4 test series ENG 3-1 SA

1st Test

Day 1

England 357/5 (87.0 ov)
South Africa

At the first stroke Joe Root has made life easier for himself and his team. The first priority of a new captain who is a batsman has nothing to do with such ephemeral notions as bonding the team or setting the tone; it is to score runs. And at the first attempt Root has delivered in style.

He has sparkled more in the past on his passage towards three figures, but having posted his hundred he was at his impish best, melding sweet and solid orthodoxy with a few homespun specialities that must have had his father and grandad beaming in the stands.

In the last half-hour against the second new ball he was majestic as he headed towards a double century. Instead of playing for tomorrow, as Yorkshiremen of another era might have been inclined to do, Root was, indeed, able to set the tone. He attacked ruthlessly, exploiting the weary legs of the South African bowlers and fielders for whom 87 overs in the field seemed an awfully long time in this white-ball summer. England finished the day sitting pretty on 357 for five; Root had contributed 184 of those with the power to add some more on Friday morning.

Root had his reprieves. On five and 16 he offered difficult chances to long leg and gully respectively; much later, on 149, he was palpably stumped off Keshav Maharaj before the discovery that the left‑arm spinner had overstepped by a few millimetres.

This was Root’s 12th Test century and one of his most significant. With runs in the bank as a captain all the decisions that come his way will now be a little easier. Most obviously, it becomes more straightforward for him to drop fellow batsmen when the time comes – how often has a batting line-up been paralysed because it has been impossible to omit someone who has been scoring more runs than the captain? More positively, the respect and authority for the captain in the dressing room automatically deepens when the man in charge takes control of the game, which is what Root did so emphatically on Thursday with a little help from Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali.

Root’s felt like a landmark innings. But then we were reminded that England’s past three captains, Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss, all made centuries in their first match in charge. Before that the only two men to achieve this feat were Archie MacClaren and Allan Lamb (there must be a link between these two, but it currently remains elusive). Root’s innings is the highest of any Englishman on his debut as captain, surpassing Cook’s 173 in Chittagong.

It now seems all too obvious that captaincy can, at least at the outset, enhance a batsman. It concentrates the mind nicely. Gary Ballance, now captain of Yorkshire, might be prepared to confirm that theory. Priorities change; personal milestones are easily overshadowed by the state of the game; it is no fun in the field leading a team that is 150 runs short of par, and that can be a powerful driving force.

There were moments when that looked to be England’s fate after Root won the toss under a cloudless sky as a capacity crowd found their seats. There was a tinge of green in the pitch, which would allow a little extra bounce and modest sideways movement.

Whatever help was available was exploited by Vernon Philander, who has the endearing quality of being a Test cricketer who looks as if he could have been plucked out of a club game. He is not fleet of foot; his muscles do not ripple much and he tends to lumber rather than glide around the boundary. Nor does he bowl swiftly by international standards. He propels at about 80mph and no more.

But he has special, old-fashioned qualities. He bowls from close to the stumps; he finds a good length and he hits the seam more often than most. And when the rhythm is right he generates a little more pace and bounce than expected. He managed that in his opening spell even though he has not bowled in the middle for more than a month.

Cook played a loose shot off the back foot and edged to the wickekeeper; Keaton Jennings was soon given lbw when hit on the front pad. A review was contemplated but rejected; in fact it would have been justified as the ball pitched outside leg stump – just. Since Jennings opts to bat with his pads covering all three stumps the temptation to mark him out as an lbw candidate is hard to avoid.

Ballance, who only ever bats at No3 for England, settled neatly enough until he was lbw to Morne Morkel bowling round the wicket. This time England opted to review – incorrectly. He was hit on the front pad but it was only just beyond the popping crease. So England were rocking on 76 for four with the captain and vice-captain – Ben Stokes – in harness.

They navigated through the afternoon session with Stokes in solid, responsible mode in between the odd awesome boundary. The biggest alarm was when Stokes, on 44, was bowled by Morkel – off another no-ball.

This pair added 114 before Stokes edged a hook against Kagiso Rabada just after tea. Thereafter Moeen, a reassuring presence at No7, was the ideal ally for Root. Moeen took 17 balls to open his account but then he cruised along in Root’s wake, with his own exquisite cover drives. Together they added 167 runs in the final session, which left England dictating the game on a day when there was no doubt about who was the man in charge.


Day 2

England 458
South Africa 214/5 (68.0 ov)
South Africa trail by 244 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings

South Africa’s proud and spotless record at Lord’s since returning to world cricket is under threat. In five visits here they have won convincingly four times and drawn once. Currently they are 244 runs behind with five wickets in hand. From here they might settle for another draw.

On another balmy day they were tormented by two of England’s all-rounders, neither of whom was Ben Stokes. Argue among yourselves whether Stuart Broad and Moeen Ali can truly be categorised as all-rounders – maybe the former does not bat well enough and the latter’s bowling is too limited. But there was no denying that in mid-afternoon Moeen joined Broad and five other illustrious England cricketers who have hit 2000 Test runs and taken 100 Test wickets. (The others are Wilfred Rhodes, Trevor Bailey, Tony Greig, Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff). Oddly Moeen has reached 2,000 runs and 100 wickets in the same match – as did Ravi Shastri. Of the Englishmen only Greig, in 37 matches as opposed to Moeen’s 38, has reached this landmark more quickly. Both Broad and Moeen are in fine company.

Moeen contributed 87 and Broad 57 not out, an innings not quite so polished but just as entertaining to all but the purist. Then this doughty duo took the first four wickets to fall in South Africa’s reply. By then the cricket had assumed the more traditional qualities of a Test match with South Africa fighting for survival after England had posted 458.

Broad was at his most miserly as he pounded in from the Nursery End. Maybe he sensed some unevenness on a dry pitch, maybe it was just the sense of occasion that a packed house at Lord’s generates. Broad was in rhythm; he becalmed Heino Kuhn on his Test debut and then he found his edge in a six over spell that yielded just eight runs.

After a profligate little spell from Liam Dawson (four overs for 29 runs), who rarely bowls as early as the 14th over for Hampshire, let alone England, Moeen was introduced and with his greater pace and – on this occasion – greater accuracy he posed more problems.

Hashim Amla had purred along beside Dean Elgar but when he tried to work an off-break from Moeen on to the leg side he misjudged both the length of the ball and the amount of turn. Even though Amla’s is a pivotal wicket there was no enthusiasm for a review.

After tea Elgar became Moeen’s 100th victim. He pushed forward and from the inside edge the ball hit the chest of Gary Ballance at short leg before being calmly snared in his hands. Moeen often bowls better when expectations are low and here he had dispatched the two most accomplished batsmen in South Africa’s makeshift top six.

When Broad broached JP Duminy’s defences South Africa were 104 for four and in trouble. But Temba Bavuma, calm and watchful, joined forces with Theunis de Bruyn, relishing his second Test appearance and this pair added 99 together, whereupon Jimmy Anderson found the edge of De Bruyn’s bat. This pair batted with impressive resolution and rather more discretion than we witnessed in the morning.

That first session was frenetic and hugely entertaining. In particular the last wicket partnership between the old guard of Broad and Anderson produced slapstick stuff.

At the start Joe Root doubtless had designs on becoming the first Test cricketer to hit two double hundreds at Lord’s, but it was not to be as he departed early. Against Morne Morkel he essayed what seemed to be a textbook forward defensive except that the ball flicked the outside edge to give the keeper a simple catch.

Two balls latter Dawson, who was selected to give no-nonsense ballast to the side, was heading lugubriously back to the pavilion, lbw for his second duck in three innings for England.

Soon Vernon Philander demanded another lbw from umpire Reiffel against Broad on four. The appeal was denied; a review was contemplated but rejected, which was a mistake since the replays revealed that the ball possessed all the red criteria needed for the decision to be overturned. This was a costly mishap for the South Africans since Broad would finish unbeaten with 57 runs merrily gleaned in a variety of ways.

Initially Broad, using every part of his bat, prospered alongside Moeen, who posted his 2,000th Test run during a 46 run partnership that ended when he was defeated by a full length delivery from Kasigo Rabada. His innings was another delight and a reminder of how hard it is to understand those who query Moeen’s right to be an automatic choice in this team. No doubt there were times when the same was said of Bailey and Flintoff.

Then Mark Wood was palpably lbw without scoring and the assumption was that the innings was rushing to a close. Instead Broad and Anderson engaged in an hilarious – to English eyes – last wicket stand of 45, during which the South Africans lost their discipline. Broad was able to predict Morne Morkel’s intentions all too easily which meant that he smashed two consecutive bouncers over the boundary at square leg.

Even Anderson hit a six against Rabada, pulling fearlessly off the front foot. This was his third six in Test cricket but his first against a pace bowler. He will be proud of that but unfortunately there is not yet a board in the dressing room to accommodate that particular landmark.


Day 3

England 458 & 119/1 (51.0 ov)
South Africa 361
England lead by 216 runs with 9 wickets remaining

South Africa have not lost a Test at Lord's since 1960, recording four victories and two draws in six visits post-readmission. That redoubtable record looked set to come under threat over the next two days as England ground their way into a dominant position in the first Test of the series.

Inch by inch, Joe Root's new(ish) England side took control on the third day. Moeen Ali again played a key role with the ball, his impressive personal contribution continuing with a four-wicket haul as South Africa settled for a first-innings deficit of 97; Alastair Cook then passed 50 for the 15th time in a Lord's Test as England stretched their lead beyond 200 on another hot and hazy afternoon in the capital.

