The Proteas pace bowlers had a flying start at Lord’s on Day 1 of the first Test reducing England to 100-5 by Lunch.
The hype is finally over. The talk about “Bazball’ was starting to get annoying for many South African cricket fans.
“Let us see them do that against our bowlers”, said Dean Elgar at his arrival presser, and after winning the toss, he made the brave call of bowling first and taking the attack to England’s new-found aggressive approach.
The biggest joy for fans had to be that Kagiso Rabada recovered in time to make the starting XI, and he wasted no time showing that he is up for this historic Test.
For any openers in these conditions (overcast and with rain looming), a good start was imperative. England failed to get that. Rabada (2-26) removed both openers, showing no signs of an injury hangover. He was accurate and consistent flirting with batters’ pads and beating the inside and outside edge regularly.
He feathered Lees’ edge in his 2nd over to the keeper, and followed that up by dismissing Zak Crawley who edged a wobbling seam delivery to Markram at slip.
Marco Jansen and Nortje (2-37) backed up KG’s start with two key wickets of their own. Jansen caught Root lbw on 8 and then came the Delivery of the Day by Nortje. He nipped one in from just outside off stump at 150km/h, which took out Bairstow’s middle stump.
Ollie Pope, however, was still a thorn in South Africa’s side, he chipped away at the visitors to end the session on an 8th half-century reaching it in 69 balls.
He was not supported by his captain either, Nortje taking his second wicket, Ben Stokes, squaring him up and forcing him to edge to Petersen at slip on the final ball before Lunch.
Although Ngidi didn’t take a wicket, he was key in keeping the pressure on the opposition batters. He finished with 0-12 after 5 overs.
England finished on 100-5.
Come back to the site later to read our final report of the match.
Photo: BackpagePix
Stay up to date with the match:
FAN’S VIEW: What’s happening at Lord’s? | 1st Test | South Africa vs England
