South Africa vs England, 2nd Test, Day 2

Early on the second morning England were all out for 269 as Anderson flirted at a wide one leaving Pope who went to his half century the previous evening stranded. As ever for England the old experienced campaigners of Broad and Anderson took the new ball for England in a bid to try and get their team back into the match.

South Africa got off to a fairly quick score notching up 26 before the new boy Malan had a waft at one as was well caught in the slips. Broad then very quickly doubled his wicket tally by bowling a similar delivery to Hamza that Stokes superbly held onto.

A few handy cracks had started to develop bowling from the Wynberg End and when Anderson replaced Broad from it he soon picked up the South African captain and England felt like they were back in the contest.

Broad thought he had improved England’s day further when he had Van der Dussen caught behind only for replays to show he had over stepped. Further replays throughout the afternoon were showing that England’s bowlers were continuing to overstep the line which the umpires continued to ignore.

Dom Bess was making the most of his recall and when he got a frustrated Elgar caught in the deep Root’s men sniffed a first innings lead. England have been missing a spinner who has the ability to hold down an end as Bess did on the second afternoon which allowed Root to rotate his seamers from the dangerous Wynberg End.

Under a hot Cape Town sun and in front of a boisterous England section in the stands Sam Curran and James Anderson really put their team in the driving seat. In the end South Africa finished eight down still over 50 runs behind. It really had been a solid bowling performance by England on what is still believed to be a flat pitch.

The experienced pair of Anderson and Broad really led England first up by hitting the cracked up areas hard and they were well backed up by Curran and Bess. Hopefully tomorrow England can gain a first innings lead and begin to set up a famous win.

Scorecard

South Africa 1st Innings

Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s
D Elgar	c Root b Bess	88	180	10	0
P J Malan	c Root b Broad	5	17	1	0
Z Hamza	c Stokes b Broad	5	12	1	0
F du Plessis	c Stokes b Anderson	1	14	0	0
H E van der Dussen	c Stokes b Curran	68	187	7	0
Q de Kock	c Anderson b Curran	20	26	2	0
V D Philander		17	58	0	0
D Pretorius	c Stokes b Anderson	4	8	1	0
K A Maharaj	c Sibley b Anderson	4	16	0	0
K Rabada	c Buttler b Anderson	0	1	0	0
A Nortje	c Stokes b Anderson	4	16	1	0
Extras	4b 2lb 0 1nb	7
Total	for 10	223	89.0 overs

Bowler	O	M	R	W
J M Anderson	19	6	40	5
S C J Broad	18	6	38	2
S M Curran	13	3	39	2
D M Bess	27	3	62	1
B A Stokes	9	0	34	0
J E Root	3	1	4	0

England 1st Innings

Batsman		Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Z Crawley	c de Kock b Philander	4	15	0	0
D P Sibley	c de Kock b Rabada	34	76	7	0
J L Denly	b Maharaj	38	130	5	0
J E Root	c de Kock b Nortje	35	49	5	0
B A Stokes	c Elgar b Nortje	47	77	6	1
O J D Pope		61	144	7	0
J C Buttler	c de Kock b Pretorius	29	27	4	1
S M Curran	b Pretorius	9	13	2	0
D M Bess	c de Kock b Philander	0	1	0	0
S C J Broad	b Rabada	1	3	0	0
J M Anderson	c van der Dussen b Rabada	4	17	0	0
Extras	4b 1lb 0 1w 1nb	7
Total	for 10	269	91.5 overs

Bowler	O	M	R	W
V D Philander	16	3	46	2
K Rabada	19	3	68	3
A Nortje	18	2	56	2
K A Maharaj	27	6	68	1
D Pretorius	11	5	26	2