Anderson lacking shelter

James Anderson deserves to be in considerable credit for a performance that will hardly register when people look at the scorecard in years to come. After 44 overs for a return of three for 136 that did no justice to his efforts, he stuck around for nearly two hours as nightwatchman, taking blows from Dale Steyn on the right wrist and helmet along the way. After that, it was inevitable that Steyn would take his wicket with a full-length ball. Anderson was reluctant to come forward. Who could blame him?

Pietersen must carry the can

We know about Kevin Pietersen's Red Bull runs, the sharp singles he seeks to get off the mark. Yesterday, when we needed a John Bull innings, he gave us more of the Red Bull variety, crashing three of his first four balls to the boundary before edging the fifth to Mark Boucher. Like Pietersen, above, Andrew Flintoff is sponsored by the energy drink company and he has not been shy to place the product discreetly over the past week. He rested a can in a prominent spot on the metal frame of the players' viewing area before his second innings.

The price of change

After scoring only 52 runs in the second session, England made a decision to go harder after tea. Tim Ambrose had struck only two runs in his first hour at the crease; Flintoff did not hit a first boundary until his 72nd ball. But the change in momentum did for both. Ambrose cut a ball that was too close - the type he was earlier allowing to drift outside his off stump - and Flintoff, having stroked a couple of fours off Steyn, drove loosely in the next over from Morne Morkel and was caught at second slip. In a depressing match for England, that Flintoff finished in better nick than he began was at least one straw to clutch.

Behaviour that reflected badly

The behaviour of a section of the West Stand - formerly the Western Terrace - has again been a disgrace to Yorkshire CCC. The lowest of several low points came when play was held up briefly in the afternoon because a spectator reflected sunlight into the eyes of Daryl Harper, the umpire, above.