[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Very, very slow pitch in Port Elizabeth. Hardly a swashbuckling day's cricket, but both sides had their spells on top. South Africa kept the brakes on and snaffled wickets when they could; on the edge of a collapse, England managed to rebuild and create a decent platform for tomorrow through Pope and Stokes.

[themaclad]

England 224 for 4 (Crawley 44) v South Africa
Seems this Pope lad looks a bit tasty



Test cricket can do funny things to your perception of time, and you can't have the drama of fifth-day finishes such as the Cape Town Test without some longueurs in between. However, by any measure this was slow going as the series resumed in Port Elizabeth, with England puttering along in attritional conditions to give themselves a platform from which they will hope to dictate terms.

As at Newlands, England's top-order batsmen failed to capitalise on a series of good starts, with Zak Crawley's 44 the top score of a spit-and-sawdust sort of day. Without much in the way of assistance from the pitch, South Africa focused instead on bottling up the scoring, Keshav Maharaj wheeling away to good effect as England lost 4 for 78 between the 31st and 65th overs, before an unbroken stand of 76 between Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope saw the tourists edge back on to the front foot.

Pope shone in particular as the shadows lengthened on the Eastern Cape, showcasing the sort of strokeplay that has seen him compared to Ian Bell. The second new ball was dispatched to the ropes three times in as many deliveries from Anrich Nortje, Pope following up a whippy on drive with one crunched through the covers, and he skipped along in relatively carefree fashion compared to his colleagues.

For South Africa, Kagiso Rabada claimed two wickets, despite twice being overlooked for new-ball duties - and his roar of celebration at toppling Joe Root's off stump said plenty about the arduous nature of bowling on such a sluggish surface. All the pre-game talk about the wind assisting swing in Port Elizabeth seemed to have almost literally become a case of shooting the breeze, as the stultifying atmosphere left South Africa's attack sweating hard for their successes.

Faf du Plessis must have been grateful for the precision of his spinner, whose efforts from the Duckpond End at least allowed the South Africa captain to regularly rotate his seamers. Maharaj came on shortly before lunch and had figures of 30-10-54-1 when the second new ball arrived during the evening session; he was unlucky not to have added to his sole success, too, finding appreciable turn from a surface that is predicted to become even drier over the coming days.

It was du Plessis' leg-theory tactics that brought South Africa their initial breakthroughs, and England then threatened to wander down a dead end as the runs dried up. Maharaj only conceded 18 runs from his 16 overs between lunch and tea, and his efforts in tying down Joe Denly - who faced 100 balls for the ninth time in 13 Test innings but once again could not turn that base into a significant score - resulted in a wicket shortly after tea.

Denly's attempt to cut a ball from middle and off stump was his undoing, though Maharaj had Quinton de Kock to thank after the wicketkeeper spotted that the ball had brushed pad fractionally before hitting the bat. Maharaj caused Stokes plenty of discomfort early in his innings, too, twice failing with reviews as the ball spun back in sharply from outside the left-hander's off stump.

Rabada then scythed through Root, with England's captain left looking suspiciously at the pitch after playing back to a delivery that seemed to keep low, and that left Stokes carrying the weight of England expectations. Fresh from being award the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy as the ICC's player of the year, he cut a more workaday figure in compiling 38 from 86 balls - although the significance of his wicket was clear when South Africa again turned to the DRS late in the day, only to lose the review after Vernon Philander's delivery was shown to be missing off stump.

Root's decision to bat first was vindicated by somnambulant morning session, during which the Sibley and Crawley batted through with little drama - becoming the first England openers to reach lunch without being parted on day one of an overseas Test since Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss in Barbados more than a decade ago.

South Africa curiously chose not to hand Rabada the new ball but Philander and the debutant Dane Paterson found little in the way of assistance from a pedestrian St George's deck. When Rabada did enter the attack, he did cause a minor ripple as Crawley, perhaps spurred on by memories of their brief second-innings duel in Cape Town, twice played instinctive pulls shots that nearly came to grief.

Sibley had looked the more composed of the two, as befitting a man who scored his maiden Test hundred 10 days ago. He took advantage of the extra pace provided by Nortje to score four of his five boundaries, including one well-timed clip through mid-on, but fell to Rabada after the lunch break when he was taken by the man place deliberately as backward square leg for a fend off the body.

South Africa's leg trap paid dividends again when Crawley was snapped up in a similar position by the diving Rassie van der Dussen, who clasped the ball gratefully after it had squirmed free from his initial one-handed attempt, sending England's newest opener back six runs short of a first Test half-century.

