England v South Africa, 3rd Test, Day 5- 5 talking points

Hosts England clinched the 3rd Test against world’s second rank side South Africa by putting up a stormy performance. The two teams went into the third Test at Oval with the series levelled at 1-1. While Joe Root marked his captaincy debut with a victory in the first Test at Lords, the Proteas made a stunning comeback at Trent Bridge as they crushed the hosts by a mammoth 304 runs.

The England batting line up was brought under scrutiny after failing to deliver in the second Test at Trent Bridge. Joe Root and his men had a lot to prove in the final encounter and they nailed it with perfection. England was dominant throughout the last Test pushing the South Africans to their back foot. Here are 5 talking points from the final day’s play that saw England wrap the Test match:

1. Elgar-Bavuma partnership

The South African batting was exceptionally poor except a valiant effort from Dean Elgar which was well supported by Temba Bavuma. Though the two did not pair up to form a colossal partnership, the combined efforts of the two South Africa steady the game a bit in the middle order. While Elgar smashed a century, Bavuma chipped in with a well composed 32 run inning. Bavuma came into bat when the team was 4 wickets down at the score of 52. The duo managed to take the score to 160 before Bavuma fell victim to Roland-Jones.

2. Elgar’s stellar knock

Dean Elgar was the only ray of hope in South Africa’s dismal batting performance. The left-handed batsman played a gutsy knock to bring up a century when wickets fell at regular interval on the other side. The vice-captain played a valiant knock and justified his position as the vice captain as we got a hint of responsibility from his knock. This was the batsman’s 8^th century in Test cricket which saw him score 136 runs from 228 deliveries.

3. Roland-Jones’ spell

Toby Roland-Jones had an exceptional Test debut with a ball as he missed a 10 wicket haul by a whisker. While the bowler picked up 5 wickets in the first inning, he picked up 3 more in the second. The bowler picked up the first wicket today and showed the world that fast bowlers can take sensible reviews as well. His exceptional debut figure stands at 8 wickets for 129 runs. The bowler has a sparkling future ahead as he bowled with economies of 3.42 and 4.00 in the 1^st and the second inning respectively.

4. Moeen Ali hattrick

Moeen Ali gave us a glimpse of his dazzling form that we saw in the first Test. The bowler had a tremendous last few minutes with the ball as he managed to pick up the final three wickets of the South African inning. And that too in three consecutive deliveries! Ali became the first England spinner to pick up a hat trick since Tom Goddard against South Africa in 1938. Ali picked up the well settled Dean Elgar and followed it up with the wickets of Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel to complete his hat-trick.

5. England win

The win was a much needed on for the English side after being heavily criticized for their defeat at Trent Bridge. Joe Root takes the lead again in his debut series as captain. The Three Lions now lead by 2 games to 1 in an evenly contested Test series if seen as an overall. Ben Stokes grabbed the Man of the Match award in the final battle for his all-round display on the field.