[themaclad]

South Africa 215 for 8 (Elgar 88, van der Dussen 68) trail England 269 (Pope 61*) by 54 runs

The narrative surrounding England's first two World Test Championship series has been dominated by the Smiths: Steven ground them into the dirt with his runs in the Ashes, and Graeme's appointment as director of cricket appears to have sparked new life into South Africa.

And as Dean Elgar piled on the runs with Rassie van der Dussen - who had begun to seem almost invincible, such was his ability to survive despite offering regular chances - Joe Root could have been forgiven thinking that, as far as his side was concerned, this joke wasn't funny anymore.

But the thorn was soon out of his side, as South Africa went nowhere fast. Perhaps weighed down by the pressure of prolonged dry spells from England's change bowlers, Elgar, Quinton de Kock and van der Dussen all gave their wickets away in the day's final hour to squander their side's advantage, before James Anderson struck twice with the new ball to leave South Africa eight down at the close.

Instead, still trailing by 54 runs and facing the prospect of batting last on a wicket that has proved more helpful to seamers than many had predicted, South Africa face a tough ask to get what they want this time.

England's attempts during the morning to frustrate South Africa with a significant last-wicket partnership lasted only 17 balls, as Anderson steered a back-of-a-length ball to van der Dussen at slip to give Kagiso Rabada his third wicket, leaving Ollie Pope on a battling, unbeaten 61.

While they were profligate with the new ball at Centurion, Stuart Broad and Anderson started impressively at Newlands. Pieter Malan's maiden Test innings was a stern challenge of his technique, and it ended quickly: after Elgar had edged the final ball of Anderson's fourth over just short of Root at slip, Malan was drawn into fending a length ball to the same man in the same position, this time offering a simple chance.

Broad struck again in his next over, dismissing Zubayr Hamza for the third time this series thanks to a superb diving catch by Ben Stokes at second slip, and when Faf du Plessis jabbed a length ball from Anderson into the cordon it left South Africa in trouble at 40 for 3.

Dom Bess, the Somerset offspinner, nearly had a wicket with his first ball in an overseas Test, as he drew Elgar into a lofted drive that only narrowly evaded the grasp of the diving Pope at short extra cover, and Anderson looked to have trapped van der Dussen lbw early on in his innings, but he was saved on review thanks to a thick inside edge.

But as Elgar and van der Dussen began to frustrate England, the tourists proved to be their own worst enemies. Van der Dussen gloved a brutal delivery behind only to be saved by the revelation that Broad had overstepped. In fact, Broad and Stokes overstepped 12 times between them in the afternoon session despite the scorecard recording a very different story.

Van der Dussen had yet another life on 43, with Stokes dropping a tough chance at second slip to his right, and their pair soon had the highest partnership of the series and a hundred stand as Elgar nudged, pulled and tickled his way towards a third Newlands century.

But as the runs began to dry up, Elgar suffered a brain-fade. On 88, he decided to aim a fullish ball outside the off stump from Bess into the stands, and instead only succeeded in mowing it straight in the air; Root, running back from mid-off, took the catch, and England had an important breakthrough.

Much as the wicket came as a surprise given Elgar had grown in confidence and control through his innings, England had worked steadily and with real focus to remove him, like a tick from a cat's ear. The 10.4 overs after the tea interval had cost only 16 runs, and the visiting attack had been parsimonious throughout, with the seamers operating from the Wynberg End while Bess tied things down from the other; as the brakes were put on, South Africa struggled to rein their attacking instincts in.

De Kock was keen to go from the outset, but after a couple of boundaries skied an offcutter from Sam Curran up and into the safe hands of Anderson at mid-off, and when van der Dussen gave Stokes another chance at second slip while trying to run the same bowler down to third man, England had mirrored South Africa in taking two wickets just before the new ball was due.

