A shambles at Lord’s the previous week, the tourists reduced England to rubble without arguably their best bowler thanks to captain’s inspired leadershipFaf du Plessis has been the captain with the Midas touch since his return to the South African camp on the final morning of the chastening defeat at Lord’s last week, with their resurgent series-levelling performance in Nottingham covered in his gilded fingerprints.Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the leader who oversaw a 2-1 away series in Australia last year, and shrugged off an almighty ball-tampering row with a combative century in Adelaide, should have an impact on this series but the difference has been palpable, not least given that their head coach, Russell Domingo, is back...
The captain’s attacking response to his side being three for two was England’s only bright spot on a day when South Africa revitalised the Test seriesThe honours board that sits up high in the Long Room of the history-soaked pavilion at Trent Bridge does not record scores of 78 but in just shy of two hours at the crease Joe Root delivered a gem of an innings that, while ending in personal disgust, should not pass without mention.On an overcast second day that witnessed a cascade of 15 wickets for 306 runs and left South Africa on course for a series-levelling victory, he was the one batsman to truly transcend conditions, lighting up the bowler-dominated proceedings with a sparkling counterattack...
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...
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...