England celebrate after going 1-0 up in the series
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
England drew first blood on their tour of South Africa as they crushed the Proteas by 241 runs on the fifth day of the first Test in Durban to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Starting off the day on 136/4, England all-rounder Moeen Ali bagged the golden wicket of AB de Villiers early on, which started a domino effect as the rest of South Africa’s batting line-up crumbled.
JP Duminy was the only batsman to put up a fight as he fought his way to an unbeaten 26 before he ran out of partners and was left stranded in the middle of the pitch.
With none of the other South African batsman reaching double figures, the Proteas were dealt a humiliating loss as they were bowled out for 174.
Steven Finn was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Ali snapped up three and Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes chipped in with one wicket each.
South Africa captain Hashim Amla admitted that his side were not up to par, and said: “It was great to see Dean at his best, the grit he showed and we’re really happy with him. Can’t fault the efforts of the bowlers, they’ve been exceptional in India, through the heat here as well, hats off to them. [Bowling first?] The pitch didn’t do as much as we thought it might, but at 40 for 3 you would definitely take that, our bowlers did well but our first innings let us down.
“I think it’s more confidence, the only way you can do that is to get the runs. Players like myself need to get some runs and some confidence for the team. [Changes for Cape Town?] Dale Steyn is injured so I think there will be a replacement coming in for him and then we’ll see what the selectors do. They [England] played really well, the series is going to be good and we’ll be aiming to come back in Cape Town.”
England skipper Alastair Cook was delighted to have taken a 1-0 lead in the series, and said: “Yeah, the lads played really well, first morning was tough conditions to bat in, I thought Nick Compton coming back into Test cricket, he was a rock for us to bat around and then the way the bowlers performed was fantastic. We feel comfortable bowling in any conditions, it was quite similar to the UAE as it got slower and slower, aiming for off stump, so it was pretty easy to captain the guys.
“[Anderson fitness?] Reports are good, he’s been bowling quite a lot and doing the rehab. It’s a tough decision in some ways, the guys played really well but he’s got 420 Test wickets. Time to prepare for Cape Town. We’ll enjoy this afternoon but we know what a strong side SA are, the lads have done the hard work and really prepared for this tour. Thanks to all the supporters who followed us here, as always.”
Ali was named Man of the Match, and said: “[Pitch perfect for you?] “It was good but I still had a lot of work to do. I had the mindset to keep it tight for the guys but it was good to get some wickets. It’s been tough but I’m really enjoying it. [Want to bat higher?] Not really, it’s always nice to bat with the middle order but I feel at No. 8 I can come in and change the momentum of the game. I like to think of myself as an attacking spinner but it was nice to not go for many runs too.”