Anderson then struck with the new ball, getting Dwaine Pretorius to edge twice to Stokes at second slip. First, he put down a catch for the second time in the day, low down in front of him, but three balls later gobbled up a much harder chance to leave the hosts seven down and claim his fourth catch of the innings. And when the ball spooned up to Dom Sibley in the slips off Keshav Maharaj's pad via the inside edge, England's ascendancy was confirmed.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Best day of the tour so far, though obviously that's not saying much. Curran, like Stokes, has a knack for making something happen out of nowhere when a breakthrough is needed. Dom Bess also did well holding down one end.

[themaclad]

England 218 for 4 (Sibley 85*, Root 61) and 269 all out lead South Africa 223 all out (Anderson 5-40) by 264 runs

Joe Root said in the days before England arrived in New Zealand at the end of last year that he wanted his batsmen to "be prepared to play some attritional cricket" after batting "in fast-forward" under Trevor Bayliss. On the third day of the Newlands Test, it appeared his top order had taken that message to heart, as they ground out a substantial lead thanks primarily to Dom Sibley's unbeaten 85.

England had seized the Test by the scruff of the neck during the dramatic end to the second day, when South Africa lost five wickets for 58 runs to turn 157 for 4 into 215 for 8, and James Anderson took the two remaining wickets in just 14 deliveries to finish with a five-wicket haul.

And after Zak Crawley's frenetic 25, Sibley went about blunting a lacklustre South African attack, putting on partnerships of 73 with Joe Denly and 116 alongside Root to give England an imposing 264-run lead by the close with six second-innings wickets remaining.

Anderson made short work of the tail in the morning, removing Kagiso Rabada with a textbook outswinger with the first ball of the day and enticing Anrich Nortje into prodding defensively at a ball outside his off stump to give England a 46-run lead.

That dismissal was statistically significant, too: it gave Stokes his fifth catch of the innings, making him the first England outfielder to complete that feat, and put Anderson out in front of Ian Botham as the man with the most five-wicket hauls for England, with 28. Anderson's now has 102 wickets at 20.67 since his 35th birthday, and was the first 37-year-old to take a five-for for England bowling seam-up since Freddie Brown in 1951.

The early stages of England's second innings were dominated by a fiery duel between Zak Crawley and Rabada. After overpitching twice in his first over and being punished by England's rookie opener, Rabada began to steam in, as though he had taken the boundaries personally, and smacked Crawley on the helmet via the bicep in his third over having struck him in the ribs in his second.

Two balls after that blow, Rabada appeared to offer some choice words on Crawley's technique after a 91mph back-of-a-length ball which thudded into the splice, and did so again following his next delivery, a sharp bouncer which struck the batsman on the shoulder.

And while Crawley clipped another full toss to the boundary, it was Rabada who had the last laugh, pushing an outswinger slightly wide of the off-stump channel and drawing an edge as the batsman looked to unfurl his cover drive.

But that battle aside, South Africa looked a shadow of the fit, fierce attack that got the better of England at Centurion, with Maharaj resorting to leg-theory early on in his spell and the seamers failing to extract much life from the pitch. It was suggested that the cooler, cloudier conditions meant the crack that had opened up outside the right-hander's off stump from the Wynberg End had less effect, but Faf du Plessis' uninspired captaincy contributed to the tameness of the effort.

Sibley started slowly, playing primarily through the leg side and digging in to reach 29 off 93 balls before first bringing out his cover drive off Rabada in the 34th over. He found support in Joe Denly, whose innings of 31 was characteristically stubborn, albeit lacking in any real fluency.

Denly again faced 100 balls - only Marnus Labuschagne (10 times) has done so more often than Denly (eight) since the start of 2019 - and set up the innings for England's middle order. A lofted four down the ground off Maharaj aside, he was largely subdued as his partnership with Sibley sucked the life out of the hosts' attack, and it came as something of a surprise when he swatted a Nortje bouncer down the throat of Dwaine Pretorius at long leg.

Sibley batted with growing confidence alongside Root, as the pair started to score more positively after tea. Particularly strong off his pads and against anything short, Sibley crunched Maharaj for four through point to push the lead past 200 - given his struggles against left-arm spin in his career to date, it was the sign of a man starting to feel at home in an England shirt.

