Thanks to a superb knock by Dom Sibley and Joe Root, England ended the 3rd day of 2nd Test match in a strong position played at Newlands, Cape Town on Sunday.
Starting on the overnight score of 215 for 8, South Africa lost the wicket of Kagiso Rabada off the very first ball of day. James Anderson picked his fifth wicket of the innings dismissing Anrich Nortje to bowl out South Africa for 223. England got a decent lead of 46 runs.
In their second innings, Zak Crawley began the innings on a positive note playing some lovely drives of Kagiso Rabada. Dom Sibley looked solid with his defensive technique. Kagiso Rabada provided the breakthrough for South Africa getting the wicket of Zak Crawley for 25. Crawley and Sibley added 28 runs. Joe Denly came to the crease and showed defensive technique against South Africa pacers. At lunch, England were 52 for 1.
After the lunch break, Dom Sibley survived few chances of Keshav Maharaj. Joe Denly looked positive against Keshav Maharaj and made sure that both kept scorecards ticking. Anrich Nortje did the trick for South Africa getting the wicket of Joe Denly for 31. Denly and Sibley added 73 runs for the 2nd wicket. England captain Joe Root came to the crease and took time to settle against pacers. Sibley looked solid with his defensive technique and played shots according to ball of the merit. At the tea break, England scored 109 for 2.
In the 3rd session, Sibley reached his fifty off 140 balls and took pressure off from Joe Root. Root made the batting look easy and created pressure on South African bowlers. The England captain reached his fifty off 81 balls. Pretorius struck an important blow getting the wicket of Joe Root with a catch by Faf du Plessis at slips. Root and Sibley added 116 runs for the 3rd wicket. Anrich Nortje got the wicket of night-watchmen Dom Bess. The umpire gave it out and South Africa reviewed it, the umpire gave it out as hit the glove. England ended the day on 218 for 4 with a lead of 264 runs.
England 269 in 91.5 overs ( Ollie Pope 61*, Ben Stokes 47, Kagiso Rabada 3/68, Vernon Philander 2/46) and 218 for 4 in 79 overs ( Dom Sibley 85*, Joe Root 61, Anrich Nortje 2/36) lead South Africa 223 in 89 overs (Dean Elgar 88, Van Der Dussen 68, James Anderson 5/40, Stuart Broad 2/36) by 264 runs.
