SA on the ropes at Oval
Poor batting, Stokes and Roland-Jones tip scales
answering.
Kuhn went flinging his bat across the line at a full delivery; captain Faf du Plessis shouldered arms to one that seamed into him; Chris Morris completed a horrible day for himself by patting the ball back to James Anderson; and Keshav Maharaj played a back-foot swish that he edged to first slip.
The discipline and patience that was such a hallmark of the batting at Nottingham was nowhere to be seen.
It was a dreadful showing from the South Africans, totally handing England the reigns in what has been a strange series.
South Africa will have to do what neither of the two sides have managed in the first couple of Tests of the series. Once one team had thrown the first punch, the opponents collapsed and were trampled on.
The Proteas’ bowling in the first half of the day was far too inconsistent, the loss of Vernon Philander, hospitalised because of a stomach ailment, proving a bigger hurdle to overcome than South Africa would have hoped.
Philander only bowled five overs in the morning before leaving the field. The medical staff had hoped that the “tummy bug” which they thought was troubling him would have passed through his system by the morning, but he was vomiting in the dressing room during the first session.
He was taken to hospital in the afternoon, when tests and scans were performed. He did not return to the ground.
In his absence, the rest of the attack, especially Morris, struggled.
Lines and lengths were wayward, allowing Stokes, who had bravely hung in against a seaming ball at the end of Day 1, to assert himself.
His innings gave England momentum, which RolandJones rode to smash over the South African top order.
The Proteas have taken great pride in their tenacity. It’s an element neither side have shown hitherto in this series. It will have to be at the forefront of the performance for the remainder of this Test match.
MIXED MORRIS
From the sublime in Nottingham last week to the ridiculous in those few days, Morris has shown all parts of his game in this series. He was wild and lacked control with the ball, giving his skipper headaches about where to place his field. After Philander and Morkel had built pressure in the first 40 minutes, Morris let the advantage slip, going for 14 runs in his first over and giving Stokes three easy boundaries. He finished with figures of 1/91 from 17 overs, bowling just one maiden. Then he played a lousy shot amidst South Africa’s dreadful collapse and gifting his wicket to Anderson.
STILL SEAMING
Elgar got one from Broad that pitched on middle and off, and seamed and bounced away from him in the fourth over of South Africa’s innings. Under overcast skies batting remains extremely hard with the ball moving this way and that. It’s certainly a lot different than the last time South Africa were here. In 2012, the pitch, as the English claimed, was flown in from the sub-continent. South Africa notched up 637/2 declared. It was almost the opposite of that yesterday.
KEEPING UP THAT JONES
Tobias Skelton Roland-Jones had quite the day at The Oval. A run-a-ball 25, where he cashed in on some freebies from Morris in particular, was followed by a dream spell in which he took Elgar, Kuhn, Amla and De Kock’s wickets. With The Oval crowd roaring their approval, he completed eight overs and picked up 4/22.
SIZZLING STOKES
Stokes played the perfect Test innings. He could barely lay a bat on it in gloomy conditions on Thursday evening, but under slightly brighter skies yesterday was able to take advantage, thumping the bowling to all parts. He occupied the crease for four and a half hours, faced 153 balls, and scored 112 with nine fours and four sixes.
QUOTE
“He’s just providing bowling machine deliveries,” said former SA captain Graeme Smith on the BBC’s Test Match Special of Morris’s performance with the ball. Asked to explain, Smith replied: “When you go to the net and you want to groove your cover drive, you ask for bowling like that.”
CONDITIONS
Slightly warmer than Day 1, but that only served to help the bowlers even more – or at least it should have done so for the South Africans. More overcast weather is forecast for today, which will help to retain some of the moisture in the surface. Expect it to keep seaming.