IT’S BOK TO NORMAL
England left feeling sick before late fightback
ENGLAND plunged the depths of cricketing despair during a truly awful first two-thirds of the day in which they were as sick as dogs on and off the field.
They were pummelled and punished by the bats of the South African middle and lower order, while Jos Buttler and skipper Joe Root became the latest duo to be laid low with illness.
However, rearguard defiance was shown by their batsmen in the final third to provide the foundations for what would be an extraordinary turnaround on day four of Headingley-esque proportions.
Set a mammoth score of 376 to chase, they have battled to 121-1 with Rory Burns leading the way to give them hope of yet another golden day in a memorable 2019. But they will need a complete reversal of the opening two sessions on Saturday.
“We’ve given ourselves a fighting chance,” said assistant coach Graham
Thorpe. “It is a lot of runs to get but there is belief in the changing room and maybe what happened in the summer has helped give them that belief.
“We’ve been inconsistent at times through this Test match and made things very hard for ourselves, but we’ll have a chance in this Test match. It is a long shot and we’ll have to play very well.”
After just two hours of play, the lead had rocketed from 175 to 300 with nightwatchman Anrich Nortje collecting 40 of them.
Jofra Archer was inexplicably kept away from bowling for the first 45 minutes of the day, which allowed Nortje and Rassie van der Dussen to add 91 before England’s quickest bowler stopped their fun.
With his tail up Archer continued to test the middle of the pitch, but Quinton de Kock smashed three sixes and two fours to help South Africa race away. With Root
PITCH ROW: entering the field every now and again to make sure he could bat in the top six when the time came, England were running on empty.
It was easy to see why frustrations developed into a strong exchange of words between Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad
“That’s good,” added Thorpe.
“The game has passion in it and I don’t think there is anything wrong with it.
“Guys need to be able to challenge each other on the pitch and sort it out.”
They soon made up, and after the break the final three wickets came. Archer picked up Keshav Maharaj to register his third five-wicket haul in just seven Test matches, the first Englishman to do so since Phil Tufnell in 1991.
His overall figures of 5-102 from just 17 overs tells you that it is unlikely to be the most memorable of hauls.
Dom Sibley was the only man to fall, for 29, to a very tame caught and bowled for Maharaj, but he did his job in putting on 92.