England Summer Test Cricket

[Shaggy]

39-3 Cook gone, now for the kids

[Buzzo]

There is no mistaking SA have been the better team in this series since the first ball was bowled.

[Shaggy]

Yep, gotta hold our hands up. They've been much better.

[Shaggy]

54-4

[Buzzo]

Skittles. Could be a shocker this. Bairstow in next.

Of all the times for the ECB to fall out with Pietersen this was not a good one.

[Subby]

Did my rant about our team get deleted

[Buzzo]

Decent fightback by Bairstow and Bell.

Bells 58 off 157 balls though. At one point he was on 3 for 36 balls.

[Shaggy]

Decent fightback by Bairstow and Bell.

Bells 58 off 157 balls though. At one point he was on 3 for 36 balls.

Batted for nearly an hour for his 3

Tavare-esque

[Buzzo]

Batted for nearly an hour for his 3

Tavare-esque

England need Pietersen back because a top 4 of Cook, Strauss, Trott and Bell is dull as ****. At least Pietersen either gets out or scores really quickly.

3 runs in an hour FFS

[RichC]

Bairstow gone on 95, seems he was stuck there for an age!

268-8 45 behind SA

[Alex]

Really deserved that ton. Gutted for him. If England can't make it another few hours past lunch they will lose this test. Totally ****ed it this morning.

Also, that hit on Andersons elbow looked nasty.

[Shaggy]

This has been a cracking day's cricket so far. Loved the battle between Steyn and Finn. Hilarious stuff. 2nd innings shoot out

[Shaggy]

Kallis gone 131-3.

[Shaggy]

Broad STILL bowling every damn ball at 78/79mph.

[Shaggy]

****ing hell. The guy is a complete and utter moron. He's fallen out with management/captains at every single team he's played for. Every one. We should **** him off for good.

Did Pietersen betray his captain by advising South Africa how to dismiss Strauss?

The Kevin Pietersen controversy took a sensational twist amid claims the England batsman 'betrayed his captain' by sending texts to his South African opponents with advice on how to dismiss Andrew Strauss.

Pietersen, who is fighting to save his international career, has maintained the messages were just 'banter'.

But the Sunday Times claims one text message from Pietersen is understood to have suggested during the second Test at Leeds that South Africa's bowlers go round the wicket at Strauss.

Dale Steyn dismissed Strauss by using the tactic in the first innings.

Morne Morkel, who received the messages intended for Steyn, also dismissed Strauss in the same fashion during the first Test at the Oval.

The ECB will also ask Pietersen about a vile four-letter attack on Strauss.

At least one text – sent by the South African-born England batsman to opposing South African players – referred to team mate Andrew Strauss as a 'doos'. In Afrikaans the word literally means 'box', but it has a slang application of 'dumb cunt'.

The message, thought to be one of a series, cost Pietersen his place in the crucial final Test against South Africa at Lord's. And the disclosure of its obscene content will deepen divisions within the England team and further infuriate Strauss, who was also born in South Africa.

Although 32-year-old Pietersen issued a carefully worded apology after the scandal broke last week, he has been warned he will not even be considered for England duties again unless he divulges the full content of all the texts.

A source close to the England dressing room said: 'If he refuses to show the contents of the texts then he's finished and if he does show the texts then he's probably finished anyway.'

Pietersen is understood to have sent the messages to South African stars AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn during the second drawn Test in Leeds that culminated in a press conference in which Pietersen highlighted divisions within the dressing room.

He later described the text as 'banter between close friends', but Strauss admitted he felt 'let down' by his highest profile player.

In a further embarrassment, it has also become clear that Pietersen spent the Monday night of England's defeat in the first Test in a London wine bar close to his Chelsea home with members of the victorious South African team.

While his own team-mates licked their wounds, he was spotted in Brinkley's, a favourite haunt of Chelsea players – including his friend Frank Lampard – alongside Steyn and de Villiers and a handful of others.

Tensions between the batsman and the England management have been especially acute after cricket chiefs refused his demands that he be allowed to pick and choose his Test and one-day appearances so he could accept a contract worth more than £1.5million to appear in the Indian Premier League.

Pietersen's fall from grace overshadowed the deciding third Test, which saw England facing a struggle despite his replacement Jonny Bairstow making 95.

If England lose or draw the match, they will lose their world No 1 ranking to South Africa.

The Mail on Sunday has learned the source of the original texts leak is a member of the official South Africa tour party, despite denials.

On Wednesday, the tourists' captain Graeme Smith said claims that the existence of the texts had been deliberately made public were a 'load of rubbish'.

On Saturday night the England camp said it had no further comment and Pietersen's spokeman could not be reached.