First Test v South Africa 2022
South Africa Crush Fragile England
After a gap of more than six weeks since their last Test, it somehow felt as though some of the momentum England had shown under Ben Stokes’s captaincy earlier in the summer had dissipated as South Africa became the latest visitors. England had not won five consecutive home Tests in a summer since 2004, but there was a hunger and determination about their opponents that made you feel this could be their toughest challenge so far, as the Proteas had won seven of their last nine Tests.
England made just one change to their line-up from the previous Test, with Ben Foakes returning to the keeper’s spot ahead of Sam Billings. It was a landmark Test for James Anderson, who recently celebrated his fortieth birthday – the last England player to appear in a Test in their forties was Alec Stewart back in 2003. After Dean Elgar had won the toss and chosen to field, under cloudy skies with rain forecast, he had the air of a man who was excited by the prospect of playing at Lord’s and expected to win.
Alex Lees and Zak Crawley strode out to take on the pace of Kagiso Rabada, and by the end of the third over Lees was out pushing hard at one and edging to the keeper. Rabada’s fifth over also found the edge of the other opener and Joe Root came in at 25 for two, a sadly familiar experience for him. Marco Jansen, South Africa’s tall left-armer, trapped Root in front and England were in a mess at 42 for three. Jonny Bairstow came in needing six runs to reach 1000 for the calendar year, but a 93mph full delivery from Anrich Nortje castled him for a duck, leaving England in real trouble with both their in-form batters out. Stokes played some sublime straight drives, but his ploy of occasionally charging the bowler seemed unnecessary and fraught with danger.
While the wickets had been tumbling at the other end, Ollie Pope had been moving along serenely, and went to fifty off just 69 balls. With the final ball before lunch, Nortje squared up Stokes, who edged into the slip cordon and England went into the break on 100 for five off 26 overs. Afterwards, it got worse in the fading light as Nortje blasted through Foakes’s defences. It wasn’t the most comfortable time for Broad to come in, and he will have been relieved when after just two deliveries the rain arrived, and that was it for the day, with England on 116 for six.
Day Two required England’s tail to wag, and then their bowlers to deliver. Neither happened. Early on, Pope edged into the slip cordon and, despite an extended juggling act, the ball ended up on the turf as he survived. But he was unable to make it count as he inside-edged Rabada onto the stumps, out for 73. Broad then chipped Rabada to gully, Jansen bowled Jack Leach and Anderson was plumb in front first ball, giving Rabada final figures of five for 52 as England were all out for 165.
England needed to strike early against Elgar and Sarel Erwee, and Broad thought he had the skipper, who needed to call upon DRS after he was given out caught behind, leaving Broad stranded on 99 Lord’s wickets. Crawley couldn’t cling on to one that flew over his head and at lunch they were 27 without loss. The pair continued on their way after the break, with batting looking much easier than it had done for England, and for the first time in his brief England career Matty Potts looked a bit out of sorts. Eventually, with the score on 85, more than halfway to England’s total, Anderson rapped Elgar (on 47) on the pads, the ball bounced up, hit his forearm and rolled agonisingly slowly onto the stumps. Erwee reached his fifty off 89 balls, then Erwee and Keegan Petersen put on fifty in 76 balls, but just after that Potts had Petersen caught in the slips by Bairstow. Aiden Markram was next in and saw his side up to 158 for two by tea, trailing by just 7 runs.
Leach’s first ball after tea found Markram’s edge and Rassie van der Dussen was on his way in. Stokes’s short-pitched attack got results as a brilliant bouncer from him accounted for Erwee on 73. Then, when he pitched one up, he had van der Dussen LBW. Kyle Verreynne joined Jansen, but soon became Broad’s 100th victim at Lord’s when he feathered a catch to Foakes. Only four bowlers in the history of the game have ever taken 100+ wickets at a single venue, with Anderson (also at Lord’s) on that list along with Sri Lankan spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (Colombo SSC, Kandy and Galle) and Rangana Herath (Galle). With South Africa at 210 for six, England knew if they could knock over the tail quickly they would still be in the match.
