England vs South Africa 1st Test: Ruthless Proteas inflict innings defeat on sorry hosts at Lord’s

The
potent
Proteas
pace
attack
did
much
of
the
damage
once
again,
bowling
a
fragile
England
out
for
only
149
in
37.4
overs
on
Friday.

Dean
Elgar’s
men
dominated
from
start
to
finish
in
London,
taking
a
first
innings
lead
of
161
by
posting
326
all
out
in
reply
to
England’s
165.

The
tourists
wrapped
up
the
victory
just
over
two-and-half
days
into
the
first
of
three
Tests
in
the
series
to
go
1-0
up,
with
the
wickets
shared
between
magnificent
quicks
Anrich
Nortje
(3-27),
Kagiso
Rabada
(2-27),
Marco
Jansen
(2-13)
and
Lungi
Ngidi
(1-15)
after
Keshav
Maharaj
took
2-27.

It
was
a
chastening
defeat
for
England,
Stuart
Broad
and
Alex
Lees
the
joint
top-scorers
with
35
as
they
lost
their
perfect
record
since
Stokes
was
appointed
captain
and
Brendon
McCullum
head
coach.

Broad
took
a
brilliant
one-handed
catch
for
Matthew
Potts
to
dismiss
Rabada
after
South
Africa
resumed
on
289-7,
before
claiming
two
wickets
of
his
own
to
end
the
innings
and
leave
Nortje
unbeaten
on
28.

Spinner
Maharaj
had
England
in
trouble
on
38-2
at
lunch,
dismissing
the
out-of-sorts
Zak
Crawley
(13)
leg
before
and
trapping
Ollie
Pope
(five)
in
front
with
the
last
ball
of
the
morning
session.

The
Proteas
pace
attack
again
came
to
the
fore
in
the
afternoon
session,
Ngidi
getting
rid
of
Joe
Root
(six)
before
a
fired
up
Nortje
had
Jonny
Bairstow
(18),
Lees
and
Ben
Foakes
(naught)
caught
behind.

1

51791

Broad
came
out
swinging
(35)
as
he
put
on
55
with
Ben
Stokes
for
the
seventh
wicket
before
he
was
deceived
by
a
slower
ball
from
Rabada
and
Jansen
cleaned
up
Potts.

Stokes
(20)
picked
out
Maharaj
in
the
deep
knowing
he
was
almost
out
of
partners
to
become
Rabada’s
second
victim
and
Jansen
bowled
James
Anderson
with
a
quick
yorker
to
put
England
out
of
their
misery.

Proteas
fire
to
blow
England
away

England
had
won
all
four
Tests
under
their
new
coach
and
captain,
whitewashing
New
Zealand
3-0
and
beating
India
in
a
rearranged
match
at
Edgbaston.

They
were
brought
down
to
earth
by
a
ruthless
South
Africa,
who
showed
why
they
are
top
of
the
World
Test
Championship.
Their
fast
bowlers
fired
on
all
cylinders
as
England
were
beaten
by
an
innings
at
Lord’s
for
only
the
second
time
in
52
Tests
since
June
1993.

Left-arm
tweaker
Maharaj
was
not
required
to
bowl
in
the
first
innings,
but
he
set
the
ball
rolling
in
England’s
second
innings
before
the
quicks
ripped
through
the
hosts.

Crawley
could
pay
the
price

Opener
Crawley
has
been
backed
by
Stokes
and
McCullum,
but
he
could
pay
the
price
for
two
more
failures.

England
must
regroup
before
the
second
Test
at
Old
Trafford,
where
Crawley
may
have
to
step
aside.