RAB 1 BEN 0
England suffer a huge late blow as Stokes loses his latest battle with paceman Kagiso
KAGISO RABADA won his personal duel with Ben Stokes right at the death of day one, to put South Africa’s nose in front at Old Trafford.
Stokes was cleaned up in emphatic style by a full, fast, straight thunderbolt, that put the skids under England’s ambitions of watching the all-rounder unleash his full range of strokes on day two.
Had Stokes still been there, England’s players would have strolled out of their dressing rooms to their cars a little taller, but instead they have got more scrapping to do.
The Stokes v Rabada contest has been compulsive viewing from the moment the latter told the former to “f**k off ” at Lord’s, but he kept his celebrations clean this time.
“The contest between these two has been great to see and that is the tough world of international cricket,” said assistant coach Paul Farbrace. “It has been a brilliant battle and you want to see players going toe-to-toe.
“It was a great piece of bowling, a great piece of skill. He bowled a bouncer earlier in the over that Ben top edged, and then he knocked him over so he wins that little battle.
“There is a long way to go but I reckon we’re a bit disappointed with the last five minutes to lose Stokesy. Had he still been there in the morning, we’d say it had been a decent day.” It was a stop-start sort of day that ended on 260-6 for England as batsmen got in and got out, some a little more easily than others, with only Joe Root and Stokes getting past 50. Root (left) also eased past 5,000 Test runs during an innings in which he equalled John Edrich’s record for scoring at least a fifty in 10 consecutive matches, once again highlighting his obvious class. The same cannot be said for two of the newer faces, as Keaton Jennings again fell early for 17 and Dawid Malan gifted his wicket for 18 with a loose drive. For Jennings, it was another piece of evidence for those who believe he is not quite good enough at this level and, to make matters worse, it was a former South Africa Under-19 team-mate of his who got him out.
Duanne Olivier played a series against England Under-19s under Jennings, and admitted he had some sympathy for his former captain.
“I don’t think it is nice at all,” he said. “He is new to the international scene and trying to find your feet against our attack is quite difficult, but he is still fighting out there. It is not easy.”
England bowling coach Ottis Gibson is favourite to take over as South Africa head coach at the end of the series, which would be a blow to their plans ahead of the Ashes, but a deserved promotion for the former West Indies coach.