Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander made it South Africa’s day on the 1st day of the 2nd Test match played at Newlands, Cape Town on Friday.
England captain Joe Root won the toss and decided to bat first. Vernon Philander provided the breakthrough for South Africa getting the wicket of Zak Crawley cheaply. Dom Sibley and Joe Denly looked confident against Rabada, Philander and Nortje. Dom Sibley and Denly took England to 40 for 1 at the end of first drinks break. Both looked composed against the South pace battery. At the stroke of lunch, Kagiso Rabada provided the breakthrough dismissing Sibley with a good catch by Quinton de Kock. Sibley and Denly added 55 runs for the 2nd wicket. At lunch, England were 67 for 2.
After the lunch break, Joe Denly and captain Joe Root showed their positive intent which put some pressure on South African bowlers. When things were looking good for England, Anrich Nortje did the job by getting the big wicket of Joe Root for 35. Root and Denly added 42 runs for the 3rd wicket. Ben Stokes initially struggled for his runs. Keshav Maharaj castled Joe Denly stumps to put England under pressure on 127 for 4. Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope steadied the innings making sure they end session number 2 at 149 for 4.
In the 3rd session, Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope kept the scorecard ticking with aggressive stroke play. Ollie Pope survived a close LBW shout which was given not out. On review the decision stood as not out as it was umpires call. With the run of play, Anrich Nortje got the wicket of Ben Stokes for 47 to end a dangerous 58 runs stand for the 5th wicket. Jos Buttler looked aggressive with his stroke play making the batting look easy. Before 2nd new ball, Dwaine Pretorius got the wicket of Jos Buttler for 29 off 27 balls. Buttler and Pope added 36 runs for the 6th wicket. Pretorius dismissed Sam Curran to put England under pressure.
The South African captain Faf du Plessis took the 2nd new ball immediately and Vernon Philander dismissed Dom Bess. Kagiso Rabada produced a beauty to dismiss Stuart Broad. Ollie Pope pharmed the strike well taking single off the 4th ball and hitting boundaries. Pope reached his fifty off 121 balls and took England to 262 for 9 at the close of play. Anderson supported him well to add so far 28 runs.
The England batsmen will be disappointed as they got starts but was not able to those into big scores.
England 262 for 9 in 89 overs ( Ollie Pope 56*, Ben Stokes 47, Vernon Philander 2/46, Dwaine Pretorius 2/26)
