek god, has changed sides on a whim. England’s luck has gone from bad to curse – first a flu epidemic, then Jofra Archer’s bad elbow, now a football injury taking Rory Burns out of the whole series. If Alastair Cook was due at this game as a commentator, he’d probably find himself playing in it. England’s top three may well be Sibley, Crawley and Denly, who sound more like a set of adverbs than a source of runs. Sibley has played three Tests, Crawley one; Sibley has 74 Test runs, which is 73 more than Crawley. Denly, who’s on 651, has at least found a way of making uncharacteristically dour fifties, but England may need a bit more than that here. Newlands, in Cape Town, is made for batting, almost as much as for taking pictures. Continue reading...
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