Easy does it for Ole
Root in danger of defeat
before Jonny Bairstow was bowled by one that kept lower than he expected.
From 142-3, England were now wobbling at 143-5, so the last thing they needed was to see an increasingly dominant Stokes waft airily at a wide one from Anrich Nortje for another gift of a wicket.
Sam Curran tried to land a counter-attacking punch with a quickfire 20 but neither he nor Jos Buttler could cause real damage as England’s innings ended with a whimper.
Former England pace bowler Steve Harmison, now a talkSPORT pundit, raged at the familiarity of it all, saying: “It’s happening time and again. Nearly every time we watch them we say this about England’s batting. They keep getting out cheaply to balls on or around which is enough.
“Is it a lack of patience? A lack of skill? It’s not been good enough for some time and they are up against it.”
After just 53 overs of rest, England’s bowlers returned to try to force something special before South Africa got too far ahead, and James Anderson set the ball rolling.
Aiden Markram missed a full, straight delivery and was trapped lbw, and Stuart Broad then had Zubayr Hamza caught down the leg side.
The extra pace of Jofra Archer caught the eye as he cut Dean Elgar in half to take his inside edge before winning a short-ball battle with Faf du Plessis. the just off stump, not good
FROM BACK PAGE today, just 48 hours after cruising to a 4-1 win over Steve Bruce’s men.
Solskjaer said: “I think we are in the best position to perform on Saturday because the game was over after 45 minutes, and we are young.
“When you are 23, which was the average age of the outfield players, it makes it easier for us to recover than Burnley.
“They played until the end at Everton, but we had it easy in the second-half.” ■ AC Milan have signed former Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer until the end of the season.
SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP DUNDEE UTD (1) 1 DUNDEE (0) Clark 5 Dorrans 50 Att: 14,007
(3 unless stated)
PDC World Championship (Alexandra Palace, 1.2.30).
Gallagher Premiership: Bath v Sale, Harlequins v Leicester (4.30), Northampton v Gloucester (2pm), Worcester v London Irish. 1
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP Leicester 70 Glasgow 71, Newcastle 76 Sheffield 99, Worcester 80 London Lions 78.
2ND TEST, Melbourne (day 2) Australia 467 (155.1 overs; Head 114, Smith 85, Paine 79, Labuschagne 63; Wagner 4-83). New Zealand 44-2 (18 overs).
PDC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, Alexandra Palace, London, 3rd Round: S Whitlock (Aus) bt M King (Eng) 4-1, G Durrant (Eng) bt D Gurney (NIrl) 4-2, C Dobey (Eng) bt F Sherrock (Eng) 4-2, G Price (Wal) bt J Henderson (Sco) 4-0.
4th Round: N Aspinall (Eng) bt G Anderson (Sco) 4-2
ELITE LEAGUE Belfast 5 Glasgow 1
GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP BRISTOL 21 WASPS 26 Bristol—T: C. Piutau, Thacker. Sheedy. P: Sheedy (3).
Wasps—T: Umaga, Fekitoa, Minozzi, Carr. C: Umaga (3). Att: 23,078
P W D L B F A Pts Exeter 6 4 0 2 4 142 97 20 North’pton 6 4 0 2 3 161 120 19 Bristol 7 3 1 3 4 157 165 18 Sale 6 3 0 3 4 130 89 16 Gloucester 6 3 0 3 4 123 88 16 Harlequins 6 3 0 3 3 128 139 15 Bath 6 3 0 3 1 123 131 13 Worcester 6 3 0 3 1 102 138 13 Lon Irish 6 2 1 3 2 122 159 12 Wasps 7 2 0 5 3 134 191 11 Leicester 6 1 0 5 0 88 164 4 Saracens 6 5 0 1 2 158 87 -13 * Saracens deducted 35 points
C:
BBL Championship: Plymouth Raiders v Bristol Flyers (7.30).
1st Test—day 3 of 5: South Africa v England (Centurion, 8am).
2nd Test—day 4 of 5: Australia v New Zealand (Melbourne, 11.30pm).
Elite League: Cardiff v Guildford (7.0), Coventry v Nottingham (7.0), Fife v Dundee (7.15), Glasgow v Belfast (7.0), Manchester v Sheffield (7.0).