Nick Compton must spend so much energy out there when batting. He's so focused. There's a little appeal for a caught-behind, but the ball flicked the pads. Not out.

Andrew Samson
BBC Test Match Special statistician

"Nick Compton's strike-rate in Test cricket is 34. In the County Championship it is 47."

Hugh, Shipley: Compton looks the part. Hales would be better at 4 or 5 but there is no vacancy.

The outfield is about as quick as a Louis van Gaal news conference - England just aren't getting full value for some punchy cover drives. Three from it.

Image source, Rex Features

James Gutteridge:Re 46 overs. James Taylor second tier? I'll have one of whatever Graeme Smith's drinking.

Adam Becket: I think James Taylor is my new favourite England batsman.

Ben Stokes is the next man in and he's caught napping by the television cameras. He retained his dignity though - no wide-open mouth, sticky out tongue or saliva dripping from his chin. It feels like England are beginning to play for the light now. Nothing silly, take the singles when they can.

Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

"I can see the problems with England's batting. Some of them have been found out in their techniques. You can't go on having collapses and keep expecting to win Test matches. They've been inconsistent.

 "They have to make do with what they've got. They've not got the great payers of the past, but they have to get players who make a team."

Kyle Abbott looks like somebody who might have played for Wimbledon in the early nineties. I don't know what it is, but he looks like he's had a few pints down the years with Mick Harford, Alan Cork and Vinnie Jones.

He's a good bowler, mind. As third seamers go, there can't be many better. He's angling the ball back into the right-handers. Just one from the over.

Danny Cash, Brentwood: I have already smashed half of a huge Melton Mowbray pork pie listening to the fightback. Will only have the other half if these two post 50 each. C'mon lads.

I'm glad Dale Steyn has consigned the long hair and headbands to the dustbin of history. It just detracted from his menace.

Nick Compton looks like he's going nowhere fast. He's playing a fine hand, and is only denied a cover boundary by some typically athletic South African fielding.

These two teams are locked in stalemate at the moment. Both are evenly matched and are grappling on the floor like a pair of jack russells.

The dogs, not the cricketer. Everyone knows there's only one Jack Russell the cricketer!

Boski: Dale Steyn's haircut is truly naff. (What to say if you can't criticise the bowling).

Graeme Smith
Ex-South Africa captain on BBC Test Match Special

"Dale Steyn is such a timid man, a lovely man off the field, But when he crosses that line something just flicks in his brain."

Seamer Kyle Abbott replaces Dane Piedt. Compton collects an off-side single off the first ball but that's about it. The atmosphere becoming a little subdued at Kingsmead.

Graeme Smith
Ex-South Africa captain on BBC Test Match Special

"If you're in the England dressing room now, you'll be happy. Before the series people were saying, who's going to step up? It's not Cook or Root - the recovery has been done by two second-tier batsmen."

50 for Taylorpublished at 14:24

14:24

Eng 133-3

Image source, Rex Features

Dale Steyn is sporting a fluorescent pink strip on his elbow. Like he wore it for a party and has forgotten to take it off. He's tearing in, sending the ball down at around 93mph. Not that James Taylor is too bothered. He drives the fast bowler down the ground to bring up another half-centry.

Stand and deliver. James Taylor unfurls a powerful cover drive when Dane Piedt pitches up. 

Graeme Smith
Ex-South Africa captain on BBC Test Match Special

"With Compton, it's almost like the glue is coming out of the top of his handle, he's that intense. He's certainly got the talent - he's got to find the relaxed place where he can perform."

That's really interesting, Ursula. Feel free to email in again and tell us what the two men were like, and even feel free to chuck in the odd anecdote. Both look like they might have had drive to reach the top from the very start.

England dealing in singles at the moment. That's all they need to do.

Ursula Eyles: I wonder how Hashim Amla is feeling watching his old Durban High School mate Nick Compton deny him here. The two played in the same teams as young cricketers. I captained the two of them and another future Test cricketer Imraan Khan, all in the same Reserve League team in Durban when they were about 14 or 15 years old.