Persistent rain sees first day washed out

The first day of the third and deciding test match between England and South Africa at The Oval in London was abandoned without a ball bowled on Thursday.

Heavy overnight rain left the outfield heavy underfoot, with the toss and start of play delayed by half an hour. But heavy showers returned after the toss and, despite a couple of false starts and pitch inspections by the umpires, play was finally abandoned in the persistent drizzle at 5:45pm CAT (SA, GMT+2).

England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bowl first in the only ‘action’ of the day – heavy cloud cover persuading him that conditions would have been perfect for his seam bowling trio of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson.

Dean Elgar concurred saying the pitch looked like “a good surface” but admitted that overhead conditions would make the first session tough for the batters and saying they would have to “knuckle down” to get through unscathed.

South Africa made four changes to the XI which lost by an innings and 85 runs at Old Trafford in the second test with batters Ryan Rickelton and Khaya Zondo being drafted into the middle order in place of the injured Rassie van der Dussen and Aiden Markram and bowlers Marco Jansen and Wiaan Mulder replacing Simon Harmer and Lungi Ngidi.

Elgar also confirmed that Ngidi had been replaced by Mulder, who was not in the original squad, because the fast bowler had picked up a “slight hamstring niggle.”

England named their starting XI yesterday with just one change – Yorkshire batter Harry Brook taking the place of fellow Yorkshireman, Jonny Bairstow, who was injured playing golf at the beginning of the week.

With the first two tests both having finished well inside three days, and an extra eight overs added to each of the remaining four days, there is every reason to believe a positive result is still possible, even likely at The Oval.

ENGLAND: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Ben Foakes, Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson

SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar (captain), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Ryan Rickelton, Khaya Zondo, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje