The comedy club

Last night’s press conferences were like an evening at the comedy club as Graeme Swann, a regular on the stage, and Paul Harris, a more unheralded joker, took it in turns to play up their audience. You wouldn't have guessed it had been a serious day of Test cricket.

It was a double-act between opposition spinners, but there was only one winner. “As soon as we get Harris out first thing in the morning, cause he’s waving like an idiot at the back of the room,” Swann said when discussing England’s plans, "we can concentrate on bowling straight and getting through the proper batsmen.”

Then it was Harris’s turn to face the media, but sadly he couldn’t compete in the laughter stakes. When discussing South Africa’s final-session bowling performance, Harris pointed to the inexperience of the attack.

“We weren’t at our best, we have a pretty young bowling line-up apart from Makhaya who’s played like a billion…” he said, which was proceeded by silence before Harris added. “That was a joke, you can laugh. Sorry, I came in after Swanny.”

Whereas Swann does a good line in confident, cocky humour, Harris takes a more self-deprecating route. “I’ve been working on the straighter ball,” he said of Ian Bell’s dismissal when the England batsman inexplicably shouldered arms, “although some people say that’s all I’ve got.”

Then he couldn’t help but smile when recalling Paul Collingwood’s wicket which came from a ball that spun perfectly. “It was nice to turn one,” he said with a glint in his eye.

The next two days will show who will have the last laugh.