South Africa beat England out for 149 on Friday to win the first test by an innings and 12 runs inside 3 days at Lord’s and go 1-0 up in the three-game series.
It demonstrated an emphatic victory for South Africa’s bowling attack, who nullified the threat of England’s new attacking after batting ‘Bazball’ approach, forging a 161-run first innings lead prior to dismissing their hosts in only 37.4 2nd innings overs.
Anrich Nortje got 3 wickets in about 10 balls to tear through the heart of the home batting, removing Jonny Bairstow (18 runs), opener Alex Lees (35) and Ben Foukes (0) in quick succession with a spell of fast bowling for figures of 3-47.
He was ably backed up by fellow quicks Marco Jansen, Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada while spinner Keshav Maharaj demonstrated a surprisingly successfully early inclusion into the attack, getting the first two wickets before lunch with Zak Crawley (13) and Ollie Pope (5) both trapped leg before wicket.
It was another disappointment for under-pressure Crawley, who was first to fall for 13 runs and faces being dropped for the next test at Old Trafford.
In any case, England captain Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad took on the bowlers in a ‘Bazball’ cameo to score 55 runs off 45 balls for the 7th wicket to offer hopes of a home fightback before Broad was snagged by Rabada for a quickfire 35.
South Africa had started the day on 289-7 in response to England’s first innings tally of 165 and batted for the first hour on Friday prior to being bowled out for 326 in their first innings, giving them a handy 161-run lead.
Nortje scored an unbeaten 28 not out off 42 balls as he dominated a 29-run partnership for the 9th wicket with Marco Jansen, who was dismissed for 48.
Rabada was out third ball of the day as he pulled the ball leg side, only for Broad to pluck it one-handed out of the air for a splendid catch.
