Victory against England at Lord’s, destroying the home batting lineup twice in three days to take a 1-0 series lead. After lunch, Anrich Nortje destroyed England’s innings with a three-wicket salvo, and Kagiso Rabada finished with match figures of 7 for 79.
South Africa struck twice before lunch on day three of the first Test at Lord’s to further bother England. After the first innings, South Africa enjoyed a 161-run advantage. Keshav Maharaj cheaply dismissed Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, the latter through a review off the penultimate ball before the interval, ensuring that the visitors-maintained control of the match.
With the third delivery of the morning, England managed to take a wicket, but that was about as good as it got as South Africa’s strong batting performance helped them reach a score that was almost twice as high as Stokes’ squad. Sarel Erwee, the tourists’ opener, was the only one to surpass 50 for them, but the rest of the starting lineup had nine players reach double figures.
The advantage was already a comfortable 124 at night, but England gained momentum when Rabada was bowled by Matthew Potts in the first ball of the day. Stuart Broad, 36, pulled off an amazing one-handed grab over his head after Rabada’s powerful pull appeared to be clearing him at wide mid-on.
When the second new ball was almost ready, England might have considered limiting South Africa to less than 300. Even after the old ball had been exchanged, a persistent short-ball effort against Anrich Nortje failed, as the No. 10 assisted Marco Jansen in adding an additional 29 runs to the total.
Despite a few missed opportunities, Nortje handled the barrage well. He then started to increase the score by pushing Ben Stokes skillfully through midfield on one of the few occasions that a ball entered his half.
As England finally reverted to a more conventional strategy, Jansen, who was batting at No. 6 for the first time, was the more cautious, adding just seven runs to his overnight score before edging Broad to slip just short of a first-time Test fifty. Before Broad removed Lungi Ngidi with a second catch in the cordon and Jonny Bairstow hung on at the second attempt, Nortje smacked Stokes for two more fours.
The second time around, England’s batsmen continued to exert themselves in an effort to bat themselves out of a hole. With an outside edge sailing straight for the second slip in Rabada’s second over, Lees should have been out, but Keegan Petersen dove across Aiden Markram and put down a much more difficult one-handed chance.
The breakthrough ultimately came through spin, as Maharaj scored right away after entering the game to bowl for the first time. A few overs later, Maharaj had a second as Pope went back to a delivery that ball-tracking indicated would have hit leg stump, and Crawley was out trying to sweep his third delivery.
South Africa won by an innings of 12 runs and beats England in the first Test here at lords.
Disclaimer: The insights expressed in this article are those of the author. This article was not written or edited by Empireweekly.com; it was published on August 23, 2022.