[Lord Snooty]

Day off. Watch a bit of test cricket. It's like being in church. First there's a couple of verses of Jerusalem, now it sounds like we've got the Sally Army band playing.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Rabada now banned from the fourth Test after picking up a demerit point for screaming at Joe Root in his wicket celebration yesterday.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Ben Stokes becomes the second Englishman in history to break 4000 Test runs and 100 wickets. Well done that man!

Still another 1200 runs and 242 wickets needed to surpass Ian Botham. No pressure, Stokesy

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Maiden Test century for Ollie Pope, and richly deserved.

[themaclad]

South Africa 60 for 2 (Bess 2-12) trail England 499 for 9 dec (Pope 135*, Stokes 117, Maharaj 5-180) by 439 runs

Ollie Pope scored a maiden Test hundred to follow the latest demonstration of Ben Stokes' immense value to the England cause as South Africa were backed into a corner in Port Elizabeth. The tone was set by England's fifth-wicket pair during the morning session and followed up with some lower-order humpty, allowing Joe Root to declare - having also un-declared - in pursuit of wickets amid the evening gloom at St George's Park.

Although South Africa responded with their second consecutive fifty stand between openers Dean Elgar and Pieter Malan, there was time for Dom Bess to strike twice before the close. With plenty of runs in the bank, signs of spin from the surface and Mark Wood also pushing the speed gun up to 150kph/93mph, England walked off in the belief that they had the tools to crack the Test open in pursuit of a series lead.

South Africa had reached 50 without loss when Bess coaxed an error from Malan, who tried to come down the pitch but only managed to chip a return catch. Zubayr Hamza then fenced unconvincingly at an over of short-and-nasty stuff from Wood, before falling in the next to Bess, popping to short leg via his inside edge. The return of the rain, which had earlier delayed the start by 45 minutes, presented South Africa with an escape route.

The first part of the day saw England's middle order flex its muscles in a manner not seen for a long time. Once Stokes and Pope were done adding 203 - the second-highest fifth-wicket stand for England against South Africa in Tests - the home bowlers had been thoroughly pounded into this unforgiving surface, but there was further pain to come as Sam Curran and Wood cut loose before the declaration. A total of 499 for 9 was England's highest since the 2017 Edgbaston Test against West Indies.

There was nothing surprising about Stokes taking centre stage, however. Despite having to battle through at times on the first day, having survived numerous scratchy moments - including a tough chance to short leg on 10 - he resumed his innings in a more recognisably bullish frame of mind. Twice was Maharaj battered on to the grass banks at deep midwicket, as Stokes accelerated past his junior partner towards a ninth Test hundred (and third against South Africa) during a session that saw England score 111 runs without loss.

When he moved to 95, via another slog-sweep off the spinner, he became only the seventh man in Test history to have scored 4000 runs and taken 100 wickets. A few overs later, off his 174th ball, came a punch through the covers to take him to three figures, the achievement acknowledged with a crooked-fingered salute in recognition of his father, Ged, who remains in hospital after being taken ill over Christmas.

He had been ably supported by Pope, who cut, pulled and drove with what is quickly becoming customary elan to move past 50 for the third time in as many Tests. However, a ball after Stokes reached his century, Pope was given out lbw off the bowling of Dane Paterson; although a review saved Pope and extended Paterson's wait for a first wicket on debut, the realisation of what was at stake seemed to interrupt the England man's fluency.

Pope spent 53 balls moving from 74 into the 90s, losing Stokes and Jos Buttler in that time - the former giving Paterson some relief by carving to backward point, before Buttler chipped tamely back to Maharaj. Pope survived a close stumping chance off Maharaj on 84, but Curran helped take some of the pressure off, cracking along to 44 off 50 and scoring three-quarters of the runs during a stand worth 59.

Suddenly Pope was freed up once again, scooting through the 90s to reach three figures in his sixth Test - at 22 and 15 days the youngest Englishman to score a Test hundred since Alastair Cook. The landmark achieved, he was able to have some fun against a tiring attack, bringing out the uppercuts and reverse-ramps as England drove home their advantage; a glove behind off Rabada on 106 going unnoticed as South Africa began to unravel.

Wood, too, geared up for his bowling return after 11 months out of the Test side by throwing the bat around to good effect, five times clearing the ropes - although he was the beneficiary of a bizarre episode on the way to 42 from 23 balls. A slog against Rabada was taken at mid-on, with Root then signalling his men in, only for the umpires to review and find that the delivery should have been called for a front-foot no-ball. Root gleefully reversed his call, with Wood extending their ninth-wicket happy-slap to 73 in 8.4 overs before Maharaj finally put a stop to the antics.


