England vs South Africa, 1st Test at Lord's: Joe Root, Ben Stokes score fifties to resurrect hosts' innings at tea
The second session of the Lord's Test was strikingly different to one we witnessed in the morning.
In the first session JP Duminy had dropped Joe Root when he was on 16. In the second session Morne Morkel cleaned up Ben Stokes when he was on 44 but off a no-ball. Both batsmen eventually made full use of the respites and notched up fifties to take England to comfortable position at 182 for 4 before tea. To put things into perspective, this session of the Lord's Test was strikingly different to one we witnessed in the morning. South Africa had sniped up as many as four English wickets, trapping three batters in front and one caught-behind. However, the thin film of grass dried up as the day progressed, helping Root and Stokes score runs with ease.
The scorers had a miscalculation. Stokes raised his bat to acknowledge the crowd when he reached fifty with a four on the leg-side. However, it was later corrected that all-rounder was still one short of the mark.
There was a hint of reverse-swing as the ball aged. Exploiting that, South Africa bowled tidy overs in the last half hour before tea. Given Stokes took the left-arm orthodox Keshav Maharaj to the cleaners, stand-in captain Dean Elgar chose to majorly operate his pacers. That, however, put a lid on the runs.
Morkel achieved a unique feat. For the 13th time, he took a wicket off a no-ball the most by any. He overstepped so outrageously that umpire Paul Reiffel right away signalled the illegal delivery. That also left the jolly Root laughing, as his teammate had a lucky escape.
Root continued his panache in the second innings. South Africans tried to catch him in front like they did with the other English batters, but Root is too classy to miss the ones bowled on his legs.
We are back underway after lunch! #ENGvSA
Match centre https://t.co/aoH97zJNWp pic.twitter.com/z1oLpEezfL
England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 6, 2017
Stokes, at the other hand, launched an onslaught on Maharaj. He made sure he does not let the spinner off the hook on a drying wicket.
.@benstokes38 hits the first six of the innings! #ENGvSA
England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 6, 2017
Elgar held back Philander, who took three wickets in the morning. The ploy backfired. England amassed 100 runs in the session without losing a wicket. Joe and Stokes now have added 106 runs for the fifth wicket, and both look good for big scores.
Brief scores
England 182 for 4 (Joe Root 79*, Ben Stokes 52*; Vernon Philander 3 for 28) vs South Africa.
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