South Africa need 340 runs, England need 7 wickets in 5 sessions at Old Trafford
South Africa need 340 runs, England need 7 wickets in 5 sessions at Old Trafford
Dean Elgar’s added mere 5 in the pursuit of 380-run chase, on the penultimate day of the fourth Test against England. Moeen Ali emerge as the hero with his unbeaten 75-run knock that pushed England’s second innings total to 243, with a 379-run lead. Post that, in the first session of fourth day’s play, South Africa lost their dependable opener soon after the start of their innings. Heino Kuhn, Elgar’s partner, too departed in the first session, scoring 11 runs.
Rain had brought a premature stop to third day’s play, with Moeen unbeaten at 67 with Stuart Broad. Morne Morkel struck early on Monday morning, removing Broad and, after a couple of overs later, James Anderson as well. Broad opened the face of his bat at the wrong time, edging one to Theunis de Bruyn at point, while Morkel’s other successful delivery got an edge off Anderson’s defense to land in de Bruyn’s hands at short-leg. England were bundled for 243, setting a 380-run target for South Africa.
Rain delayed the start of the visitors’ innings.
With more than day and a half left, South Africa’s job still looked doable until they lost the openers early. With Broad bowling with scrambled seam, Elgar struggled quite a lot to score, having been beaten on multiple occasions. Finally, his stay came to an end as he edged one off Broad delivery to Jonny Bairstow. Elgar tried to defend it hoping for a movement, but it held its line.
Kuhn tried to build a partnership with Hashim Amla but gave in to a James Anderson delivery that produced little movement. Alastair Cook, at slip, took a simple catch to dismiss him for 11 as Kuhn got an outside edge.
South Africa looked up to Temba Bavuma once again who was the highest scorer for them in the previous innings with his 46 in an otherwise sorry-looking scorecard. However, Toby Roland-Jones picked the final wicket before lunch, dismissing Bavuma for 12.
Amla (11*) remained unbeaten before lunch.
Brief scores:
England 362 and 243 (Joe Root 49, Moeen Ali 75*; Morne Morkel 4 for 41, Kagiso Rabada 2 for 50, Duanne Olivier 3 for 38) lead South Africa 226 & 40 for 3 (Hashim Amla 11*, Temba Bavuma 12; James Anderson 1 for 10, Stuart Broad 1 for 9, Toby Roland-Jones 1 for 11) by 339 runs.