ANOTHER FLOP PUTS BUTTLER ON BRINK
England surge towards 3-1 victory but keeper’s place must be in doubt
There was no defiant attempt to come out with all guns blazing and attack in the way that has made him one of the best and most dynamic white-ball batsmen in the world. Jos Buttler simply looked caught in two minds again and played loosely outside off stump.
Buttler’s dismissal for eight yesterday will have no adverse effect on a dominant england performance that should earn them a significant series victory over South Africa as early as today. But it might signal the end in Test cricket for their most exciting player.
When the dust settles on what will surely be the most emphatic of 3-1 victories for Joe root’s young england side, completed at South Africa’s Bullring, Buttler’s future will be high on the agenda before they tour Sri Lanka in March.
he had another golden chance on the third day of this final Test to prove there really should be a place for someone as gifted as him in all forms of the game. But, with england moving into a position of complete superiority, he just could not take that chance.
Now, with the memory of how well Ben
Foakes did with the keeper’s gloves and bat when voted player of the series the last time england toured Sri Lanka, the time may have come for Buttler to put all his energy into limitedovers cricket.
Buttler was just about england’s only concern yesterday as they calmly and methodically put this final Test out of the reach of a desperate South Africa who need to make history now to claim a share of the series. That is simply not going to happen.
First, Mark Wood led the way as england took the last four South Africa wickets to bowl them out for 183, a massive 217 behind.
And then, after understandably not enforcing the follow- on with so much time left and the forecast now good, england batted South Africa out of the contest.
Joe root has never looked as comfortable as england captain as in these last three game-changing Tests.
he led the way with the bat again by making his second half-century of the match and was the last man to be dismissed at the close of the third day in england’s 248 total.
They now have two days to bowl out a South Africa side who will start today with the near impossible task of scoring 466 to win.
how satisfying a five-wicket haul this was for Wood and how different it would have been had he decided on Friday that he was too sore to play in back-toback Tests.
It was certainly a close run thing as Wood was in doubt and could easily have joined Jofra Archer on the sidelines until he bowled a few deliveries ahead of the delayed start to this final Test and decided he was fit enough to get through five days.
What a good call that was. First Wood took the game away from South Africa with the bat on day two in his frolicking 82-run last-wicket partnership with Stuart Broad and then he again bowled with real pace to ensure there was to be no home comeback.
Wood had taken three of the six South African wickets to fall on Saturday and now he added the last two, bowling Quinton de Kock with a beauty after he had made 76.
Since extending his run-up last year in an attempt to ease the stress on his fragile body, Wood was player of the match in england’s win against West
Indies in St Lucia and now has excelled in successive matches here on his return to Test cricket.
he deserves enormous credit for his determination to carry on in the longer form, working so hard after badly injuring his side in the World Cup final.
england also deserve praise for bringing him here with the last two Tests in mind.
If only he can stay fit, Wood will become such an important part of this emerging england Test side and his joking reference to himself as a genuine all-rounder should be taken a little more seriously now.
england had started day three in the best possible way when Vernon Philander lobbed Chris Woakes gently to cover in the second over of the day — but at least South Africa showed a little gumption with a partnership of 79 between De Kock and Dwaine Pretorius.
It was the start of a miserable day for the retiring Philander, who was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for his verbal send- off to his old foe Buttler on
Saturday and then pulled up with a hamstring injury in the middle of his second over yesterday. It is a sad way for a distinguished international career to end.
england’s second innings was then a case of relentlessly building an impregnable lead — with root to the fore, making 58 before he fell to a sensational catch by South African captain Faf du Plessis.
Wickets fell regularly for a South African side lacking Philander, five of them to debutant Beuran hendricks.
Joe Denly is another england player anxiously awaiting that Sri Lankan tour selection after he was bowled by Dane Paterson for eight.
There is a strong case for Foakes replacing Buttler now and Jonny Bairstow coming in for Denly as a specialist No 3. But that can wait for another day.
For now england can go about securing what root said would be his greatest achievement as captain. And he would thoroughly deserve it, too.