The situation would have been trickier still for South Africa had it not been for contrasting half-centuries from Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander earlier in the day. The majority of Philander's innings came after he had been struck a painful blow on the hand by James Anderson, although X-rays confirmed he had not suffered a break. He did not return to the field until late in the evening session and was not called on to bowl, although South Africa hope he will be fit to play a full part on Sunday.

Cook had missed out in the first innings but was not about to let a second opportunity go begging. South Africa lost both their reviews inside ten overs trying to dislodge him and although he was separated from his opening partner, Keaton Jennings, after an 80-run stand, Gary Ballance helped steer England to the close with the majority of their batting resources intact.

At one stage in the evening session, Cook amassed a single run over the course of 40 deliveries, a man perfectly content to embody the statelier virtues of a bygone era amid the carnival of modern batsmanship. The practice of leaving the off side open to try and make Cook drive against Keshav Maharaj's spin resulted in a brace of well-timed cover drives early on, while another four boundaries were eased behind square on the off side.

He was inconvenienced, if not ruffled, by lbw reviews off the bowling of Morne Morkel, whose delivery was shown to have pitched outside leg stump, and Maharaj, who struck him outside the line of off with a sharply spinning ball. Morkel was eventually rewarded for a probing spell after tea as Jennings wafted flat-footed to be caught behind.

The sense that South Africa were losing their way on a ground where they have enjoyed much success over the last 25 years was betrayed early on, when Temba Bavuma, who had recorded his seventh Test fifty during the opening exchanges, was dismissed by Moeen. Bavuma began heading off the pitch vaguely towards the gap in the boundary boards by the Warner Stand before realising his mistake and being redirected to the pavilion gate.

De Kock was more sure-footed, marking his first Test innings at Lord's with the second-fastest fifty on the ground, from 36 balls. Alongside Philander's battling knock, they prevented South Africa's first innings from being completely subsumed, although there was also a sense of good starts being wasted: of the four South Africa batsman to reach 50, including captain Dean Elgar on the second day, none managed more than Bavuma's 59.

Philander was struck several times during his stay but replied with a few hefty blows off the bat, despite his discomfort. De Kock dominated the scoring during their rapid stand of 66, before Philander helped add another 47 for the last two wickets.

Root had turned to his spinners early on and, with the surface hinting at variable bounce and increased turn as it cooked under the sun, they will doubtless have an even greater role to play later in the game. Liam Dawson enjoyed a more successful outing as he and Moeen shared six wickets - only the second time since 1999 that two England spinners had done so in the first innings of a home Test.

Kagiso Rabada, South Africa's nightwatchman, got through the first 40 minutes before nicking Dawson into Jonny Bairstow's gloves to end a stand of 41 and England made an even bigger breakthrough in the following over when Moeen had Bavuma taken at slip, playing back as a delightfully flighted ball drifted away and then spun in to clip the outside edge.

De Kock arrived low in the order, at No. 8, but not low on confidence. Stuart Broad was twice taken for three fours in an over as de Kock, who scored his maiden Test hundred against England last year, set about matching the grand surroundings with an innings of equivalent pomp. Philander, meanwhile, dealt bravely with Anderson from the Pavilion End.

Although Broad found shape to beat de Kock's outside edge in his first over with the second new ball, he was soon sent on to the back foot: Broad's next three deliveries were dispatched to the rope - clipped off the legs, cut and then driven square. The final over of Broad's spell saw him receive similar treatment, with the last of de Kock's three fours in five balls a magisterial, rubber-wristed drive through midwicket.

Moeen then replaced Broad from the Nursery End but de Kock got stuck into him, too, twice skipping out to loft the spinner over mid-on to go to his half-century. With the adrenalin still pumping, however, he threw his hands at a drive off Anderson from the ball he faced and was scooped up by the diving Stokes at point.

Anderson had bowled almost exclusively to Philander to that point, though his only successes were counted in marks left on his opponent. One kept low, another hit a crack and jacknifed away from the right-hander - worrying signs, perhaps, for the team batting last - and Philander had just been beaten by a similar delivery when he was rapped on the bottom hand by a ball that came back and jumped venomously off a length. Philander grimaced, received some treatment and got back to the job. Come the close, there was more work to do still.


Day 4

England 458 & 233
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 ov, target: 331)
England won by 211 runs

England swept South Africa aside to begin the Joe Root era with a crushing victory as 19 wickets fell in a day at Lord's. Moeen Ali, taking full licence of the attacking brief given him by England's new captain, ran through a mesmerised South Africa batting order to claim 6 for 53 on the way to a maiden ten-wicket haul in Tests.

Having been set 331 to win the first Test, with almost 150 overs in which to get them, South Africa were unable to even take the match into a fifth day. With the pitch offering appreciable assistance for the spin of Moeen and Liam Dawson, they subsided to 119 all out in 36.4 overs, with Temba Bavuma's 41-ball 21 providing the most prolonged resistance. Faf du Plessis, looking on from the balcony having returned to lead the team at Trent Bridge next week, was left with much to ponder.

South Africa were in trouble early in their innings, going to tea on 25 for 3, with Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock their main hope of giving Root and England a fright. Only once had a team chased as many in the fourth innings to win a Lord's Test, though Root may have recalled for a moment the occasion when he filled in as Yorkshire captain in 2014 and saw Middlesex ease to a target of 472 three wickets down on this ground.

That gained him the nickname "craptain" in the Yorkshire dressing room, but it looks like England will have to come up with something more generous. In truth, Root did not have to resort to much in the way of tactical genius, as his two spinners bowled in tandem for 24 overs to finish off South Africa with time to spare on another sun-drenched evening in north London. South Africa had not lost a Test at Lord's since 1960 but they broke that record in style.

It meant their fight back during the first half of the day, when they claimed England's last nine wickets for the addition of 114 runs became a distant memory. It could have been better still but Jonny Bairstow, who scored a vital half-century, was dropped on 7 as South Africa's replicated the mistakes that were so costly to their chances in the first innings.

After James Anderson had made the initial breakthrough, Heino Kuhn removed via a fine, diving catch from Bairstow down the leg side, Moeen picked up his first wicket when he brilliantly held a reflex return catch off Dean Elgar. South Africa's stand-in captain must have feared the worst at that moment, and their fortunes sunk further when JP Duminy pulled Mark Wood straight to midwicket on the brink of tea.

The selection of Dawson, who made a pair with the bat, was not widely lauded beforehand but he delivered for Root when he plucked out the key wicket of Amla shortly after tea. Moeen's first four overs were maidens, bottling up South Africa from the Nursery End, and Dawson then produced a ripping delivery that pitched on middle and leg, spun past the groping bat and hit the back leg in front of off; Amla reviewed but in vain.

De Kock and Bavuma dug in for more than 10 overs, lifting the score from 28 for 4 with a 36-run stand, but an increasingly confident England had Mo-mentum on their side. When de Kock tried to relieve some of the pressure by pulling, he only succeeded in dragging the ball into his front leg, from where it fizzed back into his stumps.

Bavuma also fell trying to force an attacking shot to break England's chokehold, a precise delivery hitting the top of off, and Moeen then had Theunis de Bruyn caught at slip and Keshav Maharaj bowled off an inside edge to record his maiden Test ten-for. Having contributed 87 to England's first-innings total of 458, he became the first England player to score a fifty and take ten wickets in a Test since Ian Botham in 1980.

Botham-like heroics will help keep most Test captains chipper and, following his first-innings 190, Root could reflect on a perfect start to his tenure. It had been a slightly bumpier start to the day, however, as England lost nine wickets in 36.1 overs - though only consolation for Root was that the procession of batsmen returning to join him in the dressing room could attest to the increasing difficulty of the pitch.

Bairstow was last man out, stumped off Maharaj, the spinner's four-wicket haul a harbinger of what was to come. At lunch, England's lead had been 279 but Bairstow and Wood scraped together valuable extra runs during a brisk ninth-wicket stand of 45. Apart from Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance, who added 10 and 11 respectively to their overnight scores, no other England batsmen managed to get into double-figures on the day.

Maharaj might have removed Bairstow right at the start of his innings, only for Vernon Philander, who was fit to bowl after injuring his hand batting on the third day, to drop a simple catch at long-off. He claimed three of the wickets to fall in the first session, amid increasing signs of the pitch breaking up. The dismissal of Cook for 69, caught at cover attempting to lift the scoring, precipitated an England collapse of 4 for 10 in 39 balls - which would have been 5 for 19 had Bairstow's offering been held.

The evidence of the first over of the morning was that the Lord's baize was by now a little rumpled. At least two deliveries from Philander kept low before the last jumped to hit Ballance on the glove. When Maharaj came into the attack shortly before the hour mark, the first ball of his second over went directly to slip off the pitch; the same over concluded with Root being bowled by one that didn't turn.

Cook and Ballance picked up initially in much the same mood as they guided England to the close on the third evening, a couple of tugboats towing their barge along the Thames. They had added a boundary apiece, taking their partnership to 59, before Cook suddenly weighed anchor and drove aerially into the covers, where Bavuma snaffled a sharp, diving catch.

Morne Morkel continued his impressive Test by having Ballance caught behind with another exacting delivery that straightened from round the wicket and England slide's continued with the dismissal of Root for 5 in the following over. Having seen Maharaj spin the ball sharply, Root swept a boundary but was then caught playing back and got an inside-edge on to his stumps.

