England finished day four 97–0, needing another 33 to beat South Africa in the third Test and claim a 2–1 series win; Zak Crawley hit 57 not in unbroken position with Alex Lees; Stuart Broad overtook Glenn McGrath in the list of leading Test wicket-takers as South Africa had 169 in total
England are closing in on a series victory over South Africa after a graceful half-century from Zak Crawley left them needing just 33 more runs to win Test 3.
Set 130 to a 2-1 series triumph at the Kia Oval, under-pressure starters Crawley (57th) and Alex Lees (32nd) shared an unbroken position as England went 97-0 on the stumps.
After having their first-innings lead capped at 40, an excellent bowling effort from England saw South Africa eliminated 169 with Stuart Broad (3-45) overtaking Glenn McGrath in the list of top Test Cricket wicket-takers. and Ollie Robinson (2-40) claiming his 50 in the longest format.
Captain Ben Stokes (3-39) and James Anderson (2-27) also played key roles on the ball before Crawley and Lees set out to eliminate runs.
In just 17 overs, they came within contact distance of their target before bad light shut down the game to the frustration of fans and players alike.
That decision denied Stokes’ side the grandstand end of their summer at home, but the winning moment will no doubt come on Monday morning.
England started today hoping to turn a 36-run lead into something more substantial, but 13 minutes, three wickets and just four runs later, the innings was over.
Kagiso Rabada (4-81) represented Robinson (3) and Jack Leach (0) before Marco Jansen (5-35) caught Ben Foakes (14) in slips to end innings at 158 and complete a first Test five. -by.
After falling to 36-6 on day three, South Africa got off to a much better start the second time around as Samel Erwee and Dean Elgar survived a review and helped the Tourists erase a 40-run first-inning deficit in nine overs.
The society had grown to 58 before England found the breakthrough. Stokes went on the attack and needed just three balls to find the lead from Erwee with Joe Root catching the first slip well.
Elgar and Keegan Petersen helped the Proteas to lunch, South Africa having provided themselves with a solid platform from which to build, but in the hour after the break a familiar pairing once again tipped the game in England’s favour.
And swing, the ball did. Broad got things rolling with Elgar’s wicket (36) as umpire Nitin Menon answered in the affirmative to lbw’s vociferous third appeal of 22.
Elgar himself seemed convinced as well, walking away even before the finger was raised. A decision made strange by the fact that the tracking of the ball showed that he would not have touched the stump of the leg.
However England were up, Broad had 564 Test wickets to overtake the great McGrath and move into fifth on the all-time wicket-taker list.
No. 565 came shortly after when Ryan Rickelton (8) got caught plumb lbw, hit in the rear shin, and between those two wickets, Anderson had made for Petersen (23) – Ollie Pope taking a smart catch on the fourth slide.
Feeling the game was slipping away from them, Khaya Zondo and Wiann Mulder opted to dig in, setting up their post to defend and try to challenge England’s hugely skilled and experienced sewing duo.
The result was more than an hour with no limit and even the singles were scarce.
Robinson finally broke the deadlock, with a 50th wicket in just his 11th test as Mulder (14) dragged the ball onto his stumps via his back leg, before pinning Zondo (16) up front with a big nip. -backer on his next step. he leaves the visitors six down.
Stokes, meanwhile, was battling knee pain in a good spell from the other end and seemed to have earned his reward when Jansen cut Pope. However, his smile turned into a frown as the referee raised his arm to signal that he had overdone it.
The England captain belatedly got his man at last before tea. A swinger at the hoop hit Jansen (4) on the inside rim and crushed the leg stump.
Stokes had two balls to complete his over after the break and the second of those saw Rabada meekly puncture Harry Brook on the third slip.
Kyle Verreynne and Keshav Maharaj added some useful runs in the next few overs, but then they fell in the space of six balls – the last bowled in by a Broad beauty and the first caught and bowled by Anderson.
Once again the England starters, despite their recent lack of runs, came up with the idea of imposing themselves on the South African bowlers.
