England v South Africa cricket: when does second Test match start, weather, how to watch, dates and squads

England suffered a harsh reality hit at Lord’s Cricket Ground last week as they quickly succumbed to the South African unit losing by an innings and 12 runs.

The beginning of summer offered a different story to the sights we witnessed a few days ago. They looked to be no score too big for England’s middle-order batters to chase down but now a very different story confronts Ben Stokes, Brendon McCullum and the rest of the team.

England were sent to bat first with a thunder storm looming over London and it was not long before both Alex Lees and Zak Crawley fell to Kagiso Rabada.

Ollie Pope’s bright innings was England’s only saving grace, managing to put up a stance of 73 off 102 balls, but this was of little use as no-one seemed particularly interested in staying out on the field with him.

South Africa’s Rabada took a stunning five wickets for 52 runs to reduce England to just 165 and it was now time for the Proteas to bat.

Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee put on a great opening partnership of 85 before the captain Elgar fell on 47, but with Erwee making 73, Marco Jansen making 48 and Keshav Maharaj producing 41, their score proved to be far beyond England’s reach, as they once again struggled to cope with the pace of the South African seamers.

However, with two more Tests looming, England will hope to bounce back and take the next two matches in the same manner they were able to earlier this summer...

When is the England v South Africa second Test?

England and South Africa will resume their series on Thursday 25 August 2022 and if all five days are needed, the match will conclude on Monday 29 August.

Each day of play is scheduled to start at 11am BST and will run until 6.30pm or 7pm depending on light and if any play is lost.

The match will be played at Manchester’s Old Trafford ground which has a capacity of 26,000.

How to watch England v South Africa second Test

Sky Sports will once again have all the coverage from the Test match. The programme will commence at 10.30pm each day.

Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket will show all the action with Sky Sports subscriptions costing from £46/month.

NowTV passes can also be purchased for £11.99/day.

How to buy tickets for England v South Africa

Limited tickets are still on sale for the upcoming Test match. Go to the Lancashire County Cricket’s website to secure your seats.

Available tickets are costing around the £40-50 mark.

Weather forecast

Contrary to conditions at Lord’s, the weather is set to remain dry, sunny and relatively warm over the weekend in Manchester, according to the Met Office.

Highs of 20℃ and 21℃ are set for each day as fans enjoy sun throughout the weekend, with periods of cloud cover.

Who is in the squads?

England are yet to announce the playing XI for the second Test match, but they could well stick with a similar side despite questions being raised over Crawley’s poor form.

England: Ben Stokes (C), James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Foakes, Jack Leach, Alex Lees, Craig Overton, Matthew Potts, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root.

South Africa: Dean Elgar (C), Sarel Erwee, Marco Jansen, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markam, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Khaya Zondo