Ben Stokes did not have much time for reconnaissance, pinned lbw for 1 by a delivery that shot through low from Rabada. Stokes started walking as soon as it hit him, while Rabada - suspended for the next Test due to his outburst after dismissing Stokes in the first innings - kept his counsel. That left England 149 for 5 and it ought to have been 158 for 6 when Bairstow lofted Maharaj towards Philander, only for the fielder to drop it on to the rope. He gestured towards the skies, seeming to suggest that Spidercam had distracted him - but little could excuse the scale of South Africa's defeat.


2nd Test

Day 1

South Africa 309/6 (90.0 ov)
England
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat

Joe Root wanted his England side to be stretched and the South Africans duly obliged on a dreamy day at Trent Bridge. Here was Test cricket as we crave it with the game ebbing and flowing tantalisingly at the most soothing venue in the country outside of St John’s Wood. By the close South Africa were 309 for six.

They might have made more if the partnership of 113 between Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock that decorated the afternoon session had continued after tea. They might have been in dire straits at 235 for six but Vernon Philander, with stout assistance from Chris Morris, stayed firm and strong in the evening sunshine. For England Stuart Broad took three wickets on one of his favourite grounds and offered the greatest threat. The game is alive and alluring because no one is quite sure who is winning it.

The toss was a futile exercise. Faf du Plessis chose to bat; Root, with the candour of a new captain, said that he would have bowled. There were some clouds above and a bit of grass below but in both cases not in great quantities. A good pitch has the captains in a bit of a quandary and, although a little short of pace, this seems to be what we have at Trent Bridge.

Du Plessis recognised that his top order would have to battle to survive the first session and that is what they did despite the early departure of Dean Elgar. He fell to a fine diving catch by Liam Dawson at backward point off an inviting full-length delivery from Jimmy Anderson, which provided the old boy with his 300th Test wicket in England.

Then the South Africans dug in. It would be quite an exaggeration to say that Heino Kuhn hit the ball to parts of Trent Bridge that other batsmen could not reach. In fact he loitered on the back foot most of the time from where he occasionally punched the ball through the gaps, heavy on grit, light on glamour.

As ever Amla was more pleasing on the eye, yet there was an element of humility about his innings. In the morning there were no wristy indulgences; the plan was to blunt the new ball and Amla was prepared to do the hard yards. He moved forward diligently in defence, seemingly with more time at his disposal than Kuhn. Only when confronted with the bouncer did Amla look insecure but initially his flails avoided the fielders. However he connected properly with one Mark Wood short ball, which was hooked to the boundary to register his 8,000th run in Test cricket.

In an abbreviated morning session South Africa fought their way to 56 for one. After the break Broad bowled Kuhn off the inside edge, which meant that South Africa’s two best batsmen were now at the crease. They had decided to promote De Kock up the order.

South Africa’s wicketkeeper has never batted at four before in a Test match but it was decided midway through the game at Lord’s that he would have to take on more responsibility. Hiding away at No7 as a wonderful insurance policy was no longer a viable option. South Africa needed to be more proactive.

Obviously De Kock was prepared to step up, which is not always the case. Cricketers can be a superstitious lot, wary of change and the benefits of flexibility, but given the state of the series and the frailty of South Africa’s batting so far the promotion of De Kock made good sense.

He very nearly delivered a masterpiece, purring through the afternoon session, scoring at almost a run a ball while giving the impression that he was in watchful, responsible mode. In fact both De Kock and Amla paid Anderson and Broad their dues; they were blunted but upon their removal from the attack the run rate accelerated. Both these batsmen can propel the ball to the boundary with silky flicks that do not require a follow through. It is just that De Kock does this more often.

Dawson’s first three overs leaked 19 runs and an Amla straight six, which just struck the boundary rope (why waste any energy?) and there were sweet drives against Wood and Stokes. In the afternoon South Africa added 123 for one without a hint of violence.

But in the final session Broad imposed himself on proceedings though not quite so emphatically as in 2015 against Australia. His first delivery after the break found the outside edge of De Kock’s bat and Cook held the catch at slip after a little juggle. Then he dismissed Amla with an intentional bouncer; another hook went up in the air but this time it landed in the safe hands of Wood at long leg.

Now Stokes made his first intervention with the ball in this series. So far the gulf between the old brigade of Broad and Anderson and England’s other pacemen has been all too obvious. Here Stokes, although profligate, at least rekindled his reputation for making something happen.

His dismissal of Du Plessis required some assistance. The ball flew down the leg side and Jonny Bairstow, as he did at Lord’s, took off to his left and held an excellent catch. Umpire Paul Reiffel raised his finger; Du Plessis immediately asked for a review and then third umpire Sundaram Ravi detected a touch on the glove before the ball brushed Du Plessis’s backside. Presumably the South African captain only felt the second contact. Then Stokes dispatched Temba Bavuma, who was surprised by extra pace. Bavuma tried to withdraw from a delivery outside his off-stump but he was too slow and the ball brushed the face of his bat on the way to the keeper.

The innings was spluttering but in the last hour Philander and Morris, both elevated to all-rounder status after South Africa’s decision to opt for the extra bowler, rallied with spirit and skill. Initially England gave them too many scoring opportunities; neither of these players is content when becalmed. So they grew in confidence quickly. Whether the ball was old or new they batted with great assurance on a golden sunlit evening, with Philander to the fore. It may not have been a perfect day for the tourists but they are back in the series.


Day 2

South Africa 335 & 75/1 (22.0 ov)
England 205
South Africa lead by 205 runs with 9 wickets remaining

Faf du Plessis had cause to anticipate a satisfying return to the Test captaincy as South Africa took a potentially decisive first-innings lead of 130 midway into the final session of the second day of the second Investec Test at Trent Bridge. The birth of a son followed by the prospect of a Test victory to square the series: personal delight and professional satisfaction in quick succession.

South Africa's lead at the close of the second day was 205, for the loss of Heino Kuhn, unpicked by James Anderson at second slip. England do have the consolation of a sunny forecast for the fourth day, but historically Trent Bridge surfaces deteriorate more than average in this country so it is hard to conceive of an escape route.

They have already lost one review, failing in a cockeyed attempt to win an lbw decision against Kuhn: a long way down the pitch, a new ball, impact high on the pad: there was not much to like. Anderson therefore joined Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad in failed reviews. At least Joe Root is spreading his largesse to all, but he has some reflection to do.

The panache of Root, a young captain eager to assert himself, provided England's main sustenance as they mustered only 205 in awkward batting conditions, dismissed in only 51.5 overs as they trusted to enterprise and came up short. Only late in the innings could England be described as reckless, but at no point did they deserve to be termed resilient.

Root's elegance, at least, made light of the challenge posed by South Africa's attack as he required only 76 balls for his 78. He played with authority from the outset, before a misjudgement against Morne Morkel saw him edge to the wicketkeeper.

The rest of England's first innings had less to commend it as South Africa held sway on a pitch that had quickened since the opening day and with plentiful swing and seam on offer under overcast skies. Root's Yorkshire team-mates Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow sought a response. But the openers failed and the last seven wickets evaporated for 62 in 22.4 overs. Still, at least it ensured regular activity on a day when the over-rate was a pitiful 12.5 an hour.

Morkel and Vernon Philander, South Africa's new-ball pair, posed most of the threat and Morkel, in particular, was unfortunate to finish with only two wickets on a day when he was always imposing. When they were obliged to turn to the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj, with a holding operation in mind, he came up trumps with the wickets of Stokes, for nought, and Bairstow shortly before tea. Chris Morris, lightly used after a short initial spell - short in both senses of the word - adorned his figures with three late wickets.

Alastair Cook and Keaton Jennings were rounded up in only 4.1 overs before lunch as it soon became apparent that South Africa's 335 offered them the chance of a sizeable first-innings advantage.

It took a review to remove Cook, with South Africa searching, initially at least, for an lbw as an inswinger from Philander flew off the pad to the wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. That mode of dismissal was ruled out by an inside nick, only for Cook to be dismissed courtesy of the keeper's catch.

Jennings fell to the next delivery, this time from Morkel, a peach of a ball from around the wicket which bounced and left the Durham left-hander.

The rest of the morning was a story of South African ill-discipline as Root and Ballance included 14 boundaries in an 83-run partnership spanning, in all, only 84 balls. Root produced some princely off-sides drives from the outset and had another Test fifty to his name by the interval. Ballance, who got off the mark with a fortunate edge wide of gully off Philander, offering hunched support, sitting deep in his crease with the suspicious air of a mole peering out of a mole hill.

South Africa's challenge was much more focused throughout the afternoon, although their back-up seamers carried limited potency before Morris' late intervention. They achieved this, lest we forget, without Kagiso Rabada.

Ballance perished in the second over after lunch, bowled by Philander as he deflected the ball onto his pads, but the key wicket was that of Root, who had looked immaculate square of the off-side, and who picked off the leg-side in turn whenever South Africa's bowlers tried to straighten their line.

Bairstow, who lacked Root's certainty, was more of a bellwether. He reached 45, but survived two hairy moments against Morkel on the way, the ball twice flying perilously close to his stumps off a play-and-miss that escaped for four byes and an inside edge. Another edge spared him when South Africa reviewed a refused lbw appeal by Philander.

Maharaj then took a hand. Stokes fell for a 12-ball duck, his inside edge onto his pads, finally clutched at the second attempt, off his shoulder, by de Kock as he changed direction. There was a suspicion of helmet involved, which would have spared him, but after innumerable replays he was sent on his way.

Maharaj also found a hint of turn to bowl Bairstow, bringing South Africa their fourth wicket in a productive session.

