England lead South Africa by 252 runs; rain cuts short Day 3 of 3rd Men’s Test
ENG lead SA by 252 runs; rain cuts short Day 3 of 3rd Men's Test
The second session of Day Three came to sudden halt due to rain. England, however, lead South Africa by 252 runs. Resuming at 20 for no loss, England lost their former skipper, Alastair Cook, early but Keaton Jennings and Tom Westley’s unbeaten 44-run stand has surged hosts’ lead over 250. The duo gained confidence with every stroke to the fence before bad weather brought another interruption in the match. The weather looks gloomy, which may lead to more loss of overs in the evening session.
Post lunch, Morne Morkel spearheaded the attack and removed Cook soon. He got the ball to move and held a tight line to rattle the left-hander’s concentration. The ball moved in and deviated after hitting the deck. As a result, Cook could not do much in front of a peach off a delivery. However, Jennings got going. He stood a foot outside the crease to counter the edges. He did get a nick but was given a reprieve on 6 by Dean Elgar. Luck continued to favour him as he got an inside edge and added more runs by somehow managing to keep the ball down towards gully. Nonetheless, he kept the scoreboard ticking and became confident.
On the other hand, Westley carried on from where he left in the first innings. He timed his shots and stitched a handy partnership with Jennings. Morkel was the only bowler to pose some questions. Kagiso Rabada found late swing, but remained wicket-less. Chris Morris has been erratic and will have to push hard in absence of Vernon Philander. South Africa’s premier bowler has not bowled a lot of overs in the match owing to stomach bug and according to reports, he is suffering from viral infection.
Brief scores:
England 353 & 74 for 1 (Keaton Jennings 34*, Tom Westley 28*; Morne Morkel 1 for 20) lead South Africa 175 (Temba Bavuma 52, Kagiso Rabada 30; Toby Roland-Jones 5 for 57, James Anderson 3 for 25) by 252 runs.