Hosts England gained a slender lead over South Africa in the third test of the ongoing test series on Saturday at Kennington Oval, London.
The third and final Test eventually began on Day 3 after the first day was washed out and the second day was halted, and it was England’s bowlers who imposed their dominance.
In the second over of the game, Ollie Robinson struck first blood by upsetting the stumps of South Africa skipper Dean Elgar. In the following over, Sarel Erwee was undone by James Anderson’s late movement, edging the ball to Ben Foakes’ gloves for a four-ball duck.
Robinson’s next victim was South African batter, Keegan Petersen.
Stuart Broad joined the party immediately, tempting Ryan Rickelton into a drive producing another edge that landed into the safe gloves of Foakes.
Three balls later, Robinson found the outside edge of Kyle Verreynne to grab his third. Robinson and Foakes partnered once more to dismiss Wiaan Mulder with a tempting outside off-ball.
The Proteas had lost half their side with only 36 runs on the board. Khaya Zondo and Marco Jansen added as many runs as the first five wickets combined, increasing South Africa’s total with a 36-run stand.
At 69/6, they got South Africa to lunch without any more hiccups.
However, the South-African duo could not carry on as England broke through, breaking the partnership in the first over the following lunch. Broad surprised Zondo with a short ball that exposed the tail.
The remaining batter offered no fight and the innings came to an end, the visitors scoring a paltry 118 in their first innings.
Robinson finished with a five-wicket haul after dismissing Jansen, while Broad finished with four wickets after dismissing Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje.
Alex Lees’ 13-run outburst off 6 balls got England’s batting started before he was caught plumb in front of the wickets by Marco Jansen.
The South African pacers erred in their lines and lengths and were punished fittingly by Ollie Pope, who found the boundary regularly taking the attack to the bowlers.
Another batter was caught leg before wicket by Jansen, with Zak Crawley departing after a circumspect stay at the crease, once again failing to make a mark. His departure brought former captain Joe Root to the crease.
