SA v Eng 3rd Test Day 1 Review: England gain advantage over Proteas

South Africa won the flip of the coin and elected to bat first. The conditions were overcast and Pitch looked seamer friendly, hard with patches of grass on it. The match is special for England skipper Alastair Cook as he became the only 2nd Englishman after Alec Stewart and 21st overall to appear in 125 or more Test matches. It was an eventful day for the South Africans. Right-arm quick Hardus Viljoen was handed his debut today while Dane Vilas had to rush to the venue to come in place of Quinton de Kock, who was forced to sit out due to a sudden knee injury.

The openers began cautiously, negotiating the early challenge of James Anderson and Stuart Broad. But the rough phase for Stiaan van Zyl continued as he was dismissed in the 18th over. He was the only wicket to fall for South Africa as he top-edged an attempted pull straight up in the air and was caught by wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow off Stokes’ bowling for 21.

Dean Elgar was yet again looking solid and batted steadily with Hashim Amla. Together, both put up a brilliant partnership of 73 runs, the highest of the day and batted till lunch. However, Elgar once again failed to convert his start into big knock and was dismissed four runs short of his half-century.

Hashim Amla, who scored a match-defining double hundred in the last match also looked dangerous. But, Finn gave Cook and English fans a delight when he bowled a ripper to dismiss Amla. The ball looked completely unplayable. It angled in and swerved away from the bat and nicked the edge of the bat to go straight into the hand of wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.

AB de Villiers, who was playing for the first time as the South Africa’s Test captain in his 105th Test begun well but was dismissed for a breezy knock of 36 runs off just 40 deliveries. For a brief period of time, he infused electricity into the Test which was otherwise turning out to be a little boring. Faf du Plessis was also disappointing as he became Finn’s second victim. He was dismissed for just 16.

South Africa received a late blow as the day was nearing its end. The last minute change, wicketkeeper batsman Dane Vilas batted sturdily but also fell to Stuart Broad. He top edged a pull which landed into the hands of Moeen Ali standing at deep square leg.

Chris Morris (26) and Kagiso Rabada (20) had a tough time facing the Stuart Broad and James Anderson late aggression with the new ball but both clung on for the remaining overs of the day

Finn was outstanding and reaped the most out of the seamer-friendly deck at the Wanderers. Ben Stokes was very productive in the short burst of the spells he bowled. Broad produced a late strike. At the end of the day, Cook might have not regretted losing the toss as his bowlers made most of the opportunities which came their way today.

Brief Scores:

South Africa: 267/7 (Dean Elgar 46; Steve Finn 2/50)