20 January 2020
4th Test, Day 3: England 400 and 248 all out, South Africa 183 all out
South Africa need 466 runs to win
So much happened during Day 3 that even spectating seemed an exhausting experience (although that could also have been due to the mix of sun and Castle lager). In all, 343 runs were scored for the loss of 14 wickets in seven hours of cricket, as the day was extended both to make up some of the time lost on the first day and to accommodate the habitually sluggish over-rates.
I wrote yesterday that something extraordinary would need to happen to alter the course of this match. It didn’t - at least not yet - so England remain on course for another big win, most likely at some point tomorrow.
Resuming precariously at 88 for 6, South Africa soon lost the wicket of Vernon Philander - the third time in a row he has been dismissed within the first six balls of the start of play. Poor Vern really had a day to forget, later limping off after bowling only nine balls (his last in Test cricket) and being docked 15% of his match fee for his revenge “send-off” to Jos Buttler yesterday. At this stage, it was theoretically possible that the match could have been over within three days, as a rapid end to the South African first innings may well have tempted Joe Root to enforce the follow-on. Yet England were made to wait for further wickets as Quinton de Kock and Dwayne Pretorius combined to put on 79 runs in fine style. As so often, it took the introduction of Ben Stokes to break an obdurate partnership (aided and abetted by the Barmy Army’s dulcet tones), while South Africa’s fans provided a more tuneful but unlucky accompaniment as de Kock was bowled by a beauty from Mark Wood. Wood soon completed a well deserved “five-for” and South Africa found themselves 217 runs behind.
As widely predicted after the de Kock/Pretorius resistance, England did not enforce the follow-on after the lunch interval, preferring to give their bowlers a rest while aiming to set South Africa a large - and nigh on impossible - fourth innings target. My own prediction was that the visitors would aim to score around 200-225 by the close, then bat for another 50 minutes the next morning, setting South Africa around 475-500 to win. In fact, England’s positive approach meant that their second knock was to last only 61.3 overs and would set a target of 465 with two full days to go.
England’s innings ranged from the highly entertaining to the occasionally exasperating, with many highlights:
Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley produced a third successive opening partnership of over fifty. Sibley, in particular, was excellent until he hit uppishly into the legside, a recurring manner of dismissal for him. For a second it looked like he was about to destroy the stumps in his annoyance, but fortunately he played and missed.
The batsmen who most desperately needed to score runs, Joe Denly and Jos Buttler, didn’t. They remain the players whose future places look to be the most at risk..
Picture the scene - your team is already over 300 runs behind and you see Benjamin Stokes coming to the wicket. It's like a football team being 4-0 up and bringing on Ronaldo for the second half (thanks to my mate Brian for that one). And of course Stokes batted like a god - but in this case only for 24 balls, during which he accumulated 28 runs with six sumptuous fours.
Pope couldn’t repeat his recent successes but Sam Curran shrugged off his first innings duck to strike the ball to all parts - another 35 from only 29 balls.This only encouraged Mark Wood to create more mayhem - 18 runs from only 12 balls.
The one constant throughout this chaos was captain Joe Root, who played a more traditional Test match innings but also pushed to accelerate near the end. For a while, Joe’s attempts at slogging were about as effective as mine i.e. the ball only goes about two yards. Then, from nowhere, he suddenly unleashed a huge six into the grandstand - surprisingly, the only maximum of England’s innings.
Root’s fine innings of 58 was ended in spectacular fashion by an astonishing diving catch at fly slip by Faf du Plessis, the final action of the day. He will have regretted turning down easy singles from the previous two balls.
Although England rattled along at four runs per over, it would be remiss not to mention some admirable performances from South Africa’s young seamers. Anrich Nortje has taken the most wickets of anyone in the series and always looks likely to make something happen with his lively pace. Beuran Hendricks, the debutant here, bowled his left-armers confidently throughout the match and was rewarded with a five-for in the second innings. Dane Paterson, in only his second match, bowled aggressively and posed lots of questions to the England batsmen - in a situation where England were looking to score quickly, at one stage he had figures of 1 for 5 from his first 8 overs, an admirable effort that deserved greater reward. I’m not saying they will develop into the next Donald/Pollock or Steyn/Morkel combinations, but I think there’s enough here to provide hope for a South African team currently in transition. I'm much less sure about the batting, which finally needs to step up tomorrow - or bust.