England beat South Africa in first Test

England beat South Africa in first Test by 211 runs to lead the 4 match Test series 1-0:

England punished South Africa in first Test at Lord’s. England promising first innings total of 458 runs with Moeen Ali scored 87 runs with bat & took 4 wickets in restricting South Africa to 361 in their first innings.

England continued with confidence in their second inning as Alastair Cook’s half century put pressure on Proteas as they were gradually losing grip at Lord’s & their poor fielding gave so many chances to England batsmen. South Africa had to keep going without Philander on day 3 in the field that was another disaster.

Alastair Cook's 69 lifted England to 233-10 in second innings

England were 119-1 when Alastair Cook was batting at 59 with his partner Ballance scored unbeaten 22 at the end of day 3.

Philander who took 3 early wickets in first innings, bowled only 5 overs in second innings & this might be the big turnaround for South Africa.

He was hit by Anderson while making 52 runs in South Africa’s first innings on Saturday. He went for an X-ray on a hand injury suffered in Anderson’s bowling.

Too many disappointments for South Africa in the same Test as they were already upset with Rabada who got banned for abusing Ben Stokes after dismissing him in England's first innings.

Faf du Plessis is not leading the team in this match as Elgar has been appointed as Test caption. Team South Africa wasted their two reviews on Alastair Cook.

Cook could be stumped on 31 when de Kock missed the big opportunity in spinner Maharaj bowling.

Jennings joined Cook as they raised England to a pretty decent opening stand of 80 but soon Morkel ended the story of Jennings (33). He was caught behind by the wicket keeper when struggling to cut the ball.

Ballance replaced Jennings as he started his batting under pressure to make a name for himself after dismissed for 20 in the first innings.

That was the third day going in favor of England with their promising performance with bat & poor fielding from South Africa spoiled every chance.

England collapsed to 233-10 on fourth day of first Test match. Maharaj took 4 while Morkel & Rabada shared 3 wickets each.

South Africa showed even worse batting performance in their second innings as their entire team was dismissed for 119 in hunt of 311 target. Moeen Ali took 6 wickets in second innings & 10 wickets in first Test. The match was ended on the fourth day as South Africa batsmen were dismissed inside 37 overs.

Moeen Ali took 10 wickets & scored 50+ runs in first Test against South Africa

New elected captain Joe Root praised the efforts of Cook & Ali who made it possible to defeat South Africa by 211 runs in first Test at Lord's.

Moeen Ali scored 50+ runs & took 10 wickets in first Test match & he is the second England batsman after Ian Botham to reach the milestone. He received the man of the match award after showing brilliant all-round performance.

England are now leading the 4 match series 1-0. 

Share on Google Plus

About Nadeem Hussain