Thanks to Mark Wood brilliant bowling, England defeated South Africa by 191 runs on the 4th day of 4th Test match played at Wanders, Johannesburg on Monday. With this win, England have earned 30 more points in the ICC Test championship points table.
Chasing down the massive target of 466 runs to win, Pieter Malan and Dean Elgar looked impressive with their defensive technique and hit the bad balls away for boundaries. Both South African openers scored 39 runs in the first hour. Soon after the drinks break, Chris Woakes provided the breakthrough for England dismissing Malan. Malan and Elgar added 39 runs.
Rassie Van der Dussen survived a close LBW shout which was given out by the umpire. Van der Dussen reviewed, and the ball was going above the stumps. looked impressive with his stroke play and showed his class against England captain Joe Root. Despite some top-quality bowling by England bowlers, Elgar showed good defensive skills. Before the lunch break, Ben Stokes provided the breakthrough for the visitors getting Elgar with a short ball. Elgar and Van der Dussen added 50 runs for the 2nd wicket. At lunch, South Africa were 90 for 2.
After the lunch break, Van der Dussen and Faf du Plessis showed great defensive skills against the England fast bowlers. The youngster Van der Dussen reached his fifty off 67 balls. Joe Denly was bought into the attack and both South African batsmen did not allow the part timer to settle. As things were looking frustrating for England, Ben Stokes was the man who provided the breakthrough getting the wicket of Faf du Plessis which kept low. Du Plessis and Van der Dussen added 92 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Soon after, Van der Dussen missed his maiden century as he was dismissed for well made 98. South Africa went into the tea break at 188 for 4.
The third session saw Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock played with positive intent which made the England captain think. Stuart Broad produced a beauty to dismiss Bavuma to open the flood gates in South African batting order. De Kock and Bavuma added 48 runs for the 5th wicket. After the fall of Bavuma wicket, the England bowlers kept picking up wickets to bowl out South Africa for 274. De Kock hit some lovely strokes before being dismissed by Mark Wood. Wood completed the job dismissing Anrich Nortje with a review from the batsmen.
England 400 in 98.2 overs ( Joe Root 59, Ollie Pope 56, Stuart Broad 43, Anrich Nortje 5/110) and 248 in 61.3 overs ( Joe Root 58, Beuran Hendricks 5/64) beat South Africa 183 in 68.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 76, Pretorius 37, Dean Elgar 26, Mark Wood 5/46, Chris Woakes 2/38 ) and 274 in 71.1 overs ( Van der Dussen 98, de Kock 39, Mark Wood 4/54, Ben Stokes 2/47) by 191 runs.
For his all-round contributions with the bat and ball, Mark Wood was awarded the man of the match. Ben Stokes got the man of the series award for his 318 runs, 10 wickets and catches.
