ROOT’S MEN WRAP UP INNINGS VICTORY
ENGLAND LEAD SERIES 2-1 AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA AFTER THRASHING HOSTS
THE final scoreline was an innings and 53 runs after some spirited lower-order hitting and curious tactics from England. A drubbing, by any measure, but one that still flattered South Africa.
England head to Johannesburg for Friday’s final Test 2-1 up, with a resounding grip on the series.
There was to be no maiden five-wicket haul for the England captain Joe Root and a record final-wicket stand of 99, the Proteas’ highest of the match, which hardly amounted to the fairytale end the tourists imagined when they arrived on the final morning.
It was worth wondering if the rain that plagued the previous two days would roll in once more, or that a lunchbreak might be required, or even that England might have to bat again. Was the Cursed Tour of injury and illness rearing its ugly head once more? Not quite.
In more than doubling their overnight score, South Africa’s final four wickets lasted rather longer than they did in the first innings yesterday, when it took England 28 balls across 25 minutes to take all four for one run.
Then, it took Stuart Broad six balls to get Vernon Philander, but today it was just three. Off bat and pad, Philander looped the ball up to midwicket, where Ollie Pope, the man of the match, leaped forward for another fine catch.
From there, though, nothing was straightforward for England. Keshav Maharaj, with 71, led the resistance. He received support initially from Kagiso Rabada, who tamely popped Mark Wood to mid-on, and Anrich Nortje, who Dom Bess bowled for his sixth wicket of the match. Nortje, as nightwatchman in the first innings and at Centurion, is just about the South African England have had the most difficulty dismissing. He faced 155 balls in the match, bettered among his teammates only by Quinton de Kock.
Then the fun started. With Root keeping himself on too long, with his pursuit of that five-wicket haul beginning to border on the fanatical, Maharaj and Dane Paterson got really tucked in, particularly when Bess shared the new ball with the skipper.
The final over of Root’s epic 29-over spell was flayed for a world record-equalling 28 (four of them byes), then Maharaj brought up a battling half-century in the following Bess over. Root finally accepted defeat (having conceded 56 from 11 overs this morning) and took himself off for Sam Curran, but Paterson lumped him over mid-on and Maharaj whacked him for six.
The pair passed the previous highest 10th-wicket stand at St George’s Park. Edges and mishits flew, but never where the fielders were. When Paterson did nick Curran behind, the umpire did not raise his finger.
With all other avenues exhausted, England had to summon a run-out.
Side are finding contributions all over, whether that’s Curran and Wood smashing 86 runs, or captain Root’s four wickets
Maharaj tried to scamper a single off Wood to mid-on to bring up the century stand, but Curran’s direct hit was too good. And so England completed an overseas victory having enforced the follow on for the first time since 1992 in Christchurch. Only six of this XI were actually born by then, a reminder that Root’s is a young side in which something is beginning to stir. They have won two important tosses in the past two Tests, but have controlled both games in style from the second morning. The new blueprint is working.
England are finding contributions from all over, whether that’s Curran and Wood smashing 86 lower-order runs, or Root’s four wickets. Pope took six catches to go with his century. Only five non-wicketkeepers have ever done that before: Frank Woolley, Garfield Sobers, Matthew Hayden, Jacques Kallis and Steve Smith. That’s decent company.
The sense, too, is that England have power to add at the Wanderers. Each day, Jofra Archer’s bowling is rising in pace and intensity and the sight of Wood bowling rockets here will spur him on, as it did at the World Cup. With
Root now, ahem, a strike bowler, Archer could conceivably come in for Bess, who has done well, but might find himself redundant in the Highveld. It would have been nice if Wood had not been required for as many as seven overs this morning, but no England fan should ever regret the rare sight of him charging in. As he said last night, you never quite know when the last time will be.
Meanwhile, South Africa will be without Rabada, their best bowler for the conditions at the Wanderers, his home ground, where he has 24 wickets at 20.5 in five Tests. They have brought four players into their squad: Temba Bavuma, Beuran Hendricks, Keegan Petersen and Andile Phehlukwayo. There could be considerable changes to the XI.
Still, the passion burns for cricket here. It has been the talk of the town, and the atmosphere, led by the famous St George’s Park band, has been superb throughout. But as the series heads for its final stop, it is the hosts with all the questions to answer.