England’s journey under new captain Joe Root began in a perfect fashion, as the Three Lions thrashed South Africa by 211 runs in the first Test at Lord’s.
On a fourth day, with the Lord’s pitch offering enough assistance for the spinners, England’s spin duo Moeen Ali (6-53) and Liam Dawson (2-34) ran riot, as the Proteas were bundled out for a paltry 119 after England had collapsed to 223 in their second innings.
Faced with the task of making 331 to go one up in the four-match series, South Africa capitulated in a spectacular fashion which began with Heino Kuhn’s dismissal on the last ball of the seventh over and ended with Morne Morkel’s dismissal on the fourth ball of the 37th over.
The Proteas made a cautious start with Kuhn and stand-in skipper Dean Elgar taking no risks early on, as the side huffed and puffed to 12 in seven overs before James Anderson broke the resistance by accounting for the former. A couple of overs later, Moeen Ali ended Elgar’s 21-ball two runs knock and opened the floodgates. JP Duminy was the next to go when his pull shot off the bowling of Mark Wood went straight to square leg on the stroke of tea, leaving the Proteas reeling at 25 for three.
But with Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock at the crease, South Africa must have fancied their hopes of providing a good resistance. However, it was soon ended when debutant Dawson took the key wicket of Amla shortly after tea. The writing was very much on the wall by then but de Kock and Temba Bavuma tried their best to delay the inevitable, digging in for more than 10 overs to add 36 runs.
However, the resistance soon ended when de Kock’s attempted pull shot off Ali went on to disturb his leg stump, as half of the South African team returned to the pavilion with only 64 runs on the board.
Three runs later, Bavuma also joined his teammates in the pavilion while Theunis de Bruyn, who had scored 48 in the first innings, returned after scoring just one. Moeen Ali then clean bowled Keshav Maharaj to record his maiden Test ten-for. The lower order could provide little resistance, as South Africa lost the match by a whopping margin of 211 runs.
Earlier, England too suffered a spectacular collapse, losing their last nine wickets for only 94 runs. Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance began the proceedings on the fourth day with the scorecard reading 119 for one and added 20 runs before Morne Morkel dismissed the former England captain for 69.
Three runs later, Ballance became Morkel’s third scalp before Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada dismissed Joe Root and Ben Stokes, respectively to leave the hosts reeling at 149 for five. Jonny Bairstow’s 51 and Mark Wood’s 34 then helped England to cross the 200-run mark.
Brief scores:
England: 458 (Root 190, Moeen 87, Broad 57*, Stokes 56, Morkel 4-115) and 233 (Cook 69, Bairstow 51, Maharaj 4-85) beat South Africa: 361 (Bavuma 59, Elgar 54, Philander 52, de Kock 51, Moeen 4-59) and 119 (Moeen 6-53) by 211 runs