England win the 3rd test and series 2-1 as the Proteas batting lineup crumbles under the pressure.
England won the three-match Test series 2-1 against South Africa. The first match of the series was won by the visiting South Africa, while the second Test was won by England. The first day of the deciding Test was washed out in rain and the second day’s play was suspended following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
The deciding Test could begin on the third day, but the spirit with which the England team played throughout the match did not seem like they would need five days for a result. The batting frailties of South Africa was totally exposed in this test series for which they lost the series even after taking an encouraging 1-0 series lead at Lords .
South African team was bundled out for just 118 runs in the first innings. In reply, England took a crucial lead of 40 by scoring 158 runs in the first innings.
On the 2nd morning , the Protea fast bowlers Rabada and Jansen who took 5 wickets , rapped up the England innings from 152/7 to 158 allout to give a second chance for their batters to dominate the test.
However South Africa batting again failed in the second innings though at one point the score was one wicket for 83 runs. Elgar (36) was trapped lbw by Robinson but he did not review though the ball was shown to be missing leg on the DRS and after that the whole team was reduced to 169 runs. Keegan Petersen showed some promise but again he flattered to deceive being out in the 20s again as the Proteas slumped from a strong position.
In this way England got the target of 130 runs. England chased down the target in the second innings losing just one wicket. England attacked the South African bowlers fiercely in the second innings.
Alex Lees scored 39 runs and became the victim of Kagiso Rabada. England lost the only wicket in the second innings, falling for 108 runs. Jack Crawley returned not out after scoring 69 off 57 balls. At the same time, Ollie Pope scored 11 not out off 10 balls.
Ollie Robinson took five wickets in the first innings for England, while Stuart Broad took four wickets. In the second innings, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes took three wickets each, while Robinson, James Anderson took two wickets each. Marco Jansen took five wickets while Rabada took four in the first innings for South Africa.
Ben Stokes and Kagiso Rabada became the player of the series for both teams while Ollie Robinson for his 7 wickets at the Oval was the match of the match .
The South African batting in the series has been so dismal that there was only one fifty (73 by Sarel Erwee )in the whole series and no hundreds. Sarel Erwee (127 runs) and Keegan Petersen (122 runs) were their top run getters and both averaged below 26. Skipper Elgar scored only 107 runs in the series. Bowling was miles better with Rabada (14 wkts) , Nortje (10 wkts ) and Jansen (9 wkts in 2 matches ) performed very well.
This being a low scoring series , for England Ollie Pope (179 runs at 44 average ), Foakes ( 134 runs at 44 average) and Crawley ( 134 runs at 32 average ) scored most runs , Ben Stokes (149 runs and 10 wickets) was the outstanding player and the man of the series for England . In bowling Stokes , Broad (14 wickets ), Robinson (12 wickets in 2 games ) and Anderson (10 wickets) were outstanding at different times. There were 2 centuries for England in this series.
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