Root was delicate, sweeping, paddling and nudging his way past fifty while looking in fine touch, and it took a ball that bounced sharply out of the crack and found his outside edge from Pretorius in the final half-hour to dislodge him; it was the third time in this match that the allrounder had struck with the new ball imminent.

One wicket soon brought another, as Nortje removed Dom Bess for a pair. Nortje's bouncer from round the wicket brushed the nightwatchman's glove on its way through to Quinton de Kock, confirmed on review, to offer South Africa a flicker of hope, but seemed only to further expose the underuse of the fastest bowler in the match by du Plessis.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Really, really want Sibley to get that ton. If he does, then we need to give him and Burns a proper run together as openers for the rest of this year.

[themaclad]

South Africa 126 for 2 (Malan 63*) and 223 require 312 more runs to beat England 269 and 391 for 8 dec (Sibley 133*, Root 61, Stokes 72)

Mark Boucher encouraged his South Africa side to channel the spirit of the 2008 Perth Test last night, and Pieter Malan's battling, unbeaten 63 left them dreaming of an improbable escape on the fourth evening of the Newlands Test despite James Anderson's late wicket.

After England looked to hammer their advantage home in the day's first session, with Dom Sibley completing his maiden Test hundred and Ben Stokes clubbing 72 off only 47 balls, South African heads began to drop with the lead soaring past 400.

But after the declaration came 20 minutes after lunch, Malan and Dean Elgar were resolute, leaving the ball well and blunting England's attack on a pitch that looked to possess few demons by the close. Elgar fell for 34 after struggling against the part-time legspin of Joe Denly, but Malan put on 52 with Zubayr Hamza to push South Africa towards the close before Anderson coaxed an edge out of Hamza to give England a vital breakthrough.

That wicket left South Africa needing 312 more runs on the final day. If that target seemed a tall order, then the fact that conditions have become increasingly favourable for batting suggests that a draw is by no means impossible.

After Dom Bess's dismissal to the final ball of the third day, Stokes wasted little time in signalling England's attacking intentions in the morning session. He bludgeoned the eighth delivery he faced to the midwicket boundary off Dwaine Pretorius, and hit the same bowler for six down the ground and through third man with a delicate reverse-lap in consecutive balls at the start of his next over.

Unexpectedly, Faf du Plessis had declined to take the new ball as soon as it became available, instead hoping that Keshav Maharaj might lull Stokes into a false stroke. Stokes took the bait, ripping it clean off while avoiding the hook as he deposited him over midwicket for six.

The new ball then came, but Stokes showed no signs of slowing down as Vernon Philander's 14th over of the innings went for as many runs (12) as his previous 13 combined. Kagiso Rabada fared little better, and at one stage, Stokes was on 38 off 26 balls at the same time that the unmoved Sibley had added only three from the 31 deliveries he had faced.

After edging through the vacant third-slip area for four, Sibley nailed a sweep shot off Maharaj to bring up his maiden Test hundred, the first by an England opener at Newlands since Jack Hobbs in 1910. He began to move through the gears himself, perhaps inspired by the carnage unfolding at the other end as Stokes smote four, six, four off three Maharaj balls to move to 70 from 42.

But he was soon to go, slapping the left-arm spinner to Rassie van der Dussen at long-on after 75 destructive minutes to start the day. Ollie Pope dragged on while looking to force the ball through the off side before Jos Buttler edged the unwell Anrich Nortje through to Quinton de Kock while scooping, and Sam Curran picked out Hamza at midwicket three balls after lunch.

Sibley, however, stuck to his task, hitting a rare six and reverse-sweeping four more off Maharaj, before Joe Root decided he had seen enough and called his men in with 438 the target.

Malan and Elgar started watchfully, showing good judgement in leaving the ball and looking to score when England erred from their lengths. England thought they had made the breakthrough only ten balls into the innings, as Stuart Broad rapped Malan on the pad, but Kumar Dharmasena shook his head and was proved right when Ultra-Edge revealed a large spike as the ball passed the inside edge following England's review.

