The players come out for the match, holding hands with mascots. Even the umpires and match referee are accompanied by a mascot.

The South Africa players in particular are chatting away to the children. Morne Morkel is having a giggle with his new mate. Good to see.

Now time for the national anthems.

Simon Richardson: Re. 08:15. Yes! The pattern shows that we can be very hopeful of a result one way or the other!

Image source, Getty Images

I've just seen footage of South Africa's bowling debutant Hardus Viljoen. He's an absolute brute of a man. He looks more bouncer than bowler.

He's good, though. He hits the deck hard, targeting the cracks and he's got 20 wickets in his past two games on this ground.

He has almost 300 first-class wickets to his name at 25.77. He could be a very big threat in this match.

• South Africa have won only two of their past 12 home Tests against England (D5 L5)
• England have won only once in their past seven Tests at the Wanderers, their worst win percentage at a South African venue (minimum three matches)
• Hashim Amla averages 53.6 at the Wanderers; second only to Daryll Cullinan with 54.1 (minimum 10 innings)
• Alastair Cook needs 147 runs to become only the second batsman (after Sachin Tendulkar) to score 1,000 in Tests against seven different teams

Matt Bodsworth: No lesson first so staying at home to watch the cricket this morning. Come on Jimmy make it worthwhile!!!

BBC Test Match Special

A little treat for you today. Our dear old thing Blowers has flown out for this match. Tune in to Henry, Jonathan and Geoffrey now - you can listen to TMS via this page or on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra.

South Africa: Dean Elgar, Stiaan van Zyl, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers *(capt), Faf du Plessis, Temba Bavuma, Dane Vilas (wk), Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada, Hardus Viljoen, Morne Morkel.

England: Alastair Cook (capt), Alex Hales, Nick Compton, Joe Root, James Taylor, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Steven Finn.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan), Rod Tucker (Australia)

TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (New Zealand)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka); Reserve umpire: Johan Cloete.

Mike Atherton, speaking on Sky Sports, tells us that South Africa's reserve wicketkeeper Dane Vilas has been given a police escort to ensure he gets to the ground as soon as possible.

He only found out he was playing this morning.

Have you ever been caught on the hop like that? Perhaps you were down to score for the firsts and ended up opening the batting against Tino Best? Let me know.

Right then... some housekeeping.

You've been here before, but I'm sure some haven't.

So here's how to get in touch today: #bbccricket on Twitter,, external81111 on the text or email tms@bbc.co.uk.

Talk about anything you want. As long as it links back to cricket in some way.

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa captain AB de Villiers: "We've played a lot of cricket here; the pitch always looks like this. It's overcast so it wasn't an easy decision to bat.

"Our batters are on great form and we're very excited to put pressure on England. We turned things around in Cape Town and we walk in today with a bit of confidence."

England captain Alastair Cook, speaking at the toss: "It was a really interesting decision. We were going to bat first because we think the cracks will open up, but it is cloudy too.

"We've had a week off... three days of no cricket and then three days of hard training."

England, by the way, are unchanged. Alex Hales is fit enough to open the batting... after Jimmy's rolled them, of course.

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa win the toss and will bat first.

It's green and it's cloudy. Over to you, Jimmy.

Image source, Getty Images

1st Test, Durban:England won by 241 runs

2nd Test, Cape Town:Match drawn

3rd Test, Johannesburg: 14-18 Jan

4th Test, Centurion: 22-26 Jan

Click here for the full tour schedule

Image source, Getty Images

Remember, Brad Haddin was ruled out after the toss at Edgbaston in 2009 and Graham Manou stepped up to make his one and only Test appearance.

Whatever happened to Graham Manou? Is he still playing? Or is he running a car dealership in New South Wales now?

Image source, Getty Images

First though, we have some breaking injury news for you.

South Africa have been forced into a late change after wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock suffered a knee injury.

He will be replaced by Dane Vilas who is flying in from Port Elizabeth and may not arrive for the start of the match at 08:30 GMT.

In which case, I presume South Africa will have to ask for permission to include him. England will likely be sympathetic.

And rightly so... but do you reckon Ricky Ponting or Brad Haddin would do the same?