England's problems intensified after tea as three wickets fell within eight balls. Moeen Ali fell tamely to a pre-conceived plan, flapping a full ball from Morris out of the footholes to du Plessis at point. Broad received the cheers awarded to a local boy, but his innings are always hair-raising affairs and this one did not make it past the first ball as South Africa successfully reviewed Morris' lbw appeal.

Liam Dawson had managed to escape a fourth successive Test duck - Bob Holland, Ajit Agarkar and Mohammad Asif hold the record with five - before overturning a caught behind decision against Morris, replays showing the ball had missed the bat by a distance. He did not make much use of his let-off, as he top-edged Maharaj to square leg.

England's increasingly tame affair came to a conclusion when Mark Wood deflected a rearing delivery from Morris to second slip.

Earlier, James Anderson had demolished South Africa's tail in a spell of 4 for 4 in only 20 deliveries to finish with 5 for 72, taking five in an innings for the 22nd time in his Test career.

England had carped about the second new ball on the previous evening, and they managed to negotiate an immediate change on the second morning. The skies were grey, the floodlights were on and Anderson had a spring in his step, his 34 years falling off him with every delivery.

The best of his wickets was Maharaj, for nought, outwitted by the inswinger/outswinger routine, his edge inviting Root to hold a flamboyant catch at second slip. He had provided a brief masterclass, but South Africa were to make good use of their own opportunity.


Day 3

South Africa 335 & 343/9d
England 205 & 1/0
England require another 473 runs with 10 wickets remaining

England will have to rewrite Test history if they are to beat South Africa at Trent Bridge after the tourists ground out a near impregnable position.

Half-centuries from Hashim Amla (87), Dean Elgar (80) and Faf du Plessis (63) helped South Africa pile up 343-9 declared just before stumps on day three in the Second Test, to set a target of 474 which significantly exceeds the highest total ever made for victory in the fourth innings. That feat stands to West Indies, who made 418 for seven against Australia at Antigua in 2003, while the ground record of a mere 284 here was down to England against New Zealand a year later.

On a pitch which has offered increasingly variable bounce to the seamers – although most often at the Radcliffe Road end only – England may do well to approach either. In four nervy overs of batting after South Africa’s declaration, they at least came through unscathed on one without loss, albeit after Alastair Cook had to overturn a faulty lbw decision against him when Morne Morkel thought he was in business with the very first ball of the innings.

England bowled admirably at times, Ben Stokes especially, but had already dug their own hole with flaky first-innings batting. And despite at least stopping Amla and Elgar short of their centuries, they were powerless to prevent South Africa extending their control. The hosts endured a tough morning, were lifted by two quick wickets just before lunch and then strove hard but struck just once in the afternoon.

South Africa were already in a position of such dominance, as they seek to level the four-match series at 1-1, that Amla and Du Plessis simply dug in as necessary before prospering again in a stand of 62. Amla’s second-wicket partnership with Elgar had earlier realised 135 before Stokes and James Anderson engineered a double-breakthrough in successive overs. Nothing went right for England until then, though.

Stuart Broad would have had Amla caught-behind on 25 if England had gone to DRS, but no one in the ground – the bowler included – seemed remotely convinced of the edge later demonstrated by technology. Then in Broad’s next over, Elgar speared a drive high to Anderson’s left at gully, where he did brilliantly to get even fingertips on barely a half-chance. Not only did Elgar survive on 55 but as the ball was diverted to Stokes at cover, Amla could have gone had the fielder chosen and hit the target at the non-striker’s end as the batsmen dithered and then aborted an attempted single.

Joe Root turned to the spin of Liam Dawson and soon had reasonable cause for regret as Amla followed Elgar to his half-century with a nonchalant six in an over dispatched with alarming ease for 14.

England succeeded at last when Stokes bounced out Elgar, who got in a terrible tangle and was caught at leg-gully as he tried to bail out of a faulty hook shot. Stokes then produced another brute of a delivery first ball to Quinton de Kock, again round the wicket to the left-hander, this time somehow fended safely but unconvincingly down to fine-leg for a single. To only his fourth ball, De Kock was sufficiently discomforted to edge the returning Anderson behind, and suddenly it was South Africa rather than England who needed the lunch break.

Only 15 runs came in the 10 overs after lunch as Stokes especially gave little away and posed a plausible threat. But Du Plessis and Amla were unconcerned, with so much time left in this match, and it was not until the number three got a little greedy at the start of Dawson’s next spell that he paid the price, lbw to the slow left-armer for the second time in successive innings. This time he was up the pitch and missed one that turned, but England still needed DRS to overturn Paul Reiffel’s initial not-out decision.

After tea, Temba Bavuma mistimed Moeen Ali (four for 78) to mid-off just before the second new ball, but the circumstances of Du Plessis’ departure – lbw to one that kept wickedly low from Stokes – would have sown more trepidation for what was to come than transient jubilation at moving another wicket nearer the bottom-line equation.

An hour later, after the addition of another 68 runs for three wickets as Moeen benefited from some late South Africa adventure, Du Plessis set England a finite if distant task over six-and-a-bit remaining sessions.


Day 4

South Africa 335 & 343/9d
England 205 & 133
South Africa won by 340 runs



The excellence of South Africa's pace attack turned the Trent Bridge Test into a rout as England were dismissed in only 44.2 overs, their hopeless pursuit of a world-record 474 to win on a deteriorating pitch transformed with indecent haste into a 340-run defeat.

Faf du Plessis missed South Africa's defeat at Lord's to be at the birth of his first child but he has supervised a staggering turnaround at Trent Bridge, where England had not lost since 2007, which told not just of South Africa's skill but invited increasing questions about England's ability to perform when the going gets tough.

England's coach Trevor Bayliss, appointed primarily because of his reputation in the limited-overs cricket, has now overseen a sequence of seven defeats in England's last 10 Tests. A 4-0 trouncing in India was embarrassing enough, but this feckless batting display will probably attract the loudest condemnation of all. "We've had a shocker," he said.

Data suggests no surface degenerates more reliably than Trent Bridge in Tests in England - and that is normally no bad thing - and South Africa made voracious use of their opportunity, removing England's top four by lunch and then rushing through the rest of the scorecard in unconstrained fashion.

This is an England batting line-up that at its best can be highly entertaining, but which gives the impression it can only swim with the tide. Joe Root, two matches into his Test captaincy, must gather together resolve if his first series in charge is not to end in defeat.

South Africa's new-ball attack, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, were at the peak of their game and this time they gained excellent support from Chris Morris with only Duanne Olivier, an unimpressive stand-in for Kagiso Rabada, failing to pose a perpetual threat.

Philander repeatedly battered away on an excellent line and length as if determined to wear his own hole in the pitch, Morkel possessed uncomfortable bounce and Morris mixed up bouncers and yorkers with alacrity as England struggled to muster resistance. Morkel went wicketless, scant reward for his consistent menace only a few months after he feared his career might be over because of back trouble.

England had a single to their name overnight. It felt utterly worthless; their defeat looked only a matter of time. Perhaps they could have planted it and hoped it germinated, or framed it and put it on the wall. Wickets would not be long delayed. By the time the lunch clock brought temporary release, they had careered to 79 for 4. Only 16.2 overs later it was all over.

Alastair Cook put up most England resistance, scrambling 42 from 76 balls before he became the fourth England batsman dismissed, hurried by Morris' excellent bouncer and punching it away from his face down the leg-side where Quinton de Kock held the catch.

Cook's Trent Bridge record almost defies belief. In 10 Tests at Nottingham, he averages 21.93, less than half his Test average and has managed a solitary half-century - 50, nothing more, nothing less - against Australia in 2013.



Jonny Bairstow holed out to mid-on as England collapsed © Getty Images

It was asking a lot for him to remedy that on this sort of surface. The sound track of the morning was the rapping of pads and the yelping of South Africa fielders as thick edges dropped wide of slips and flew past gully.

Keaton Jennings got off the mark by hooking a bouncer from Morkel, a show of resolve perhaps, although his shot could have fallen anywhere. He has been in mediocre first-class form all summer which did not inspire confidence. He fell in the second over of the morning, Philander wasting no time in creating a gap between bat and pad to bowl him.

Gary Ballance never got out of his ditch. His only scoring shot careered unhealthily through gully, off Philander. Pushing forward to Philander, he was beaten by low bounce, extremely late on the shot. He also required attention from the physio when Morkel struck him on the bottom hand and, as the match ended, was heading for an x-ray on his left index finger.

South Africa's successful review, to win the lbw decision was a model of grown-up conversation. They had lost a review in the previous over - Cook narrowly surviving because of Morkel's high bounce - and du Plessis demanded responsible information as he might if lives were at stake.

Philander, who delivers from so close to the stumps that his chances of lbw are heightened, was adamant, the captain conceded and the wicket was theirs.

Root, the captain, played inside a swinging yorker from Morris. Another excellent delivery from a South Africa attack hunting England down with admirable skill.

If England's top three includes two players whose Test match aptitude must now be in question, their middle-order, so destructive at times, seems unable - or unwilling - to adjust to the more controlled tempo of Test cricket's more demanding days, traipsing through the most hazardous streets as if it was a suitable place for a picnic.

Jonny Bairstow's self-admonishment was clear as he tried to hit Keshav Maharaj's left-arm spin down the ground and only succeeded in dragging it to deep mid-on. Moeen Ali, who gives the impression that he has two gears - marked enjoyment and boredom - reached 27 with his usual sang-froid and then top-edged a sweep at the same bowler to Heino Kuhn in front of square.

