Geoffrey Boycott
Ex-England batsman on BBC Test Match Special

Too many balls from South Africa have been too short, when it moves then you can see it and you have time. England are in a superior position. How does South Africa play so well with commitment and here the bowling has been way off.

50 partnershippublished at 12:36 British Summer Time 30 July 2017

12:36 BST 30 July 2017

Eng 142-2

Left-arm twirler Kashav Maharaj, who's not bowled in this innings, removes his sweater and starts setting his field... only for South Africa to change their minds and go back to Rabada. Boycs on TMS isn't happy, he calls it a "cheats' charter" when teams appear to deliberately slow down the over-rate. There's some applause as a couple of singles bring up the 50 partnership.

Richard Mellor: How different and wonderfully alien an England scoreboard looks when both numbers two and three make significant runs...

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

I would still keep with Jennings, you look at Adam Lyth, who probably lost his spot in the England team too soon. Trevor Bayliss seems like he would rather give someone one Test too many rather than one too few. It helps that England will probably win the game, you generally stick with a winning unit. Hameed has not played a lot of cricket, he got a second XI hundred but you can't pick someone for England on the back of that. Sometimes the right time to change a team is when you win. If the selectors have any inclination that Jennings will not be successful they have to make that call, but I just admire the fact he tried to do something different in the second innings.

Image source, Reuters

Single from Root, then Morris gets one past Westey's outside edge, I wonder if Root might overtake his score soon? A good leave ends the over - and it looks like it's time for some spin...

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

England will be around 350 ahead at lunch and then after a nice bit of chicken the message from the captain will be to try and score at four and fives and 450 will be the target.

Paul Mackereth: For an apparently leg side dominant player, as we're being told often, Westley has played some lovely cover and square drives.

Root has made his way to 33 in what feels like no time at all - notching another single to his account. Westley forces Philander for a well-timed four backward of point.

Image source, PA

Stuart Ormand: We need Hameed for Australia, pick him for Old Trafford & get him in nick - time is up for Jennings.

Carl Carritt: Jennings did a job for England. Saw off the new ball for the middle order, added valuable runs. All his detractors can jog on!

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

Joe Root has just started to flourish, Westley has played nicely and this pair will know they have done a lot of the hard work. South African heads will probably start to go a bit, their batsmen will start looking up to when England will declare and runs usually start to flow more easily in those situations.

Perhaps sensing rain in the air - and the need to get on with it - Root guides the errant Morris for a four off his legs, then helps himself to a well-run two to the patrolling Philander at fine leg. The captain cracks another four just wide of the diving Temba Bavuma on the point boundary, and pinches the strike with a single to third man - that's England's best over of the day, 11 from it.

Rishi Karmadillo: Is Aggers fishing for a Tube train to be named after him to go with the bus for Blowers?

Stuart Broad has a tram named after him in Nottingham, too!

The increasingly assured Westley plays out a maiden from Philander. His 37 has come from 91 deliveries - Root has 21 from 36.

Oh dear - there are a few umbrellas being unfurled around The Oval.

Better from Morris, who manages five dot balls before Root cuts another two to backward point to push the lead past 300.

Far more interestingly, Aggers' Vauxhall/Oval debate continues on TMS. Other options include taking an overground train from Waterloo to Vauxhall, or a boat. But the consensus seems to be with Vauxhall over Oval.

Michael Vaughan
Ex-England captain on BBC Test Match Special

Westley is going along nicely, what impressed me this morning is that South Africa have bowled well and restricted the boundaries but he got one on leg stump from Rabada and placed it nicely. He waited and waited. He flashed outside off stump but you're going to do that from time to time. When he plays a shot you don't feel he's hitting it hard but it races away.

Play resumes as Westley plays out a maiden from Philander.

To make up for the lack of runs, here's that four from Root off Morris from before drinks.

Jody Redmires: Kagiso Rabada - isn't that a song from The Lion King?

Jonathan Agnew
BBC cricket correspondent on TMS

I wouldn't say I had a dispute on the Underground this morning - I've just about worked out the Victoria Line - but sitting opposite to me and my left was a mummy, a daddy and a little boy with an earpiece trying to tune into TMS. We got to Vauxhall, I stood up. He said they were going to Stockwell, change lines and go to the Oval tube station. I felt a bit guilty leaving as when you get to Vauxhall it looks a bit further, but by the time you've changed lines it has to be quicker. Maybe we could have a race? I came by boat last year.

Michael Vaughan adds: I'd say if you go through the Alec Stewart Gate, use Vauxhall. If it's the Hobbs Gate, use Oval.

Now this could be a chance for England to up the rate - Chris Morris replaces Rabada at the Vauxhall Eng, and he was rather wild and expensive yesterday. Root and Westley help themselves to a single apiece - the latter tipped-and-run into the covers - and there's cries of "Roooot" around The Oval as he threads an attractive four through the covers. Drinks.