THINK HAMZA MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY WITH HIS GRIP

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Dom Bess becomes the first England spinner to take the first five wickets in an innings since Derek Underwood in 1975.

If he carries on like this, we'll be in Jim Laker territory soon...

[themaclad]

South Africa 208 for 6 (de Kock 63*, Philander 27*) trail England 499 for 9 dec by 291 runs

Dom Bess became the latest of England's young bloods to leave his mark on South Africa but the old foe of bad weather, coupled with some much-needed defiance from the home batsmen (plus a few dropped catches), prevented the tourists from maximising their advantage on day three in Port Elizabeth.

With Bess producing his most impressive display in an England shirt to secure a maiden Test five-for, the threat of the follow-on loomed large for South Africa. But they were able to recover from a position of 109 for 5 thanks to Quinton de Kock's third half-century of the series, as well as 136 balls of dogged resistance from the nightwatchman, Anrich Nortje.

De Kock was unbeaten on 63 at the close, having put on partnerships of 45 with Nortje and a further 54 alongside Vernon Philander. He might have been dismissed three times by spin but on each occasion Ben Stokes was unable to hold on to sharp chances at slip - and with another 26 overs lost due to rain, England's prospects of capturing a series lead before the teams move on to Johannesburg looked to have taken a hit.

South Africa's captain, Faf du Plessis, pronounced before the third Test that his team had made "huge steps in the right direction" against England, following a run of five consecutive defeats. While du Plessis could not extricate himself from his own run of bad form, falling to Bess for the second time in as many innings, the bloody-minded efforts of de Kock and, in particular, Nortje, gave his side something to rally around.

Although there was no doubting England were on top, they seemed likely to find themselves in a battle against time, the elements and an unforgiving pitch - with de Kock's rearguard blocking their path to enforcing the follow-on, and 92 runs still needed for South Africa to take the decision out of Joe Root's hands.

The morning session could scarcely have gone better for England, with Bess striking three more times to claim each of the five South African wickets to have fallen, before a delay of more than three hours began to impinge on hopes of a positive result in this match. When play was able to resume in mid-afternoon, de Kock succeeded in seeing off the fiery Mark Wood as he and Nortje combined to frustrate England further.

South Africa's wicketkeeper produced a number of fine strokes during a counterattacking innings, although at times he lived on the edge. Root might have removed him twice, on 30 and 56, with Stokes the culprit on both occasions. Another chance came late in the day, when de Kock was cramped by Joe Denly's legspin and top-edged a cut low to Stokes' right - but again England's most-reliable catcher could not cling on.

Stokes did have a more familiar impact with the ball, although the fact England waited until the 61st over to turn to his bowling - so galvanic in the victory at Newlands - raised questions about what might been after the allrounder proceeded to dismiss Nortje with his 10th delivery.

Nortje had already benefited from lapses in the field, Root putting down a simple chance at slip that would have given Bess his five-for. Having demonstrated his ability with the bat in South Africa's victory in Centurion, Nortje dug in manfully in the face of Wood's 150kph/93mph hostility - a half-chance to Ollie Pope at short leg the closest Wood came to getting his man. By the time Stokes drew an edge to slip, Nortje had played by far his longest first-class innings and kept England at bay for more than three hours.

Such fighting spirit seemed to be lacking as South Africa set about their attempts to build a convincing first-innings reply. Resuming on 60 for 2, after Bess had struck twice on the second evening, they lost Dean Elgar in the fourth over of the day, smartly taken by the diving Pope at silly point as the ball ricocheted off bat and pad.

Du Plessis seemed intent on taking the attack to England's rookie offspinner, a 22-year-old playing in just his fourth Test, twice leaving his ground to stroke fours through mid-off. But Bess changed his line of attack to over the wicket, found some drift and grip and another inside edge plopped safely into the hands of Pope, at short leg this time.

South Africa had been left in a mess against Bess, whose fourth wicket ensured career-best figures. He was not to be denied a fifth - becoming the youngest England spinner to take a Test five-for since Pat Pocock in 1968 - as Rassie van der Dussen dragged the ball into his stumps to give the unexpected tourist an unexpected starring role. But the rain and de Kock meant the day was not simply about Bess.

[Lord Snooty]

Well that went well. Four wickets for one run and the follow on enforced.
Happy days!