The young South Africa batsman played like a lord on a spree for his half-century against England, creating one of those passages where all else melts awayFor an hour or so before lunch on another lavish Lord’s Saturday Quinton de Kock seemed to be playing a different, more decorative game to everyone else. Often in sport you hear talk of a player taking the occasion by the scruff of the neck. As the Lord’s crowd cooed and gurgled De Kock did something else, taking the third morning of this first Test by the small of the back and twirling it elegantly around that huge lush lime-green garden square as it baked quietly in the midsummer sun.There are different kinds of...
Innings of 184 not out started scratchily but soon developed into something startling and special by England’s new leaderAs Joe Root and Ben Stokes punched and clipped their way towards a recuperative century stand on a heavy, woozy afternoon at Lord’s it was, as ever, easy to forget the presence of pretty much anything else beyond those high Victorian garden walls. There were gurgles of pleasure around the basking bleachers; a parade of triumphantly bared male lower-leg beneath pleated chino shorts in the garden behind the pavilion; and everywhere the standard, quietly fevered consumption of jugs, pints and flutes.It was, though, simply a prelude to the main action, a genuinely startling innings from Root that decorated the opening day of...
That was Mike Atherton’s verdict on the decider to a Test series that caught the national imagination and culminated in a battle for the ages in LeedsWhen England last won a Test series at home to South Africa, the Spin wasn’t even a glint in the Guardian’s eye. Life was pretty different in 1998: cricket was on the BBC, there was no DRS and elite sport was still a place where male hormones could run riot. England’s 2-1 win over South Africa was less a Test series, more a testosterone series; an unyielding arm-wrestle between two tough yet fragile sides with more in common than they would ever admit at the time. Related: When one-day cup’s September spot provided all...
The great batsman will not figure in the Test series against England and may never play in the format again – but his compatriots are unfazedBeyond the South Africa camp there may be a mixture of alarm and relief that AB de Villiers is not participating in this Test series and that he may never play Test cricket again. The non‑partisan punter will be disappointed by this prospect since De Villiers, now 33, is one of the great cricketers of his generation.The figures demonstrate that – 106 Tests, 8,074 runs at an average in excess of 50 is a formidable record – but those numbers do not convey the magic of his batting when he is in full flow. De...
For all the bold talk when the Yorkshireman was appointed, the squad for his first game as England captain against South Africa hints at a pragmatic approachNow for something completely different: white kit, red ball and a week in the same hotel. It is finally Test match time. The first one against South Africa starts at Lord’s on Thursday and then there will be six more this summer inside eight weeks. Related: Gary Ballance recalled to England Test team against South Africa Related: Joe Root can bring aggression to England captaincy in new big-hitting era | Vic Marks Related: Joe Root was not always earmarked for England captaincy but rarely shirks a test | The Spin Continue reading...