England extended their lead over South Africa to 147 runs at tea on the third day of the first Test yesterday, despite captain Alastair Cook being dismissed cheaply again.
England were 58 for two in their second innings and in a dominant position with South Africa’s key strike bowler Dale Steyn off the field with a shoulder injury.
Cook was the first victim of the afternoon session at Kingsmead, trapped LBW by spinner Dane Piedt for 7.
He was caught behind without scoring in the first innings.
Debutant Alex Hales was caught at long-on off Piedt for 26, with Nick Compton (15) and Joe Root (6) unbeaten at the break after both had been dropped.
Steyn was due to go for a scan after play yesterday after he pulled up clasping his shoulder on his follow through after two balls of his fourth over.
SHOULDER STRAIN
He was sent from the field by his captain Hashim Amla for treatment and diagnosed with a right shoulder strain, but he returned 50 minutes later to bowl three balls before going off again.
South Africa were bowled out for 214 just before lunch, despite dogged resistance from opener Dean Elgar, who carried his bat through the innings and finished on 118 not out.
EXUBERANT
Elgar, 67 not out overnight, punched the air and pounded his chest in exuberant celebration after reaching 100, the first South Africa player to do so in their past seven Test matches.
His patient stroke play contrasted with the nervy batting of many of his teammates as a crisis of confidence in the South Africa side — still ranked No. 1 in the world, despite a heavy series defeat in India last month — continued.
Moeen Ali was destroyer-in-chief with three wickets, ably backed up by Stuart Broad and Steven Finn.
Broad, who finished with figures of 4-25, made an immediate impact with only the second ball of the day.
Temba Bavuma played on to a wider delivery and was bowled for 10.
Moeen dismissed J.P. Duminy (2), Kyle Abbott (0) and Steyn for 17 to finish with figures of 4-69.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but