South Africa thrash England as ‘Bazball’ era comes back down to earth

LONDON: South Africa inflicted England’s first defeat of the ‘Bazball’ era by winning the first Test with smashing innings and 12 runs with more than two days to spare at Lord’s on Friday.

England were ruled out for 149 in their second innings before tea on day three, and the Proteas effectively won the game in six sessions after rain lost most of the first day on Wednesday.

Left arm spinner Keshav Maharaj struck twice before fast bowler Anrich Nortje followed up with an excellent spell of three scoreless wickets from 10 balls as the visitors, leaders of the World Test Championship table, took a 1-1 lead.

-0 in a match of three. series of matches.

England had won all four of their previous Tests under the new leadership of captain Ben Stokes and manager Brendon McCullum, whose name goes by the name ‘Bazball’.

However, each of those wins came after batting aggressively in the fourth inning, rather than having to set a total and before this match, South Africa captain Dean Elgar questioned whether an all-out policy would work against his formidable bowling line. up.

But although former captain Andrew Strauss said England had doubled as a “deck of cards”, it wasn’t until Stokes joined forces with Stuart Broad, who hooked Nortje for six, during a seventh-wicket position for 55 that they batted in ‘Basball’.

style.

England’s top order was simply outplayed on a sunny day during an innings that lasted just three hours and ended within 38 overs.

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