It was a brilliant performance by the England Cricket Team who have ended the 2nd day of the 4th Test match in a commanding position played at Wanders, Johannesburg on Saturday.
The second day’s play was delayed due to rain and wet ground. After the resumption of play, Joe Root and Ollie Pope looked in positive touch against the South African pacers. Pope reached his fifty first off just 61 balls while Root completed his half-century off 87 balls. With things looked bleak for South Africa, Anrich Nortje provided the breakthrough dismissing Pope with a beauty for 56. Pope and Root added 101 runs for the 5th wicket. Nortje provided the spark getting the wickets of Joe Root and Sam Curran off successive deliveries. The South African captain Faf du Plessis took the 2nd new ball in the 81st over. At lunch, England were 300 for 7.
After the lunch break, Jos Buttler was dismissed soon by Vernon Philander for 20. Buttler and Woakes added 40 runs for the 8th wicket. Chris Woakes played an important knock scoring 32 runs. Nortje dismissed Chris Woakes to pick his maiden five wicket haul in Test cricket. Stuart Broad and Mark Wood took on the South African bowlers with big hits. It was just amazing batting display by number 10 and 11 adding 82 runs in quick time to help England post 400. Dane Paterson picked the of Stuart Broad.
In reply, the South African openers Dean Elgar and Pieter Malan played with cautious approach against top quality pace bowling of England. At tea, South Africa were 11 for 0.
The South African openers looked to score runs and were lucky on some occasions. Mark Wood provided the breakthrough dismissing Pieter Malan with a beauty. Soon after, Sam Curran got the wicket of Rassie Van der Dussen to put the South African batting under pressure. Dean Elgar who looked solid threw his wicket away. Quinton de Kock came at number 5 and made the batting look easy. South African captain Faf du Plessis fell cheaply again with a review. Temba Bavuma looked solid with his technique before being dismissed by Mark Wood.
Before the close of play, Mark Wood dismissed Anrich Nortje with a good low catch by Joe Denly. South Africa ended the 2nd day in a dire strait at 88 for 6.
South Africa 88 for 6 in 41.5 overs (Quinton de Kock 32*, Dean Elgar 26, Mark Wood 3/21) trail England 400 in 98.2 overs ( Joe Root 59, Ollie Pope 56, Stuart Broad 43, Anrich Nortje 5/110) by 312 runs.
