It cannot do the confidence any harm to run up to bowl from your own end. For the first time Jimmy Anderson had the privilege of running in from the James Anderson End, which was, briefly, the Pavilion End at Old Trafford. And he bowled rather well.
The paceman’s cricketing home has never been his favourite hunting ground in Test matches but by taking four cheap wickets on another sunny Manchester afternoon he registered his best figures here (four for 33). Anderson’s privilege is a rare one. Down at Taunton, Marcus Trescothick has batted in front of his own stand for several years; Darren Sammy occasionally plays in “his” stadium. But usually the privilege is accorded to players after they have retired, as was the case with the Lillee/Marsh stand at the WACA in Perth, which we will visit one last time in the winter.
Anderson was, by a margin, England’s best pace bowler, as the hosts methodically wore down any South African resistance. By the close the tourists were 220 for nine in reply to England’s first-innings total of 362. The Lancashire fast bowler delivered another masterclass even though his main weapon, that wondrous ability to swing the ball, was evident only in his first spell.
In his first over he produced the perfect in-swinger to a left-hander and Dean Elgar, who instinctively recognised that a review was futile, was the lbw victim. In the afternoon session Anderson was less prominent but England managed to chip away. Hashim Amla had begun in princely fashion but then edged Toby Roland-Jones’s third ball down the leg side. Somehow the Middlesex seamer has taken the prized wicket of Amla three times in 21 balls. This was the worst delivery of the three to do the business for him.
Then Moeen Ali dismissed Heino Kuhn just before tea. The South Africa opener has struggled in this series and, sadly, the longer this innings went on the less suited he appeared for Test cricket. Any fluency gradually evaporated so that it was almost a relief when he was neatly caught at slip by Ben Stokes for a painstaking 24. Thus he became Moeen’s 19th victim of the series. The England spinner took the same number against India in 2014 but much more expensively and in a five-Test series. Under Saqlain Mushtaq’s empathetic eye, he is improving.
Moeen is operating with confidence, keeping Stokes on red alert at slip – a tough catch was dropped there from a Quinton de Kock flash when South Africa were 132 for five. This was not the case at the end of the tour to India. He is bowling a little slower and more accurately but is still spinning the ball vigorously. If it does not turn it is still likely to dip.
He now has 118 Test victims and is on the verge of going past some serious England spinners – Phil Tufnell, Ray Illingworth, David Allen, Phil Edmonds and Wilfred Rhodes. The selectors have had their trials‚ and there are more to come‚ but plucking out Moeen, who was not the obvious choice three years ago, was a minor triumph.
However, it was Anderson’s second spell that put England in control. Temba Bavuma had battled away skilfully but then he opted to leave a ball which brushed his off stump. At the other end, Faf du Plessis may have recognised better than most the perils of doing that. But then the South Africa captain dragged another Anderson delivery on to the stumps from his inside edge. Soon after Theunis de Bruyn edged to Joe Root at second slip. Anderson had taken three for six in four overs.
By now Moeen was embarked upon a long spell at the Brian Statham End and was rewarded by the wicket of Keshav Maharaj as England ruthlessly tightened their grip. Not even De Kock, who by his lofty standards scratched away for 24 runs, could break the stranglehold. He was eventually dispatched by Stuart Broad, as was Kagiso Rabada just before the close, courtesy of a brilliant catch in the gully by Stokes, who until then was having a rare day in the sun without catching our attention.
Most of the technicolour cricket had taken place in the morning when the ball whizzed around the ground as if it was a giant pinball machine.
Batsmen came and went and Jonny Bairstow, the last man out, departed within one run of a most unlikely century. When the ninth England wicket fell he was on 53. Yet when Bairstow was dismissed, lbw to Maharaj 40 minutes later, he was on 99 and therefore disgruntled, mostly with himself.
Roland-Jones played one carefree cover drive for four against Rabada but the next one went straight into the hands of Bavuma at cover.
Out came Moeen at nine, not for the first time, and for 15 minutes he was magisterial, unfurling three silky boundaries way beyond the capabilities of a proper No9. But then he edged to second slip off fast bowler Rabada.
Broad, mysteriously, did not seem minded to bat for Bairstow at the other end and was bowled by Morne Morkel for seven. But Anderson was prepared to hang around for as long as possible. Bairstow improvised brilliantly in the manner of Brian Lara. He hit 46 of the 50 runs this pair added and the hard work in terms of registering his fourth Test century had been done when he failed to make contact with the sweep that was designed to take him to three figures. Even so, Bairstow had shepherded England to 362, which now seems enough.
