Twitter Reactions: South Africa peg England back with timely dismissals

South Africa would be pretty happy with proceedings in the opening day of the Newlands Test. Their fast bowlers didn’t allow England to run away completely at the Newlands, getting regular wickets . The Three Lions ended the day on 262 for the loss of nine wickets. On the second day, the Brits will be looking to cross the barrier of 300 runs and then come out firing with their bowling attack.

England lose regular wickets

The visitors didn’t have the best of starts. Vernon Philander got rid of Zak Crawley to strike first blood. But Dominic Sibley (34) and Joe Denly (38) put their heads down for a 55-run stand for the second wicket. A few overs before the lunch interval, pacer Kagiso Rabada found Sibley’s outside edge. Joe Root churned out five scorching fours before becoming Anrich Nortje’s maiden victim.

Keshav Maharaj cleaned up Denly to put more pressure on the Brits. Ben Stokes (47) and Ollie Pope (56*) resurrected the inning to some extent. The duo put on 58 runs, but Nortje got rid of Stokes to separate them. Jos Buttler (29) was in no mood to die wondering and he played at a strike-rate in excess of 100. The England batters would be disappointed for not being able to convert their starts.

Pope shows resilience

Sam Curran, Dominic Bess and Stuart Broad couldn’t bear the brunt of the Proteas pacers. Rabada’s yorker to dismiss Broad was an absolute peach. At the other end, Pope seemed to be the one batter, who was willing to make his start count. He looked in great rhythm and got to his half-century off 121 balls. The very experienced James Anderson lent him the support, not giving his wicket away.

In the 87th over, Rabada got the better of Pope, caught by Vernon Philander. However, replayed showed that the pacer had over-stepped. The batter didn’t have any hiccup and saw his team through to stumps. For South Africa, every other bowler got a wicket and came to the home team’s rescue. Pacers Philander, Rabada, Nortje and Dwaine Pretorius picked up a couple of wickets each.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the day’s play in Cape Town: –

Pope can Play

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) January 3, 2020

ollie pope is the batsman joe root wishes to be

— N (@yourstruly49_) January 3, 2020

Another day of batting BS from @englandcricket !@markbutcher72 @talkSPORT2

— Alan Butcher (@abutch58) January 3, 2020

A bit of Ian Bell about Olly Pope 👍🏼

— Robin John Peterson (@robbie13flair) January 3, 2020

Ben Stokes reaction to his own dismissal sums it up pretty succinctly.

— Ian bishop (@irbishi) January 3, 2020

Ollie Pope looks so promising at the crease, just like Ian Bell. No wonder why he reminds us of him, really good option at 6 for England.

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 3, 2020

Ollie Pope looks a proper player 🏏

— Alex Wakely (@AlexWakely1) January 3, 2020

Second Test fifty for Ollie Pope.

A great effort as wickets have fallen around him!#SAvENG pic.twitter.com/4OXd00YEJU

— ICC (@ICC) January 3, 2020

My test team for the short term and hopefully long term @englandcricket
Crawley
Burns
Denly
Root
Stokes
Bairstow
Curran
Ali
Broad
Archer
Wood

— Nick Compton (@thecompdog) January 3, 2020

Ollie Pope a shining light amongst the inevitable shitshow from the others

— James (@writtenoff_mufc) January 3, 2020

Ollie Pope is the only good thing about this England team, going to be an excellent player

— ㅤcallum (@_callumrfc) January 3, 2020

Amidst the wreckage, Ollie Pope has batted really well – especially amid the wreckage. #SAvENG

— Being Outside Cricket (@OutsideCricket) January 3, 2020

Ollie Pope is gonna be a superstar. Well batted young man. @OPope32 #SAvENG pic.twitter.com/nvLHdLQEIL

— Daniel Jones (@dj_jones7) January 3, 2020

What a talent Ollie Pope is, shots, temperament, technique. Hope we stick with him for a while.

— H (@HarryWright27) January 3, 2020

Fifty for Ollie Pope, good comeback into the test side.

— Johns (@CricCrazyJohns) January 3, 2020