England surged to a commanding 9-wicket victory over South Africa at The Oval on Monday to clinch the three-match Test series 2-1.

The hosts needed just 33 runs to win at the start-of-play, with both openers, Zak Crawley and Alex Lees, having been at the crease. 

The pair set up a 108-run opening stand, before Kagiso Rabadafinally cracked them in the fourth over into the final day. Rabadaappealed an LBW, before being given not out. They then reviewed it and the tracker showed the ball to be hitting the top of the stumps. 

Lees, who was dropped by Marco Jansen on the very first delivery in his side’s second innings yesterday, departed for a well-earned 39.

That wicket proved to be a glimmer of light in a dark South African cloud during the third Test as the hosts reached their target within 30 minutes of play on day 5. Crawley (69*) and Ollie Pope (11*) finished at the crease.

England’s Ollie Robinson proved to be the pick of the bowlers in the match, claiming stern match figures of 7/89, which included a 5-wicket haul in the first innings. He was backed up strongly by Stuart Broad, who’d earned solid figures of 7/86.

SA’s top bowlers were Jansen, who also obtained a 5-wicket haul in the first innings to get match figures of 5/75. Next in line, Rabada took figures of 5/138.

With the bat, Crawley’s unbeaten 69 and Pope’s 67 in the first innings were the top scores in a match that evidently belonged to the bowlers.

The result meant England have won eight of their nine Test matches over their summer season.