At least Ben Stokes showed a willingness to buckle down against his natural instincts, not for the first time, before pushing back a wary drive at Philander.

The end was rapid, as if England's three pace bowlers, still aching from their work on the third day, had observed the efforts of the batsmen on the fourth and decided they had seen enough. England, though, had been outplayed both with bat and ball and the lack of ready-made replacements for Anderson and Broad must be a huge concern.

Stuart Broad indulged in a slog-sweep and was lucky only to get a groan from his home crowd, and, lo and behold, Olivier wrapped things up with two in two. Mark Wood spliced to gully, James Anderson poked to the keeper.

At the on-field press conference, du Plessis looked like a man you would not mess with and Root looked as if he needed to become that man overnight.

The series swung markedly from England to South Africa and conceivably in the last two Tests it could swing back again. But it is South Africa who look ingrained in the ways of Test cricket.
3rd Test

Day 1

England 171/4 (59 ov)
South Africa

Recklessness was the charge laid against England after their double collapse at Trent Bridge, but rarely, if ever, has such an accusation been levelled against Alastair Cook. England presented him as the chief witness for the defence at The Oval - and defence is what he diligently delivered.

On a crabby day frequently taunted by heavy showers, England finished four down, 171 to the good. Two of their three debutants perished as did a third batsman, Keaton Jennings, who at this level - in fact, at all levels - also remains comparatively wet behind the ears.

At such times, Cook's calming presence has often offered England succour - nigh on 12,000 Test runs amassed without excess, and as if oblivious to the tribulations around him. He just about held South Africa at bay, a workmanlike 82 not out fashioned by the time players left the field for the final time around six o'clock.

South of the Thames, life is supposedly relaxed and informal, especially with a 100th Test for The Oval to celebrate, but not for England, who knew that restraint was expected of them, but who struggled to prosper after Joe Root's marginal decision to bat.

An unbroken stand of 51 between Cook and Ben Stokes as the rain became more frequent brought a different complexion after they had slipped to 120 for 4. Stokes, who had taken offence at the questioning of England's dedication after their Trent Bridge defeat, again playing with utmost deliberation. It was perhaps safest not to mention it.

England's task to put Nottingham behind them was far from straightforward. There was swing and, surprisingly at The Oval, some seam movement on offer for South Africa's attack on a green-tinged pitch. England had cause to be grateful that Vernon Philander had to retreat from the fray for periods of the day with a stomach upset.

The shot that got Cook to fifty - a rare wide one from Philander which he flashed through gully - was uncharacteristic of a patient innings in which he left well and prospered off his pads. It was his first Test fifty in the first innings for more than a year. His focus, though, will be forward - and the potential for a 31st Test hundred.

He was grateful, on 28, to survive an lbw appeal from Chris Morris, the ball angling in towards leg stump but Ultra Edge spotting a nick on to his pad after South Africa reviewed.

South Africa followed up the wicket of Jennings in the fourth over of the day with three more in the afternoon. Tom Westley looked comfortable enough in making 24 by lunch, but he fell four balls after the resumption, edging an outswinger from Chris Morris to second slip. As with any international newcomer, analysis will immediately begin - and with Westley it will doubtless emphasise his penchant for the leg side - but it was a decent delivery.

John Crawley at Lord's in 1994 was the last time England fielded a debutant No. 3 at home and there were similarities in Westley's game, notably in a fluent manner and a strong leg-side game. A first-class average below 38 was hardly eye-catching, but he had a dapper air at the crease and, at 28, many believe him to be a late developer. England certainly need one.

Dawid Malan couldn't keep out Kagiso Rabada's fantastic delivery Getty Images
Philander, who had been limited to four overs with the new ball before lunch, returned in mid-afternoon and removed Joe Root during his second over back. Root was drawn into a work to leg by a slightly back-of-a-length delivery of impeccable line, it left him a fraction and Quinton de Kock changed direction in time to take a fine, one-handed catch to his right.

Dawid Malan, on debut at five, is no stodge: selections like this further underline that England are not about to block out the rest of the summer. He was preferred to Liam Dawson as England sought refuge in an extra batsman, but managed only a single before his 17th delivery proved to be his last, a high-class yorker from Kagiso Rabada, which swung late to hit middle and leg and which left the left-handed Malan falling to the floor as it did so, evidence of a closed-off stance.

The sum of England's morning was 62 in 22.1 overs for the loss of Jennings, who made a duck and who is looking increasingly unlikely to survive his first Test summer. Influential figures, Andy Flower among them, like his character, but increasingly England will be disturbed by his batting average.

In three Tests, Jennings' technique has been well and truly filleted. South Africa are experts at it, especially against someone who they regard as one of their own. He has looked increasingly statuesque; as if afraid every move might be his last. Three debutants at The Oval might not preclude a fourth in Manchester.

Not for the first time this series, he was skilfully worked over by Philander, his footwork tentative and bat searching blindly as if unsure which way the ball was moving. He deflected a delivery into his pads, not too far short of square leg, and then pushed blindly at the next. Philander then got him at third slip as he dangled his bat without conviction.

Jennings' departure paved the way for an Essex alliance between Cook and Westley, Westley heartened no doubt, in his first Test innings, to have the presence at the crease of a county colleague he holds in such high regard.

The Oval is traditionally the ground for England debutants, but that owes much to its regular place in the English calendar as the last Test of the summer. To find three of them, all a little squeamish with nerves, searching for dressing room pegs in only the third Test of the summer, was a sign of England's problems.

Three debutants a few months before the start of an Ashes series is hardly ideal for England. Consolation, though, is easy to find because South Africa caused the same fallout in the last Australian summer. Tough and uncompromising, they are adept at uncovering weaknesses. Westley's first four scoring shots in Test cricket were all boundaries, the first of them a signature shot as he whipped Morne Morkel to the square leg boundary.

He was fortunate to get a thin edge on an lbw appeal from Morkel before taking two more boundaries off the first over from Keshav Maharaj, the left-arm spinner. An aerial drive was too close to short extra cover for comfort; a further boundary off his pads possessed more aplomb.

Neither Morkel nor Rabada were at the top of their game before lunch. Morkel was too short, going for 28 in his first six, while Rabada, despite putting himself through a heavy workload in the nets during his one-Test suspension under the totting up procedure, took a while to slip into gear.

Both stepped it up after lunch. Morkel was particularly impressive during a demanding afternoon spell of fuller length. Cook and Root were forced to tough it out. The former captain survived; his replacement didn't. Root slumped back in a dressing room chair, disconsolate and, like many before him, watched Cook dig England out of a hole.


Day 2

England 353
South Africa 126/8 (43 ov)
South Africa trail by 227 runs with 2 wickets remaining in the 1st innings

Even before he bowled a ball in Test cricket, Toby Roland-Jones could be said to have made a name for himself. Double-barrelled international cricketers, after all, are a bit of a collector's item, just enough to raise an XI with a 12th man and manager in support.

By the time he finished his first spell, Roland-Jones was more than part of a statistical quirk; his name was about to permeate the cricketing world. Four for 22 was quite an introduction for his first eight overs in Test cricket, South Africa's top four all back in the dressing room, caught cold by a debut that, whatever the extent of his Test career, will go down in England's history.

As the weather deteriorated from the west, and the floodlights pierced the south London gloom, England followed up Ben Stokes' fifth Test century by revelling in a perfect bowling day. South Africa crashed to 61 for 7 by the 26th over before stabilising at 126 for 8 by the close of the second day, still 227 behind.

Widely criticised for the manner of their defeat at Trent Bridge, England remain well placed to go 2-1 up in the series with one to play. South Africa need a further 28 runs to avoid the follow-on.

Supporters spending a day at the Test buy into a lottery. On Thursday, a capacity crowd at the start of The Oval's 100th Test observed Alastair Cook's orderly resistance as England reached a creditable 171 for 4. Friday's full house delighted in something more enticing: Stokes' enthralling hundred - raised during a rush of three successive sixes against the left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj while the last man, James Anderson, looked on from the non-striker's end - followed by the high drama of Roland-Jones' introduction to the Test scene.

South Africa were hampered by the loss of Vernon Philander, who left the field midway through the morning with his stomach ailment unrelenting and went to hospital for tests, which also rendered him unable to bat as wickets crashed in the final session. His involvement on the third day had not been confirmed at the close.

Strong, willing and decidedly able, Roland-Jones has a commodious run-up and, when he finally reaches his destination, hits the seam. He has long been regarded as a redoubtable bowler on the county scene, the man whose hat-trick against Yorkshire at Lord's last September gave Middlesex their first Championship for 23 years. At 29, he has now made his mark in more exalted circumstances south of the Thames, Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn, Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock all accounted for, the first three in a burst of 3-3 in 15 balls.

Elgar fell to what became the last ball before tea, crouching forward to be caught at the wicket off a faint edge, a decision Elgar failed to overturn on review and which, by his expression, Roland-Jones did not entirely expect until he saw the spike on the big screen.

Amla might have fallen to the next ball - the first after tea - but England's review, in search of an lbw decision, narrowly failed. Considering that the last time Amla played at The Oval he batted for more than 13 hours it was perhaps a better gamble than most.

On this occasion, however, the balance heavily favoured the bowlers. Roland-Jones brought one back in his third over to have Kuhn lbw, struck on the back leg. Amla followed in his fourth - a ripper, this one, which took off and flicked his glove as he tried to drop his hands. The fact Amla walked somehow made it seem even grander. Finally, came de Kock who aimed to work a full delivery to the leg side and sent an outside edge to Stokes at gully.

