Twitter Reactions: Quinton de Kock key for South Africa as England continue to dominate

South Africa ended the day on 208/6 and still require 92 runs to avoid the follow-on.

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Quinton de Kock
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Quinton de Kock. (Photo by RICHARD HUGGARD/AFP via Getty Images)

Having consolidated their position in the match by the end of Day 2, riding on the back solid performances by Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope, England started the third day of the match on a high. England declared their innings on 499 runs at the loss of 9 wickets. Things were not as good at the start for the South Africans, as by the end of Day 2, they had lost two wickets by the end of the day’s play after getting a steady start in the form of a 50 run stand between the openers.

At the start of the third day, things looked loaded in favour of the Englishmen, but the Proteas had come in to fight. But destiny had other plans for them at the start. The day’s play started with Dean Elgar walking back to the pavilion, having been dismissed off Dom Bess’ bowling on the last delivery of the 22nd over. Following him, the captain of the side was also dismissed by Bess, taking his tally to 4 wickets. Things did not look good at all for the South Africans and anyone at this point could have been forgiven for placing bets on England imposing a follow-on on South Africans, who were struggling at that time, at a score of 71 runs for the loss of 4 wickets.

England continued their attack on the already weak South African batting attack. After a short struggle put up by Anrich Nortje and Rassie van der Dussen, Bess struck again, dismissing the latter. And, the scoreboard ticked to 109 runs for the loss of 5 wickets getting Bess his first five-wicket haul, further tilting the scales in England’s favour.

Quinton de Kock and Nortje fight it out

Following that umpires decided to take lunch 15 minutes before the scheduled time. But, the rain gods did not want the play to continue further uninterruptedly. Spells of rain continued to pour down with short intervals in between and the players lost their rhythm. However when the action finally began, Nortje and Quinton de Kock pur up an amazing fight. Rather, the way the former batted was a lesson for the South African batsmen. Just when the duo was looking comfortable, Nortje was dismissed on the 4th ball of the 63rd over.

Quinton de Kock though continued and along with Vernon Philander, took the score to 208 for the loss of 6 wickets at the end of day’s play with South Africa trailing by 291 runs.

With rain around, South Africa will still be hoping to eke out a draw and their first target will be to make England bat again. The visitors, on the other hand, will be keen to wrap things up quickly in the first session tomorrow and put pressure on the Proteas.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

 

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