One effect of England’s buccaneer approach to Test cricket this summer has been to challenge accepted norms and leave us spectators questioning whether they are in as much of a fight as the scoreboard suggests.
The second day against South Africa at Lord’s was a case in point. After two sessions, the English chiefs could have been forgiven for the slump, the tourists having finished their first innings for just 165 through Kagiso Rabada’s 12th five-wicket haul and then sailing to seven runs from ‘that total just two wickets down.
And at stumps, as spectators who had decked themselves out in red and helped raise more than £267,000 for the Ruth Strauss Foundation headed for the exits, the balance of power seemed evident. South Africa were 289 for seven and led by 124 runs after a quick 72-run seventh-wicket stand between Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj.
But this was also an evening session that had seen England fight back impressively with five strikes after tea. Ben Stokes had gone on to produce three such interventions and so while logic suggests his side are miles behind in this series opener, there is still a lingering feeling that things are tighter.
Much of this captivating day revolved around Stokes. England’s Test captain is adamant that these days he is only concerned with wickets with the ball and while his attack initially struggled to muster the same consistent threat as his counterparts, his strong desire to a long slide cord also offered easy runs.
Once Rabada finished the innings off Ollie Pope’s solitary hand on 73 en route to figures of five for 52 and a well-deserved place on the Lord’s honors board for a bowler of his class, Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee enjoyed the gaps. South Africa will not return to England for Test cricket in the new schedule of future tours that runs until May 2027 and they look determined to make this tour count.
Sarel Erwee scored 73 runs off 146 balls to give South Africa a flying start in their first innings against England. Photograph: Ben Whitley/ProSports/Shutterstock
The two left-handers combined for a largely serene 85-run opening stand. There was an early scare – Elgar edged Matt Potts for seven only for Zak Crawley to edge the ball over the bar at second slip – but otherwise there seemed to be no wicket and, as happens often at Lord’s, spectators began to stay longer in the bars.
In the end, it required a great deal of luck to separate the pair in mid-afternoon, Elgar bowled Jimmy Anderson’s 47 when a delivery crashed into his pad, bounced onto his elbow and then trickled back towards the stumps to dislodge a bail. Adding to the agony for Elgar, this was the first time since 1961 that a 40-year-old front-line seamer had claimed a Test wicket for England.
Erwee, who had earlier abandoned Pope after four attempts at the juggle, continued and although Potts managed to remove one of his Durham team-mates this summer, Keegan Petersen, for 24 when a drive flew to the third slip, England were still struggling to take full advantage of the swing. and seam movement is offered.
To that end, it was somewhat curious that Stokes delayed the introduction of spin until the 42nd end of the innings. Jack Leach instantly found some purchase on the surface and then, at the start of the evening’s session, he made this count, Aiden Markram offering a lame stroke to a ball that spun and went put Ben Foakes back.
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The lock took the lock, and Stokes simply walked through the gate from the other end in a thunderous spell of five more that produced two precious wickets. Erwee was dismissed for an otherwise well-crafted 73, unable to evade an 89mph blower, while Rassie van der Dussen was caught lbw for 19 six balls later by a smart delivery that to enter.
Stuart Broad had been having an off day to this point, a couple of fours in his previous 15, but he was soon celebrating his 100th Test at Lord’s. It was also a beauty, wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne sent on his way via a swinging seam delivery that deflected off the right-hander and tickled the outside edge.
South Africa were reeling at 210 for six but then bounced back with character, Jansen and Maharaj smashing 11 fours and a six for what convention would suggest was a match-defining stand. If England had indulged in such outright mischief, people would be talking about ‘Baseball’.
Jimmy Anderson is congratulated after dismissing Dean Elgar, becoming the first 40-year-old to make a Test at Lord’s since Eddie Hemmings in 1990. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty
Angered by it all, Stokes took the ball and despite visibly struggling with his left knee and being taken for 16 by Jansen in one over, managed to close out Maharaj’s cameo for a spirited 41 with another short ball. The impressive Jansen, just 22, remained unbeaten on 41, but will resume with Rabada in the early hours.
Stokes will no doubt remind his troops that there will be a new ball in three overs and that they came back from a 132-run first innings deficit against India. This victory required a record chase, of course, and this time they are the ones who have set the target.
But given some of the absurd Test cricket witnessed so far this summer, no one can say with absolute certainty that this match is over.