Roland-Jones had replaced Anderson after only three overs - a sensible nerve-settler by his captain Joe Root - and Anderson's eventual switch of ends did the trick. Du Plessis left one that seamed back and was lbw on the back leg and Chris Morris patted back a return catch.

Their recovery, of sorts, was some relief. No side has made less than 100 in the first innings of an Oval Test since 1957 when Surrey's spinners, Jim Laker and Tony Lock, tore through the West Indies.

Stokes' 112 from 153 balls was one of his most accomplished, an innings of contrasting shades as he defended with conviction and appreciated the opportunities to play more expansively.

Anderson's emergence at No. 11 with Stokes still nine short of his hundred persuaded him that it was time to crank things up. Maharaj's second ball should have caused his downfall at deep midwicket only for du Plessis to touch the boundary markers as he stretched to take the catch.

Undeterred, Stokes stretched to swing a ball well wide of off-stump down the ground and into the stands; du Plessis applauded ruefully. His century secured, for good measure Stokes slog-swept the next one for a third six in a row. The next over, from Morne Morkel, silenced him as he launched the bowler high to Kagiso Rabada, running in from long-off.

There was no 31st Test hundred for Cook - 82 overnight, he had only added six when Morkel won an lbw decision. Morkel's wicket confirmed his excellent record against Cook as he dismissed him for the 10th time in Test cricket. No bowler has dismissed him on as many occasions.

South Africa bowled impressively as long as Philander and Morkel had the ball in their hands, but their support seamers posed less threat. Morris found so much swing from the Dukes ball that he was unable to control it: he was one player, on this evidence, who did not benefit from South Africa's decision to rest between Nottingham and The Oval rather than request a further warm-up match.

Stokes' recognised an opportunity to press ahead. He had stood so far outside his crease against Philander, to negate his movement, that one half expected him to follow Philander into the dressing room and take guard.

Instead, he feasted upon Morris. Three overpitched deliveries in one over from disappeared to the boundary and Maharaj, conceded three more against Jonny Bairstow, one of them an advance to drive down the ground, a typically defiant repeat of the shot that caused his downfall at Trent Bridge.

England rattled up another 73 at nearly five an over, making excellent use of the hour leading up to the second new ball.

Unsurprisingly, South Africa took it immediately with England, at 256 for 5, threatening to break free. Rabada felt the benefit as he took the new ball for the first time in the series. Ten deliveries into the new ball and Bairstow was dislodged, pushing at one that bounced and moved away for du Plessis to take the catch at second slip.

Late-order allies slowly departed as Stokes edged towards his century. Moeen Ali fell to a keeper's catch via an inside-edge onto his pad, Morkel the deserving bowler. Roland-Jones' spirited 25 from 25 balls also provided a glimpse of his dangerous late-order hitting. Morris leaked 17 off an over to complete a miserable day.

Roland-Jones' best shot was a pulled six off Rabada. As he revelled in the near-absurdity of it all, he might have imagined that he would have no happier moment all day. Then England tossed him the ball and he realised that it was only the start.


Day 3

England 353 & 74/1 (21.2 ov)
South Africa 175
England lead by 252 runs with 9 wickets remaining

As rain put a dampener on The Oval's 100th Test celebrations, one England batsman was concerned not with marking the past but protecting his future.

Keaton Jennings' England place was under threat after making only 44 runs in his first five innings against South Africa, his hundred on Test debut against India in Mumbai in December now a distant memory.

Jennings was 34 not out - his best score of a draining summer - when an early tea was taken in the third Test. England, at 74 for 1, were building an impregnable position by tea on the third day, leading by 252 with nine wickets remaining. Jennings was just relieved that one of those wickets was his.

Vernon Philander had been conditionally discharged from hospital, coming out to bat for South Africa at No. 11 as they were dismissed before lunch for 175 and then summoning what strength he had left for a few below-par overs.

His viral infection had not yet departed and he was still vomiting and suffering from abdominal pain. But NHS nurses presumably got him back on his feet by whispering the words "Keaton Jennings" because it has proved to be a pick-me-up all series.

Jennings was chary against Philander from the outset and might have fallen twice in successive balls in his second over. He inside-edged past leg stump for his first boundary, looking round uncertainly as if he had stumbled over a paving slab. The next ball, on 6, he was dropped by Dean Elgar, head high at third slip. South Africa's cordon was bunched and close and, on this occasion at least, suffered for it.

Jennings routinely stands as straight as a sentry at the crease. Put him in a bearskin hat and he could easily double as a guardsman at Buckingham Palace where he would have the discipline to stand still for hours while tourists snapped away intrusively. But it was movement, not stillness, he needed and he danced around on the spot in an attempt to rid himself of the stilted footwork that has bedevilled him all series.

Alastair Cook departed for 7, undone by a top-notch delivery from Morne Morkel which he straightened from around the wicket to crash into the top of off. Too good for Cook, one imagines it would have defeated Jennings, too, but he watched from the non-striker's end, a batsman spared.

Kagiso Rabada's first over afforded a release. He had the poise to crash two short and wide deliveries through the off side. In the next over, he tucked Morkel off his pads for another boundary: 19 and vulnerable had become 32, a score to build on, in a matter of five minutes.

Not that he suggested permanence. He needed a review to survive an lbw decision in Rabada's favour on 33, replays suggesting the ball had both pitched outside leg and would have passed over the stumps.

While Jennings struggled, Tom Westley again played with elan, six boundaries in his 28. The best of them as far as Jennings was concerned was the one that persuaded Philander to leave the field for another toilet break.

The morning belonged to Toby Roland-Jones, who completed a five-wicket haul on Test debut as South Africa were dismissed for 175 - a deficit of 178 . Eight down for spit overnight, with Philander carded at No. 11, South Africa might have folded in no time. Instead they added another 52 in 15.4 overs.

Roland-Jones led England from the field, raising his cap slightly bashfully, after returning 5 for 57- the first English quick to take a five-for on debut since Graham Onions in 2009. His last wicket was a good one: Temba Bavuma pushing forward to a ball that left him to fall to a keeper's catch after making 52 from 120 balls.

Bavuma had been a serene figure even on the previous evening, as South Africa collapsed to 61 for 7 with the floodlights cutting through a grouchy south London evening, and he looked at ease again in more inviting batting conditions.

The stumps were blue to mark Cricket United day, as were much of the crowd, an annual fund-raiser at The Oval for three charities. It is a pragmatic choice. If you are going to get a fair proportion of blokes to dress up in a colour for charity, it's best to choose blue. It's all some have in their wardrobe.

After his dream sequence on the second day, Roland-Jones found life had returned to normal as he began at the Vauxhall End. The comparison between him and the quick he replaced - Mark Wood - is instructional.

Roland-Jones is a classic English seamer, hitting the seam at an average of 83mph. Wood is the sort of explosive quick needed on more benign surfaces. But Wood has only averaged 86mph in his two Tests against South Africa. Averages tell only half the story, of course, as the potential for an occasionally quick ball is also important, but explosive bowlers need to explode.

Bavuma had attractive moments, particularly when driving through the off side, striking Stuart Broad to the extra cover boards to take South Africa past the follow-on and then stretching his diminutive frame to the utmost to plant Anderson in the same direction, although he was dropped off Broad on 40, Ben Stokes failing to cling to a rapid chance as he dived to his left in the gully. His half-century was also raised streakily when he edged Roland-Jones wide of the slips.

Morkel also put up stubborn resistance, reaching 17 before he edged a back-of-a-length delivery from Anderson to Cook at first slip.

Roland-Jones might have picked up Philander on 5, but his edge flew wide of third slip. A one-legged flat-bat then lobbed over mid-off. But Philander survived, albeit not particularly healthily.


Day 4

England 353 & 313/8d
South Africa 175 & 117/4 (38 ov, target: 492)
South Africa require another 375 runs with 6 wickets remaining

The word on the streets after South Africa's victory at Trent Bridge (or on social media at any rate, the meanest streets of all) was that England were a soft touch and could learn a thing or two from the resilience of their opponents.

Such reputations have been dismantled at The Oval, where England will enter the final day only six wickets away from a victory that would put them 2-1 up in the series with one to play. It is England who have had bristled with intent with bat and ball while South Africa's top order has crumbled twice in the match against insistent seam bowling on a surface which has always kept the bowlers interested.

South Africa were up against it in the first innings in devilish batting conditions; the English summer at its most cantankerous. On the final session of the fourth day, with the weather fresher and breezier, mitigation was a little harder to find - unless it was the intimidating presence of their target of 492 to win, a target never previously achieved in Test history, or, more realistically, the need to survive for four sessions.

They slipped to 52 for 4 by the 16th over. All England's quartet of pace bowlers carried a threat, unlike South Africa. Morne Morkel has looked on the verge of something special all summer, but has only one Test left to be rewarded. Chris Morris has gone for nearly six an over in this match. The left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj was under-used. As for Vernon Philander, he was still under the weather and incorporated 15 overs in his toilet breaks.

Only Dean Elgar assembled doughty - and, at times, painful - resistance with the bat for South Africa, as he battled his way to an unbeaten 72, Temba Bavuma offering support in an unbroken stand of 65. Elgar will check his left hand gingerly on the final morning. He habitually taunted the slip cordon with his angled defensive pushes and when he did nick one, on 9, Keaton Jennings fumbled low to his left.

