England were just 33 runs away from a resounding victory against South Africa in the third and final test at The Oval on Sunday when the umpires took the players from the field because their light-metres said conditions were not suitable to continue.
Openers Zak Crawley (57* from 44 balls) and Alex Lees (32* from 61 balls) were clearly seeing the ball perfectly as England chased a modest target of 130 – Crawley tore into South Africa’s attack with 10 boundaries as the home side reached 97-0 in just 17 overs.
But cricket is cricket and rules are rules. It was not a good look for the game or for the 20 000 or so spectators who remained in the stadium.
South Africa lost their last nine wickets for just 86 runs to be dismissed for 169 soon after tea, slipping from a comfortable 83-1 to 169 all out leaving England to score just 130 to win the test and the series.
Openers Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee added 58 for the first wickets to erase South Africa’s first innings deficit of 40 before Erwee was dismissed for 26 just before lunch, edging Stokes to Joe Root at first slip.
But the home side regained control of the test match with six wickets between lunch and tea with Ollie Robinson (2-40) and Broad (3-45) claiming a brace of wickets each and Stokes (3-39) adding another as the Proteas slipped from 70-1 to 146-7.
Elgar’s dismissal was a remarkable affair as the South African captain appeared to ‘walk’ for an LBW appeal by Broad, not even considering a review or consultation with his non-striking partner, Keegan Petersen.
He departed for a counter-punching 36 from 59 balls with six fours only to see television replays showing the delivery to have been comfortably missing leg stump.
Petersen (23) departed to a fine, low catch at fourth slip by Ollie Pope off the bowling of Anderson while Ryan Rickelton (8), mindful of his captain’s error, did review an LBW decision against Broad only to see the ball smashing into middle stump and the innings had stumbled from 83-1 to 95-4.
Khaya Zondo required 23 deliveries to get off the mark and, with Wiaan Mulder adopting a similarly obdurate, defensive approach, a grinding partnership of 25 in 13 overs temporarily stemmed the flow of wickets – and runs.
But Mulder (14 from 52 balls) was bowled by Robinson via a bottom edge and Zondo (16 from 51 balls) was trapped LBW by a huge nip-backer from Robinson.
Marco Jansen, having been caught at fourth slip on four off a Stokes no-ball, was clean bowled by an inswinger from the England captain just one run later.
JANSEN STARS IN THE MORNING
Earlier, England added just four more runs to their overnight score before being dismissed for 158 to claim a first-innings lead of 40 runs. Having been 84-2 at tea on Saturday it meant they had lost their last eight wickets for 74.
Jansen (5-35) claimed the final wicket to finish with a maiden five-wicket haul while Kagiso Rabada claimed two of the final three wickets to finish with 4-81 from 13 overs.
Resuming on 154-7 England lost their first wicket to the second ball of the day as Ollie Robinson tamely drove a full-length delivery from Rabada to Elgar at mid-off.
Jack Leach inside-edged Rabada onto his stumps but Jansen was not to be denied his career-best when an angled delivery across right-hander Ben Foakes (14) was safely pouched at third slip by Petersen.
South Africa’s fast bowlers have been magnificent throughout the series and fought to keep the team in the game during this test but they were a spent force in the second innings with the fading light the only factor likely to prevent England winning inside two days. And so it did.
Report Day 1Report Day 2Report Day 3
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