But South Africa did to England what England did to New Zealand and India, continuing to play their shots, perhaps helped by some curious field settings and some poor thinking by the bowlers. Keshav Maharaj took full advantage, while Jansen began to grow in confidence. Stokes permed his bowlers but none of them could slow the run rate. The fifty partnership came up in just 63 balls, as the lead reached 100. Maharaj tried pulling Stokes, only to find Potts at mid-wicket, but his 41 in 49 balls was a vital innings that knocked the stuffing out of England. The day finished with South Africa on 289 for seven and in complete control, and England’s bowling looking slightly one-dimensional.
Third ball of the third day, and Broad took a superb, one-handed leaping catch at mid-on to remove Rabada off Potts. England took the new ball and Stokes tried to bounce out the tail, rather than pitching it up. Eventually Broad came on, bowled fuller and found Jansen’s edge on 48. Meanwhile, Nortje continued to swing the bat until Broad brought proceedings to an end, inducing the edge from Lungisani Ngidi; South Africa were all out for 326, a daunting lead of 161 runs.
England’s openers desperately needed to provide their side with a platform, but an edge from Lees in the third over that was put down suggested that was unlikely to happen. In the eighth over, Crawley tried to sweep Maharaj’s third ball and was plumb in front, then just before lunch Pope was caught in two minds by the same bowler and was also LBW, though South Africa had to turn to DRS to get the decision. At lunch, England were 38 for two, and it continued England’s record of losing a wicket just before every break, whether for food or rain, in the match.
After lunch, Root pushed at one from Ngidi and edged to the slips, a vital wicket. As it has been more than two years since England last won without Root contributing a fifty in the match, the odds against England getting out of this match intact looked poor. Bairstow went past 1000 runs in the year at an average of more than 70, but was looking slightly scratchy and he fell to Nortje on 18, edging behind to the keeper. Nortje then repeated the dose on Lees, on 35, and Foakes nibbled unnecessarily at his second ball to give Verreynne a third catch in quick succession off Nortje: 86 for six. The end was nigh.
Maharaj nearly had Broad LBW first ball, but he swung away at Nortje, hitting 16 in an over, including a six that took him ahead of Shahid Afridi in the all-tie list of six-hitters to 53 – just Stokes, Flintoff, Pietersen and Botham are ahead of him on that list among all England batters. Broad and Stokes put on 50 off just 40 balls, Broad dominating the scoring and taking the majority of the strike, but a slower one from Rabada saw Broad chip one to mid-off, out for 35. Jansen then castled Potts, who was heaving at a full inswinger; Stokes was caught on the mid-wicket boundary off Rabada; it took him to 250 Test wickets in just 53 games (only Dale Steyn, 49, and Allan Donald, 50, had got there in fewer matches for South Africa). Finally, Anderson was the last to go as he too was bowled by Jansen. All out for 149, England were beaten by an innings and 12 runs.
England have now lost five of their last seven Tests against South Africa at Lord’s including two innings defeats, one by 356 runs and another by ten wickets. But, in 2022, South Africa’s variety and skill in their pace attack put them ahead of England’s where all four seamers are right armers of a similar pace (they averaged between 82.4 and 81.8mph, while South Africa’s quartet averaged between 89.2 and 83.2mph). None of England’s bowlers touched 86mph in the match, while Nortje hit 96.7mph, and Ngidi and Rabada got up to the 90mph mark. The fastest ball by an England bowler was outpaced by 152 deliveries from South Africa. England would probably lay claim to the stronger batting line-up, but their fragility at the top of the order means that there is an over-reliance on Root, Bairstow and Stokes to dig them out of trouble, while the tail is longer than it has been. Can England turn things round at Old Trafford from Thursday?