England have even sorted out their previously incompetent methodology on umpiring reviews, replacing the Who Shouts Wins technique with a more rigorous discussion in which Root, from afar, seems to be asking pertinent questions and Jonny Bairstow, the wicketkeeper, has a central role.

A lot of attention has focused on Jennings' unproductive series at the top of England's order, but Heino Kuhn has fared no better. His debut series has brought 78 runs at an average of 13. He survived Stuart Broad's big appeal for lbw thanks to a big thrust forward, only to be cleaned up in Broad's next over.

Hashim Amla remains the prince of wickets: Toby Roland-Jones has given him both barrels, caught at the wicket in the first innings, held by Root at second slip on this occasion. He was happy to walk, but the umpires insisted, somewhat unnecessarily on checking the validity of the catch, the sort of things umpires do when world-renowned batsmen are dismissed by a relative unknown.

Then came two in two for Ben Stokes, who has looked more of a threat here. A yorker did for de Kock, hitting his boot on the way, although the umpires might have taken a longer look at the marginal no-ball, and Faf du Plessis was lbw first ball to a leave-alone, confirmed on review. South Africa's captain, an inspiration in Nottingham, has made 1 and 0 and left them both at The Oval.

One small word of warning for England: when South Africa batted for 148 overs to draw against Australia in Adelaide five years ago they were four down at stumps with a day remaining. But this is not an Adelaide pitch. And on that occasion South Africa had AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis and du Plessie on hand.

Root's first declaration as an England captain had been a conservative one, at 313 for 8, but he would have rested easy at the close and the weather forecast was good for the final day.

England received little charity from the South African attack as they moved gradually to a tea-time declaration. Only when Bairstow, with a run-a-ball fifty, and a twisted ankle in the process, emerged in mid-afternoon did England find a final dash. He added 49 in eight overs with Stokes, who planted Morris into the stands at cow corner before Morris struck his stumps later in the over as he attempted further mayhem.

An abstemious maiden Test fifty by Tom Westley was the centrepiece of a heedful morning. Westley only contributed 22 out of 79 to England's total in the session, but there was again a grace in his game that made him eminently watchable even when not scoring quickly.

Some batsmen, such as Stokes, encourage roars of approval; cheers for Root are sourced in admiration; Westley, if he prospers, will bring sighs of pleasure.

Maharaj then intervened with two wickets in successive overs early in the afternoon. He spotted Westley's advance down the pitch, on 59, and found enough turn to beat his outside edge for de Kock to complete the stumping. Root also reached 50, but then swept him to deep square.

Dawid Malan is as off-side dominant as fellow debutant Westley favours the leg side. His second-innings dismissal carried a reminder of what had gone before. Then he was cleaned up by an inswinging yorker from Kagiso Rabada. He again fell prey to the ball coming back sharply into his pads, falling lbw to Morris, a wicket only won by South Africa on review.

As Root opted for a safe lead then more some, Moeen Ali was run out by a direct hit at the non-striker's end from Bavuma, who dashed in in from deep midwicket as Moeen sauntered a second run. Toby Roland-Jones then had some fun larruping Elgar's left-arm slows - a debut full of smiles.

Jennings' England career is under scrutiny. He is without a Test half-century in six knocks. He added 14 on the third morning, but his two boundaries off Morkel were unconvincing, thick edges. Rabada surprised him with a bouncer, on 48, and won a lobbed catch to gully off the glove.

Rabada has the capacity to bowl an excellent shock ball whether it is the sort of yorker that unhinged Malan in the first innings or the bouncer, by far the shortest ball he had bowled in the England innings, which removed Jennings.

Nevertheless, Jennings' statuesque style is bound to be bringing growing concern for England's selectors ahead of an Ashes tour in Australia this winter. Meanwhile, Alex Hales, an opener England have discarded, is hitting it to all parts in the NatWest Blast.

Westley had challenges of his own to contend with. It has not taken South Africa long to cotton on to his strengths. Indeed, such is the constant analysis of a new England player that it would have been no surprise if a Romanian plasterer had wandered up to him on the platform at Bank as England travelled to the game by tube and said: "You must be Tom Westley, the one with the strong leg-side game."

Resuming on 28, under overcast skies, he did not bring up his first Test half-century until 10 minutes before lunch, courtesy of the shot that he must have been aching to unveil all morning, a graceful clip through midwicket against Morkel that, as much as any other shot in his armoury, exudes quality. There was enough time in the game for him to play in restrained fashion and he had the intelligence to do just that.


Day 5

England 353 & 313/8d
South Africa 175 & 252 (77.1 ov, target: 492)
England won by 239 runs

Despite a major work by Dean Elgar, who composed a defiant 136, England defeated the South Africans by another almighty margin – 239 runs. Joe Root and his squad now head to Old Trafford in a buoyant mood after this copybook victory, which came at a rush, with a Moeen Ali hat-trick polishing off the innings.

That was the icing on the cake, but the major advance in this match has been the advent of new Test bowler. Suddenly an integral part of that squad is Toby Roland-Jones, who enhanced an already burgeoning reputation by making the key breakthrough on the sunniest day of the match.

Elgar and Temba Bavuma had batted without a blemish for almost an hour when Roland-Jones bounded in from the Pavilion end. Soon he managed to beat the inside edge of Bavuma’s bat to take him on the front pad. Aleem Dar, the umpire, was not inclined to raise his finger but after consultation England asked for a review and all the criteria were fulfilled. When the ball strikes Bavuma’s pads above the knee-roll it is no guarantee that it is heading over the stumps. Here was confirmation that England have been more adept at using the decision review system in this match than at Nottingham. A disconsolate Bavuma had to go.

Out came Vernon Philander, who played a captain’s innings. Sadly in this context that means padding up to a straight ball – the first he received – so that he was palpably lbw (no review necessary this time) just as Faf du Plessis has been twice in this match

Thus Roland-Jones had set England on their way. He took eight wickets in the match on his unforgettable debut; the last player to do that for England was James Kirtley at Nottingham against South Africa in 2003. Kirtley only played three more Tests for England after that; Roland-Jones can expect more. There are four more this summer and he will take some shifting from the side after this performance.

After all the headaches over England’s best batting line-up, which still remain despite the encouraging start by Tom Westley, the selectors can at least allow themselves a smidgeon of congratulation over the elevation of Roland-Jones. The pecking order among the pacemen has not been overhauled after this match but the options available have expanded significantly. Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are still in the wings and trying to prove their fitness but now the urgency for their return is reduced by the debut of Roland-Jones.

There will be talk of rotation during the series against the West Indies, though it is highly unlikely that Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad will be volunteering to stand down. They remain hungry for Test wickets and an inexperienced West Indian side batting against a pink ball at Edgbaston in the first Test of that series might well provide quite a few of those. By then Woakes should be fully fit and he is – literally – the poster boy for that Test, as those who drive down Corporation Street in Birmingham can testify. England might want reintroduce him there.

The man most likely to suffer from Roland-Jones’ rise is probably Jake Ball, another paceman who has been hampered by injury this summer. Now Ball may be asking himself the question whether England will take five pacemen plus Stokes to Australia or six, which is fast becoming his preference.

Back at the Oval, meanwhile, England’s second spinner (they are not playing a first spinner in this match) had an impact at the end. Just before lunch Moeen found the outside edge of Chris Morris’s bat and Ben Stokes held a neat catch at slip. An even more satisfying dismissal was that of Elgar, who batted superbly for 227 balls when he was beguiled by a looped delivery outside his off-stump. Out came Kasigo Rabada to face another tempting off-break. Once again Stokes completed the business at slip.

Thus Moeen became the third Englishman to find himself on a hat-trick in this match, but the first to take one. Morne Morkel prodded forward but the umpire, Joel Wilson, declined to give the lbw. England reviewed and soon Moeen was engulfed by his jubilant team-mates. It has been noted before that Moeen has always been a much better bowler to left-handers. A hat-trick comprising exclusively of left-handed batsmen tends to confirm that. His was the first hat-trick ever taken in Test cricket at the Oval.

Against all odds and expectations (including his own one suspects) Moeen is now the leading wicket-taker in the series with 18. One difference between the Moeen of old (no, not his designation as the second spinner) is that he is often propelling the ball more slowly (at about 53mph) than in the past and also tossing it a little higher, subtle changes that seem to be working rather well. The delight of his team-mates at this hat-trick was touching for this most self-effacing and popular member of the side. He now takes his wickets for England more cheaply than John Emburey – and more quickly.

For South Africa there was very little to cheer except the innings of Elgar. He was craggy and resolute in defence yet when he attacked he did so with a free and easy swing of the bat, which sent the ball speeding to the boundary 20 times. But Elgar seems to be the only batsman among the tourists at ease with himself at the crease. The others do not have much time to recover their confidence. The fourth and final Test begins at Old Trafford on Friday.


4th Test

Day 1

England 260/6 (90 ov)
South Africa

An absorbing day of Test-match cut and thrust finished with honours more or less even but with South Africa over-flowing with belief, thanks to a searing yorker from the final ball of Kagiso Rabada's day that burst through the defences of England's top-scorer and most potent threat, Ben Stokes. His stumps were splayed to bring to an end a 65-run stand for the sixth wicket with Jonny Bairstow and bring to the crease the nightwatchman, Toby Roland-Jones, who loitered at the non-striker's end without facing a delivery as England closed on 260 for 6.

Each of England's top six made starts, including the captain Joe Root, who went past 5000 runs in the course of his 52 - an innings which also equalled John Edrich's England record of ten consecutive matches with at least a half-century. But, as a testing morning session under slate-grey skies gave way to perfect sun-kissed batting conditions in the afternoon, England's recent propensity to squander solid positions with reckless intent threatened once again to destabilise their series prospects.

