Now the tourists are in a deep hole. They will probably have to bat for four and a half sessions to save the first Test on one of the best Lord’s surfaces of recent times. Its excellence stems not from the unalloyed evenness that batsmen love, but from the fact it is deteriorating as a good cricket pitch should.
The ball is turning a little, the bounce cannot always be trusted and on Saturday night England were ahead by 216 runs with nine wickets in hand. It looks as if Joe Root will be in a position to deliver his first declaration as an England captain some time on Sunday afternoon.
So the outlook is bleak for South Africa and this extends to the second Test at Trent Bridge, where they know they will be without Kagiso Rabada, suspended for one match for giving Ben Stokes a “send-off” on Thursday, which no one spotted at the time. Moreover, there are doubts about the fitness of Vernon Philander, who was hit on his right thumb by a nasty delivery from Jimmy Anderson, and was unable to open the bowling in England’s second innings. The thumb is not broken but it is swollen.
In an age before the stump mic, which would only be of any obvious benefit to anyone if England had a Les Dawson rather than a Liam in their team, Rabada would probably not be forced to miss the second Test. His suspension no doubt adheres to the letter of the law and we live in a litigious age, but the decision feels inappropriate and likely to diminish the series. His send-off to Stokes was an instantaneous reaction to dismissing a key batsman and earned just one point on his record; it was not a calculated insult. Rabada’s problem was that he had some previous indiscretions on his ledger. There must be a gaggle of old fast bowlers mightily relieved they did not have to perform in the age of the stump mic.
In fact, leaving aside Rabada’s plight, this was not much of a day for fast bowlers. It was the England spinners who did the damage. This is not a sentence that slipped off the tongue too readily in the winter.
In the morning Root shuffled his pack adroitly – and he had many more options than Dean Elgar later in the day. He began with Mark Wood and Stokes, with the idea of keeping Anderson and Stuart Broad for the second new ball. But soon he tried his spinners as well and they conjured two wickets before the new ball was unwrapped.
Dawson’s second ball found the outside edge of Rabada’s bat and Jonny Bairstow took a fine catch. Soon after there was the similar dismissal of Temba Bavuma by Moeen Ali, except this time the ball ricocheted via Bairstow to Stokes at first slip.
Quinton de Kock and Philander now rallied. De Kock took two boundaries over midwicket against blameless deliveries from Moeen, which prompted Root to take that new ball. Then De Kock peppered the boundaries when facing Broad, his timing and placement impeccable. Without appearing hurried, he scored the second fastest half-century in Test cricket at Lord’s in 36 balls, one slower than a Kapil Dev innings in 1982.
With Philander recovering from that blow on the thumb South Africa were speeding back into the game until a dismissal which would have given huge satisfaction to the England think-tank. Root posted Stokes in one of those quirky positions at point, square of the wicket and about eight yards from the bat and, sure enough, De Kock’s attempt to drive Anderson went straight there from the outside half of his bat. Whether this was a cunning plan or a moment of intuition, there were smiles all round and most definitely no send-offs.
There was another little rally before the spinners mopped up. Dawson’s dismissal of Keshav Maharaj would not have happened 30 years ago, which does not necessarily mean it was illegitimate. Maharaj came down the wicket and was taken on the front pad; in the 1980s England’s appeal would have been dismissed by umpires as flagrant time-wasting since it was deemed impossible to give an lbw with the batsman so far down the track.
But England had reviews in the bank (given the dodgy regulation that allows two to be given back after 80 overs) so they were prepared to consult the third umpire. All the criteria were fulfilled and Maharaj had to go; the umpire Paul Reiffel looked disgruntled to have to change his decision. Nor was Maharaj overjoyed, though his perspective was rather different when he took his first Test wicket in Perth – then Steve Smith was way down the pitch (2.8m, apparently) and very grumpy when his review was unsuccessful.
Soon Moeen bowled Philander, who had hit a gutsy 52, the ball going from his inside edge to his boot to the stumps. So Moeen finished with four for 59 and England’s spinners had taken six wickets in the first innings of a Test in England for the first time since 2007, when Monty Panesar took six at Lord’s against West Indies.
England second innings was ponderous but pragmatic. Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings recognised that Elgar had only two pacemen so they were minded just to blunt the opening overs; moreover there was some turn for Maharaj. Cook proceeded a little more quickly than Jennings, who was dismissed by Morne Morkel for a forgettable 33 – apart from several exotic reverse sweeps.
Gary Ballance was more convincing, while Cook played the senior pro. For him timing was elusive; he played and missed a few times and some of his best shots hit the field. Yet he is 59 not out, mostly from the nurdle and the nudge. It was not very pretty and progress was slow but the England dressing room will not be worried about that. There is time to accelerate on Sunday morning.