Root turned to spin early in the piece, bringing Bess on to bowl the ninth over of the innings, but it was not until Denly's introduction immediately before tea that Elgar looked particularly troubled.

Perhaps by a quirk of fate, Elgar had only faced 106 balls of legspin in his Test career before this game, despite playing as many as 104 innings, and he immediately struggled to read Denly's legbreaks, which turned and bounced appreciably out of the rough. He survived until the interval after being struck on the thumb, but then feathered an edge through to Buttler when lunging forward in defence to give England the breakthrough.

Elgar reviewed Paul Reiffel's decision almost immediately, but Ultra-Edge suggested he had got the faintest of scratches on the ball, enough evidence for the on-field decision to be upheld, and he was left to rue what he perceived to be his misfortune.

It seemed like a big moment, with Hamza struggling against Broad throughout the series - the No. 3 had been dismissed by him in all three innings - and South Africa's first fifty stand for the first wicket in 17 Test innings coming to an end. But despite both batsmen taking regular body blows, and Malan in particular leaving several deliveries that seemed almost certain to hit the top of his off stump, South Africa were set to survive until the close.

But Anderson re-wrote the script's finale, after finding a fraction of reverse swing late in the day. After shaping the ball in towards Malan in the first over of his final spell, the second ball of Anderson's next over nibbled away off the seam, finding the outside edge as Hamza pushed at the ball expecting it to come back in. It was Anderson's 92nd wicket against South Africa, taking him past Shaun Pollock (91) as the leading wicket-taker in England-South Africa Tests.

It seemed as though Malan in particular would prove a tricky man for England to dismiss: as Boucher had hoped, he was positive in using his feet against the spinners, and survived a short-ball barrage from Stokes in the final session to make it to stumps unscathed. While victory seems highly improbable, South Africa will be hopeful that their new opener can lead the charge towards a crucial draw.

[themaclad]

Win, Denly bowling a pie that De Kock gets out too, Stokes does the rest and Buttler calls Philander a f@@king knobhead tremendous

---

England 269 (Pope 61*) and 391 for 8 (Sibley 133, Root 61, Stokes 72) beat South Africa 223 (Elgar 88, van der Dussen 68, Anderson 5-40) and 248 (Malan 84, de Kock 50) by 189 runs

Ben Stokes took three late wickets to seal a dramatic final-day victory for England at Newlands to level their series against South Africa at 1-1.

Stubborn resistance from Pieter Malan, Quinton de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen had taken South Africa into the tea interval five wickets down, with the pitch offering little for England's attack and the draw looking ever more likely.

But after Joe Denly removed de Kock and an inspired piece of captaincy from Joe Root accounted for van der Dussen, Stokes burst through the tail in the final hour to complete a 189-run win with only 8.2 overs to spare.

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

First win at Newlands since 1957. On a tour plagued with problems and with our iffy Test form, that's some achievement.

[themaclad]

Anderson out of tour

[themaclad]

3RD TEST PORT ELIZABETH 16/1/2020 to 20/1/2020



St George’s Park Cricket Ground (also known as St George's Park,[1][2][3] Crusaders Ground[4] or simply Crusaders) is a cricket ground in St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa, and the Eastern Province Club. It is also one of the venues at which Test matches and One Day Internationals are played in South Africa. It is older than Kingswood College in Grahamstown. The ground is notable for its brass band that plays during major matches, adding a unique flavour to its atmosphere.

The ground hosted its first Test match in March 1889 when England defeated South Africa by 8 wickets.[1] This was South Africa’s first Test match. As of 2005, there have been 21 Test matches played at the ground of which South Africa has won 8 and their opponents 9 with 4 draws.

The first One Day International played at the ground was in December 1992 when South Africa beat India by 6 wickets. As of 2005, there have been 25 One Day Internationals played at the ground including five in the Cricket World Cup in 2003.

http://stgeorgespark.nmmu.ac.za/

If the cricket is crap the band will entertain you

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Barmy Army vs the brass band, atmosphere is bound to be quality.