Root’s honeymoon ends abruptly

South Africa cut short Joe Root’s honeymoon as England captain with an emphatic 340-run win in the second test yesterday, levelling the four-match series and shifting the pressure on to the home team and its rookie skipper.

South Africa needed little more than 40 overs to take all 10 wickets on day four as England succumbed at Trent Bridge, all out for 133 in its second innings facing an almost insurmountable target of 474. England only just scraped past 200 in its first innings to go with that second-innings collapse, while South Africa made 335 and 343-9 declared.

From the highs of his first test in charge, when England won by 211 runs at Lord’s and he made a magnificent 190, Root now has to muster his men for the two remaining tests with doubts growing over the makeup of the top three batsmen.

Opener Keaton Jennings and Gary Ballance, Root’s Yorkshire team-mate and reportedly his choice to bat at No 3, are yet to make significant scores in the series and South Africa’s quicks exploited that area especially.

England were 3-2 in the first innings and 28-2 in the second, and never got going with the bat. ‘‘No, I don’t think it [the top three] is a concern. They just need some runs and to spend some time in the middle,’’ Root said.

The third test starts at the Oval in 10 days.