South Africa registered a resounding victory at the Iconic Lord’s. The visitors thrashed England and won the 1st Test Match by an innings and 12 runs. England would be dejected as there was no fight whereas Proteas would be over the moon as winning a Test Match at Lord’s doesn’t happen too often
Bold Approach by Dean Elgar & bowlers
South Africa’s skipper took an audacious step by choosing to bowl first. The conditions were overcast, but bowling to intrepid English batters was a bit risky. The skipper gave the bowlers the license to be absolutely ruthless. They were bang on, especially Kagiso Rabada who ripped off England’s batting lineup. He took a 5-wicket haul and gave glimpses of the former Legendary fast bowler Makhaya Ntini.
There was an extraordinary bowling display by Anrich Nortje. He was clocking pace at 150 km/hr., the way he set up Johnny Bairstow was a treat to watch. We all know how brutal Bairstow can be against any attack. Nortje knew that the best time to get him out is in the initial stages when he is vulnerable. He confused him by bowling different types of deliveries and then uprooted his middle stump. He was pumped up as he knew that he got the big fish. The speedster was a bit expensive but he took 3 wickets which is invaluable.
England managed to score only 165 runs and was skittled out in 45 overs on the 2nd day. Apart from Ollie Pope who scored 73 runs in 102 balls, not a single batter scored 30 runs which means that none of the batters wanted to play innings. To some extent, the Britishers would argue that the overcast conditions yielded wickets on Day 1; but that doesn’t mean that they would throw the towel.
A Complete performance from South African batters
The skipper Dean Elgar & Sarel Erwee blunted the new ball. Tackling Broad and Anderson isn’t everyone’s cup of tea as the duo can extract swing from a dead pitch too. The peculiarity of the opening partnership was that they focused on rotating the strike which disturbs the bowler’s concentration. The opening partnership was of 85 runs which was the cherry on the top for Proteas as half of the deficit was cut down.
The unexpected match-winner for South Africa with the bat was Sarel Erwee. He scored 73 runs in 146 balls. The elegant opener is a novice to the International Arena, yet he showed a lot of control as there was a bit of banter going on too.
The skipper Ben Stokes rolled his sleeve as the pacers weren’t getting the desired results. The flamboyant all-rounder bowled his heart out. He tried short ball barrage and astounded the batters by bowling a lot of variations and it was quite successful. The spectators were seeing the other side of Ben Stokes who had a fire in his eyes as he took 3 wickets.
210-6 was the score and then only Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen fretted the bowlers. The duo scored 40 odd runs each which meant that England was behind the 8th ball. At the end of Day 2, the lead was nearing 100 runs.
Day 3 is often said to be the moving day in Test Cricket. The tail-enders somehow took the lead to 161 runs. Stuart Broad attained a unique feat by picking up 100 Wickets at the Lord’s as he took 3 wickets, but he had to toil a lot. South Africa would have hoped that the likes of Markram and Rassie would get a big score as tail-enders scoring runs doesn’t sound well.
England Cricket Team in Tatters
England batters had a mountain to climb as the deficit was a huge one. They needed one of the openers to dig deep. The agony continued for Zak Crawley who this time was undone by the left arm off spinner Keshav Maharaj. Crawley hasn’t scored a half-century in the last 5 test matches; still, Paul Collingwood is backing him which is perplexing.
Once again, Nortje bowled thunderbolts and once again got rid of Bairstow. He took 3 wickets in his short spell of 7 overs. Earlier; Nortje, Ngidi, and Rabada had opted out of Bangladesh Test Series in April 2022 for participating in IPL. But now, it looks like the team is on right track.
Ben Stokes tried to avoid some embarrassment but was unable to avoid the ignominy. The dark horse for South Africa was Marco Jansen who took 4 wickets (*2 in each innings) and scored a handy 48 runs in the match. He wrapped up the match for Proteas and gave a warning to England’s batters that he is more than a dark horse. The innings got wrapped up in 37.4 overs which means that English batters didn’t have the right mindset.
What’s wrong with England
England had won 4 back-to-back Test Matches (3 against New Zealand and 1 against India). They were rocking and everyone gave them the fearless tag they were. Brendon McCullum would know that his team had a bad day at the office. At the same time, losing a Test Match at Lord’s hurts a lot. Ben Stokes looks a bit exhausted and it won’t be wrong to say that his natural game is affected due to captaincy.
England already knows that they can’t reach the finals of the ICC World Test Championship at any cost. Now they are placed at 7th position out of 9 nations. They need to show some patience as whacking boundaries may not work all the time. They need to regroup and make sure that they are forming partnerships which are key to succeed in Test Cricket. Perhaps, we may see a dangerous England in the 2nd Test Match on 25th August.
What lies ahead for South Africa
South Africa has found a hole in England’s approach and created havoc. Dean Elgar played mind games against England which paid off. He was quite vocal stating that England’s approach is not sustainable. The Skipper is showing glimpses of Graeme Smith who used to be ecstatic. South African Cricket is getting great again after the turmoil and legal battles with the administration.
South Africa in World Test Championship has won 6 Test Matches out of 8 and are the table toppers. They are definitely on a song and they would be hoping that the Juggernaut continues. It is often said; that the higher you reach, the steeper it goes. South Africa would be aware of their collapses which often spoils all the hard work. Still, there is a lot to ponder for Proteas even after a clinical performance.
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