England’s Ollie days
England message to Big Ben as he and kid Pope chime in perfect harmony
BEN STOKES and Ollie Pope’s unbroken first-day stand of 76 gave England hope of taking control of the third Test against South Africa.
England had slipped to 148-4 in Port Elizabeth
when the pair (left) came together, with Pope ending on 39 not out and Stokes on 38.
Zak Crawley’s 44 was the top score of the day, while fellow opener Dominic Sibley made 36 – with England closing an attritional day on 224-4.
ENGLAND will be looking for their own Big Ben to keep striking in the third Test after the top order hit familiar false notes on an attritional first day. Ben Stokes was 38 not out at stumps and the in-form Ollie Pope unbeaten on 39 as the flame-haired duo batted with such control there appeared to be no chance of them letting their hard work go to waste like each of opening four batsmen. Coming together at 148-4 following two quick wickets, the pair added an unbroken 76 to repair much of the earlier damage and take their side to 224-4 by the close. If giant first innings scores are t h e order of the day then England are going to need either the best player in the world right now or the best batsman of his generation to deliver the sort of knock that decides games.
England have only scored three first-innings hundreds in the past 13 matches, two of which came at the same time in Hamilton, and simply put, the 20s, 30s, and 40s that they are delivering at the moment isn’t going to cut it.
From Dom Sibley to Zak Crawley and onwards through Joe Denly and Joe Root, all their top-order batters got themselves in and got a start.
Denly’s 25 was the lowest, coming from 100 patient and watchful balls that made the South African bowlers work hard in the searing heat.
Both Sibley and Crawley were found guilty of falling into the trap set for them with a leg-side field and the bowlers targeting their hips and their pads, usually a strong run-scoring area.
Sibley clipped Kagiso Rabada to the waiting Dean Elgar at a leg gully before Crawley flicked a legstump half-volley to Rassie van der Dussen at square leg for his highest Test score of 44. Crawley is learning on the job and by batting for more than three hours and helping England reach lunch without losing a wicket he again showed he has potential.
But neither he nor his Kent team-mate Denly could cash in on their efforts, with the 33-yearold falling via an inspired review when Keshav Maharaj got the ball to flick his pad before hitting the bat.
It was a moment that should have sent the crowd wild, but in front of disappointingly sparse support, all the celebratory noise came from the middle.
If it wasn’t for the thousands of English fans dotted around, St George’s Park would have felt positively ghostly.
At least the travelling fans had more to shout about once Stokes and Pope set about the second new ball with Anrich Nortje taken for three successive boundaries from its first over.
They all fell to the stylish Pope and the last of which, an exquisite square drive through the covers, made it obvious just why the Ian Bell comparisons continue to register.