Advertisement
De Kock stands firm as Proteas struggle amid Bess's five
Quinton de Kock scored a fighting, unbeaten half-century but South Africa were left fighting to save the third test after day three against England at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
When stumps were drawn on a rain-affected, gloomy day in the Bay, the Proteas had reached 208 for six and were trailing England’s first innings total of 499 for nine declared by 291 runs.
Somerset offspinner Dom Bess was the unlikely destroyer of the South African innings picking up a career-best haul of five for 51 runs.
De Kock (63) and Vernon Philander (27) will continue the fight for the home team on day four and their first target will be reaching the follow on target of 300.
Almost three hours were lost in the afternoon but it was Bess who provided the entertainment for the touring fans in the morning session.
The offspinner, who had the wickets of Pieter Malan and Zubayr Hamza to his name overnight, picked up three more to leave South Africa limping at 113 for five at lunch.
His effort was good enough to eclipse his previous best of three for 33 against Pakistan, in Leeds, in 2018.
BAT-PAD DISISSALS
It was a disastrous first hour of the day for the home team as their batting woes continued with Dean Elgar (35) and under-pressure captain Faf du Plessis (8) both falling to Bess.
The pair also lost their wickets in the same fashion, caught off the bat-pad by Ollie Pope.
There was further damage done to the South African batting line-up when Rassie van der Dussen (24) chopped a delivery from Bess onto his stumps.
It was the first time an English spinner had taken five wickets at St George’s in a test.
Nightwatchman Anrich Nortje (18) in the meantime was immovable at the crease and posted a brave partnership of 45 for the sixth wicket with De Kock.
He was eventually undone by Stokes late in the afternoon having faced an incredible 136 balls in a 191 minutes.
His was the slowest first innings knock, at a strike rate of 13.2, in the history of the game by a batsman who had faced 110 balls or more. It may well have been pedestrian but it was huge in dogged effort.
'I REALLY ENJOY BATTING'
Nortje, who played a similar innings in the first test for 40, was pleased with his performance.
"I think it was quite similar to the Centurion innings. I tried to stay in as long as possible. It was not about scoring runs just facing as many balls as possible," said Nortje.
The fast bowler said he had spent many hours at training and aiming to improve his batting.
"I really enjoy batting. It's something I’ve been trying to work on with Mark Boucher as well, working on short balls and trying to improve all time."
Bess was thrilled with his five-star performance.
"It's funny how cricket happens. How the rides goes. I'll cherish today for a long time," said Bess.
"I've worked hard for days like this. I know there's a lot more to come. I've done a lot of work since my debut test and this is hopefully the start of a journey."
SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar, Pieter Malan, Zubayr Hamza, Faf du Plessis (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Dane Paterson
ENGLAND: Zak Crawley, Dominic Sibley, Joe Denly, Joe Root (capt), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood
Advertisement