England v South Africa, 4th Test - England Player Ratings

Team England continued to add on to the miseries of the visiting South African side. The story of the final Test of the tour pretty much summed up the kind of fortunes the Proteas camp have had in England this summer. They started off with an ODI defeat. It was followed up by a lackluster show in the Champions Trophy and the T20Is series defeat. And everything capped off with a 3-1 defeat in the Tests.

While the visitors have none but themselves to blame for the embarrassing summer, one must not take any credit away from the spirited England side. The way the hosts dominated the series needs to be appreciated. In the final Test, they showed what a team performance is all about.

Also, it was the all-round heroics of Moeen Ali that injected the enthusiasm in the English camp. Every player had their say in the 177 run win in some or the other way. Here we take a look at the performances of all the players of the English side who played the final Test and analyze how they fared up to the occasion.

Here are the England Player Ratings from the fourth Test:

Alastair Cook – 6/10

Former English skipper Alastair Cook had a decent outing in the game. He started off cautiously and played well on the first day of the Test. The ball was doing a bit and it needed some serious patience to see it through. Cook brought all his experience to good use and scored a fighting 46 off 103 deliveries. He failed to get amongst the runs in the second innings though and accounted for only 10 runs.

Keaton Jennings – 2/10

Young Keaton Jennings continued to struggle in this game as well. Prior to the game, there were talks about his technique not being good enough at the highest levels. Sadly for him, the talks continue to do the rounds in the media. He failed to grab the extra opportunity that he got. He scored 17 and 18 across the two innings. He did not look comfortable at the crease at all.

Tom Westley – 3/10

Tom Westley had a very quiet time in the final Test. The new entrant to the national side was expected to make some hustle in the game but remained quite ineffective in this game. He toiled hard for his 29 runs in the first innings and had to play 88 balls to achieve the same. In the second innings, he perished for a single digit score.

Joe Root – 8/10

Skipper Joe Root continued to impress yet again. The England captain has made it a habit to be amongst the runs no matter what. Despite the conditions and the odds being against him when he was at the crease, Root showed what mettle he has with the willow in hand. He scored a brilliant fifty in the first innings to stabilize the English middle order. In the second innings, he battted sensibly yet again and came up with a gutsy 49 to his name.

Dawid Malan – 2/10

Dawid Malan should have made more use of the big opportunity that came his way in the series. He failed to impress in either of the departments. In this game, he scored 18 in the first innings and then had a score of 6 to his name in the second innings. With the ball, he bowled a solitary over in the first innings with nothing to show in the wickets column.

Ben Stokes – 5/10

Ben Stokes gave the ideal support to Joe Root in the first innings. He also took the role of the aggressor when Root departed at a crucial juncture in the game. Stokes went on to score a good 58 off 96 deliveries with 8 fours to his name. He could not replicate his heroics in the second innings though. Also, he failed to take any wicket across the two innings in the game.

Jonny Bairstow – 8/10

Nothing can keep Jonny Bairstow out of the equation of being a top performer. Bairstow continued his good form with the bat. The wicket-keeper batsman was unfortunate to have missed out on a well deserved ton by just one run in the first innings. He scored 99 off 145 deliveries with 14 fours and a six to his name. The second innings was a case of rare failure for him.

Moeen Ali  – 9/10

Moeen Ali was the star performer for the match. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that he was the chief architect of England win in the game. After having failed with the bat in the first innings, he bagged 2/58 with the ball to cover up for it.

In the England second innings, when most of the batsmen were dismissed cheaply, Moeen Ali remained unbeaten on 75 off just 66 deliveries with 9 fours and 3 sixes. His efforts ensured a big target for the visitors. Later, he capped off the game with figures of 5/69 to bundle out the South African team for just 202.

Toby Roland Jones – 4/10

Toby Roland Jones had made the Proteas lineup dance to his tunes in one of the earlier fixtures. This time around, he did not bother the opposition too much. Jones bagged one wicket each in the two innings. Much to his defense, he did not get to bowl too many overs either in the two innings.

Stuart Broad – 7/10

Stuart Broad bowled exceptionally well in tandem with James Anderson with the new ball. He kept things tight up front and that made run scoring very tough in the game. He bagged 3/46 in the first innings. In the second innings, he bowled 5 maidens in his spell of 12 overs and returned with figures of 1/24.

James Anderson – 8/10

James Anderson was arguably the pick of all the bowlers in the match. In the first innings, he accounted for the big wickets of Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, and Faf du Plessis. He bagged figures of 4/38 to be the pick of the England bowlers. In the second innings, he bowled as many as 7 maidens in his spell of 14 overs and gave just 16 runs with an economy rate of 1.14! He bagged 3 key wickets as well.