ENG v SA, 4th Test, Day 3 Review: South Africa fight back, but Moeen Ali saves the day for England

Just when the fans were expecting their supremely talented fast bowling unit to bring out the A game from their arsenal, South African speedsters delivered and made the match interesting. But a late resurgence from Moeen Ali (67 off 59 balls, 8 fours and 3 sixes) shattered South African hopes of bowling out England cheaply and now they have a 360-run lead with Ali still batting and two wickets in hand.

South Africa didn’t manage to add anything spectacular to their overnight score and were dismissed for 226 runs. This resulted in them giving away a 136-run lead to the hosts and Faf du Plessis had a tough task cut out as a skipper. But he marshalled his troops brilliantly and led a fantastic fight back.

The experienced Morne Morkel provided the first wicket of the innings with a cracker to Alastair Cook. Tom Westley stood in the middle for some time in the first innings, but Kagiso Rabada was too good for him and was back in the pavilion very soon. Keaton Jennings once again found it difficult to stay in the middle for long and he eventually was dismissed after a struggling stay in the centre.

Dawid Malan was the next batter to fall in the trap of the Proteas fast bowlers and England were restricted to 72/4 in a very short span of time. The ever reliable pair of Ben Stokes (23 off 54 balls) and Joe Root (49 off 106 balls) took charge and played some beautiful strokes against the run of play. The duo added a 57-run stand and England looked in command to get a stupendous 2nd innings lead.

Olivier – The game changer!

Duanne Olivier is relatively new in the circuit, but this guy is a serious talent to reckon with. Joe Root and Stokes were taking the game away from South Africa, but a spectacular rendition of fast bowling got the better of both these players and it was Olivier who sent them back in quick succession.

First, Root was bamboozled and his stumps went for a ride in the air. In his next over, Olivier trapped Stokes with his length and Du Plessis made no mistake in grabbing the catch. The hero of the first innings Jonny Bairstow too fell prey to the youngster’s hunger to pick wickets and England were in significant trouble at 153/7.

The unexpected onslaught from Moeen Ali

England had a 289 run lead in hand when Bairstow was gone and they were in serious trouble. But a wonderful batting display from Mooen Ali saved the day big time for England and in a matter of 90 minutes, he ensured South Africa’s effort almost went in vain.

With Toby Roland-Jones playing the anchor, Ali spanked the bowlers out of the park with sheer tenacity and Du Plessis was flabbergasted with the southpaw’s approach. Keshav Maharaj, who bowled so economically in the first innings, was targeted by Ali on day 3 and leaked runs heavily.

In the entire onslaught from Ali, the biggest victim was Maharaj as Ali showed absolutely no mercy on the poor spinner. Dean Elgar had dropped Ali’s catch off Olivier when he came in and that costed very heavily for the Proteas. From a dominating position, Ali brought them down to ground level in no time.

A shimmy down the ground of Maharaj for a straight six into the English dressing room brought Ali’s fifty and it’d be fair to say this is one of the best knocks he’ll ever play. The carnage didn’t end soon as well, but someone did come to rescue South Africa temporarily from the predicament. The rain gods halted the play and abandoned the day’s play with 17 overs still left. England were strangling at 224/8 and are in a decent position to go all the way in the game and the series.

Brief Scores

1st Innings

England: 362 all out in 108.4 overs

South Africa: 226 all out in 72.1 overs( Temba Bavuma 46, Hashim Amla 30, Anderson 4/38)

2nd innings

England: 224/8 in 66.2 overs(Moeen Ali 67*, Joe Root 49, Duanne Olivier 3/38)