Vernon Philander and Chris Morris yesterday took two wickets apiece as South Africa closed in on a crushing and series-leveling win against England in the second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham, England.
England were 79-4 at lunch on the fourth day, with all their top four dismissed in the morning session.
They needed a further 395 runs to reach a huge winning total of 474, but that appeared to be a purely notional target.
Photo: AFP
Philander removed left-handers Keaton Jennings (3) and Gary Ballance (4) during a burst of two wickets for eight runs in 19 balls.
Recalled all-rounder Morris followed up with 2-2 in 20 balls to dismiss England captain Joe Root (8) and former skipper Alastair Cook (42).
Jonny Bairstow was 12 not out and Ben Stokes 5 not out at lunch.
The most made by any side to win in the fourth innings of a Test is the West Indies’ 418-7 against Australia in St John’s, Antigua, in 2002-2003.
The more immediate task for England was to see if they could avoid defeat with more than a day to spare, after they had gone 1-0 up in the four-match series with a 211-run win inside four days in the first Test at Lord’s in London.
England resumed on 1-0, courtesy of a leg bye.
Both Cook and fellow left-handed opener Jennings were 0 not out after surviving four overs late on Sunday after South Africa declared on 343-9 in their second innings.
Sunny blue skies were in the batsmen’s favor, but a wearing pitch and the sheer mountain of runs they had behind them gave South Africa a considerable advantage.
Philander, renowned for his ability to move the ball at a lively fast-medium pace, needed just five deliveries to strike from the Pavilion End.
South Africa-born Jennings was undone by an excellent ball that nipped back to uproot his off-stump.
Ballance, in his third stint of Test cricket and under huge pressure for his place, was then trapped leg before wicket by Philander after Australian umpire Simon Fry saw a decision overturned for the fourth time in the match when replays showed a skidding delivery had pitched in line and would have hit leg-stump.
England were 28-2, with Root once more coming in after a top-order slump.
Root had made 190 in his first innings as England captain at Lord’s and top-scored with 78 in their meager first innings 205 on Saturday, but he fell cheaply, Morris producing an excellent yorker with just his seventh ball of the day to knock over the Yorkshireman’s off-stump.
However, Cook struck four fours in eight balls off Duanne Olivier, only playing after fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was suspended for swearing at Stokes at Lord’s, but Cook’s near two-hour innings ended when he was beaten for pace by a well-directed Morris bouncer and gloved down the leg-side, where wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock held a fine catch.
SRI LANKA V ZIMBABWE
AFP, COLOMBO
Kusal Mendis yesterday scored a fluent half-century to keep Sri Lanka’s hopes of chasing a record 388 alive on the fourth day of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe.
The hosts were 170-3 at stumps, with Mendis (60) batting alongside Angelo Mathews (17) at Colombo’s R. Premadasa Stadium.
Sri Lanka’s highest-ever successful run chase was against South Africa in 2006, when they achieved their 352-run target in Colombo.
Zimbabwe skipper Graeme Cremer dented the hosts with his leg-spin, claiming the important wickets of Upul Tharanga (27) and his opposite number Dinesh Chandimal (15).
Opener Dimuth Karunaratne was bowled by left-arm orthodox spinner Sean Williams for 49 as the visitors persisted with an all-spin attack in the 48 overs bowled in the innings so far.
Zimbabwe were earlier bowled out for 377 in the second session, with Sikandar Raza (127) top-scoring for the visitors with his maiden Test century.
Cremer was the last man out for 48 off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, who returned figures of 6-133 to take his match tally to 11 wickets.
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