Indeed Lloyd could scarcely hide his delight at the all-round performance and the 462 total on the board, which he described as ``mammoth. It's a terrific total and I'm really pleased at the technique shown by lots of the batsmen, including those down the order.

``We were determined to bat on and not declare but to score just as many runs as we could. There are three days left for us to bowl them out twice on a pitch going sideways!''

The England coach was scathing about ``expert commentators'' with whom he evidently did not see eye to eye. He singled out one pundit in particular. ``Thank you, David Gower, but there's a lot of time left in this game, particularly on this pitch with prolific movement at times.

``Our innings has been a good effort on a pitch that has offered so much assistance throughout and the lower order has shown solidarity and resolution.''

He admitted that on such a wicket the second-day score of 213 for nine was ``more realistic'' than the first day's 249 for one, ``but don't blame us because South Africa bowled so badly on Thursday''.

Lloyd sympathised with Nasser Hussain and the manner of his dismissal at the hands of Paul Adams. ``Nasser got a pea-roller and he has had a couple of those lately. You can go through a whole series and not get a ball like that.

``You can have a laugh about it later, but not Nasser, not just at that moment. When it happens, you leave the batsman in the locker-room for an hour and then maybe he'll see the semblance of a funny side to it.''

Lloyd said that after being hit on the hand Darren Gough ``batted on bravely though in lots of pain. It will be an intense disappointment for him and for us if the injury keeps him out of the game.

``We went into this game with what we considered our best pace attack. It will throw a bigger onus on the rest of the bowlers. But Darren will bounce back. It isn't the end of the world.''