It had been a testing decision for Root to bat first after winning the toss. After several days of the most stereotypically grim Mancunian weather imaginable, the suspicion lingered that the surface, though ostensibly dry, could hardly have avoided absorbing a considerable amount of moisture in its preparation. And sure enough, England found the going tough from the outset, even in the absence of the one South Africa bowler most likely to have thrived in the seam-and-swing conditions.

After battling through illness in the third Test at The Oval, Vernon Philander succumbed to a back spasm on the eve of the match, as did another valued member of their fast-bowling stocks, Chris Morris - whose pace and aggression had been instrumental in their second-Test fightback at Trent Bridge last month.

However, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada set South Africa's example with the new ball, hammering out an edge-threatening line and length to England's brace of left-handed openers, before Duanne Olivier provided pace, enthusiasm and the odd unplayable delivery in a lively return to the ranks. The undersung hero, however, was the left-arm spinner, Keshav Maharaj, who churned out 29 overs from the Brian Statham End to allow his quicker counterparts to stay fresh and threatening in rotation from the newly anointed James Anderson End.

Jennings, whose 48 in the second innings at The Oval had been a streaky but valuable reminder of his battling qualities, once again failed to dispel the gathering doubts about his Test aptitude with a battling but unfulfilled innings of 17 from 37 balls. He could, and perhaps should, have been dismissed by his fourth ball of the match, a lollipopping inside-edge onto the pad flap that Rabada couldn't gather in his followthrough but that short leg would have swallowed, but was instead lured forward by a sharp lifter outside off by Olivier, for Quinton de Kock to take the catch that ended an opening stand of 35.

Cook, true to his phlegmatic approach, was tested time and again in the channel outside off, particularly by the superb and largely luckless Morkel, but managed, through a combination of skill, luck and judgment, to guide England to a digestible lunch at 67 for 1. His most productive scoring area, unusually for the first morning of a Test match, was straight down the ground, where he twice placed fractionally overpitched deliveries from Morkel and Olivier with dead-eyed timing.

Cook did have one moment of discomfort against the sharp pace of Rabada, who hurried him on the pull as he combated a round-the-wicket bouncer, and gloved a top-edge over the keeper's head for four. But it was the spin of Maharaj that made the next big breakthrough, half an hour after the resumption. Warming to a spell that would span the entire session, his relentless accuracy on and around the blockhole, allied to a hint of spin and natural variation, lured Cook into the indiscretion that the seamers had been unable to tempt.

Harnessing the breeze across the ground, Maharaj drifted the ball past an urgent drive for de Kock to gather a thin edge behind the stumps. Cook was gone for 46 from 103 balls, an innings that almost precisely represented both his career average (46.18) and strike rate (46.77). Distinctly average by his standards, therefore, but a cut above what most other players would have produced in such conditions.

As if to prove the point, four overs ticked by without addition to the score before Tom Westley too was extracted - his 29 echoing his 25 in his debut innings at The Oval last week, in that it had showcased a Test-worthy technique and temperament, but had been cut short before it had fully formed. This time the executioner was Rabada, and in dramatic style. Cranking himself up to full pace and ferocity, he burst a lifting delivery off the edge and into the outstretched right mitt of de Kock.

A brilliant dismissal though it was, de Kock had arguably made up in athleticism and hang-time what he had lacked in his initial footwork, as he dived fully to his right to gather the flying edge. It was a suspicion that would be reinforced in jaw-dropping style three overs after tea, when he failed to react as Morne Morkel found Root's edge with a lifter that couldn't have passed his motionless gloves by more than a foot.

De Kock's crestfallen expression brought to mind that of Mark Boucher after dropping Nasser Hussain at Trent Bridge in 1998. And, as Root ground through to his fifty from 91 balls, South Africa might have feared it would be equally ruinous to their series prospects. And yet, on 52, and with a lazy afternoon of accumulation yawning in front of him, he galloped down the pitch to Olivier and fell lbw to a one-day waft through midwicket.

By that stage, Malan had been and gone, having played his part in a fourth-wicket stand of 52 with Root, before succumbing to another moment of impetuosity with four minutes of the afternoon session remaining. He might have departed first ball, as he whooshed into a nervy and hard-handed drive to an exocet from Rabada outside off. But, having steadied his nerves and remembered his arena, he was suckered by a change of angle from Morkel, who had switched his line to the left-hander from round the wicket to over.

Suddenly balls that had been bearing into Malan's body were being dangled across his bows, and it was too much of a temptation for a man whose first international innings had been 78 from 44 balls. Du Plessis took the chance in his breadbasket, and Malan stalked from the field, swishing his bat in annoyance.

The evening session, therefore, was reserved for England's middle-order pairing of Stokes and Bairstow - the most prolific partnership of the Trevor Bayliss era, and architects of that 399-run stand in Cape Town 18 months ago. This was a performance far removed from that batsman's benefit game, however, and both men were obliged to ride their luck despite occasionally breezy moments of accumulation.

Bairstow, on 4, was given not out, out and not out again by a combination of Kumar Dharmasena and the TV umpire, Joel Wilson, after an inside-edge off Maharaj was adjudged to have fallen millimetres short of du Plessis at slip. And Stokes, his face reddening in keeping with his mood as he gritted his teeth in the day's closing overs, exacerbated Morkel's lack of luck by edging his fifth delivery with the second new ball clean through the unposted third slip. Undeterred, he punched Rabada down the ground to bring up his fifty from 89 balls, to allow England to reclaim the upper hand.

But, with stumps approaching, Rabada cranked up his aggro in one last-ditch bid for a breakthrough. Stokes picked off two boundaries in a high-octane finale, including a rushed pull that flew through at a catchable height through fine leg. But he had no answer to the yorker, and South Africa reached the close with their ambitions still very much intact.


Day 2

England 362
South Africa 220/9 (68.3 ov)
South Africa trail by 142 runs with 1 wicket remaining in the 1st innings

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 220-9 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 only evident 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 African 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 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 African 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 Ben 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 number nine. 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.


Day 3

England 362 & 224/8 (66.2 ov)
South Africa 226
England lead by 360 runs with 2 wickets remaining

Moeen Ali's thrilling, unbeaten 67 cemented England's stronghold over South Africa on day three of the final Test at Old Trafford.

The home side, leading by 136 on first innings, wobbled to 153-7 before Moeen's 59-ball knock took them 224-8 when rain forced an early close.

Under-fire opener Keaton Jennings managed only 18.

South Africa were earlier bowled out for 226 and will begin day four 360 runs behind.

The Proteas already need to break the record for the highest successful run-chase on this ground, with the pitch showing further signs of turn and uneven bounce.

England, 2-1 up, are chasing their first home series win against South Africa since 1998.

Moeen lights up Manchester

Bar captain Joe Root, was made a typically unflustered 49, none of the England top order were able to take advantage of home side's superior position in the game.

Collectively, South Africa's attack was excellent, none more so than pace bowler Duanne Olivier, who picked up three wickets in the Manchester gloom.

When Jonny Bairstow became the seventh wicket to fall, England were 289 ahead and in danger of letting South Africa back in.

Moeen, though, counter-attacked, dishing out some particularly brutal treatment to the previously economical Keshav Maharaj.

Targeting the leg side, left-hander Moeen hit the left-arm spinner for three sixes, sharing an eighth-wicket stand of 58 with Toby Roland-Jones, who contributed 11.

When the rain arrived at 17:15 BST, Moeen had taken 38 runs from the previous 22 balls he faced.

South Africa waste their chance?

South Africa began the day on 220-9 and lost their last wicket when Olivier top-edged to Bairstow.

Trailing by such a large margin, they needed everything to go their way with the ball and, though the bowlers played their part, they were not always backed up in the field.

Jennings was dropped by Dean Elgar at third slip and Dawid Malan put down by a diving Temba Bavuma, with Kagiso Rabada the unfortunate bowler on both occasions.

A potential Ben Stokes edge off Morne Morkel did not result in an appeal, with the same batsman put down by Heino Kuhn at short mid-wicket off Olivier.

Bairstow and Roland-Jones also survived tough chances to Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis respectively.

None were particularly costly in terms of runs, but the same cannot be said about an edge from Moeen off Maharaj to Elgar at slip, which just about carried. Moeen was on only 15 at the time.

Curtains for Keaton?

This was perhaps a last chance for Jennings, who averages 15.87 in eight innings in this series.

The Durham left-hander, the 11th different partner for Alastair Cook since 2012, had not scored when he was given a life by Elgar and battled for more than an hour before lunch.

Soon after the break he slashed at Rabada to be held at first slip by Amla.

If his place is the one that is most under-threat, then the other new batsmen in the England side still have work to do in order to establish themselves in Test cricket.

Tom Westley, who made a half-century on debut in the third Test, made only nine before edging a drive off Morkel, already a familiar dismissal.

Malan, who has managed just 35 runs in four innings, tamely inside-edged to short leg off Maharaj for six.


Day 4

England 362 & 243 all out (69.1 overs)
South Africa 226 & 202 all out (62.5 overs)
England win by 177 runs

Recent South Africa tours have seen off England captains with a disturbing frequency but on a sunlit Old Trafford evening Joe Root, new to the job, could raise the Basil D’Oliveira trophy in the knowledge he had passed his first examination with flying colours.

The series against South Africa had been won 3-1 after England bowled the tourists out for 202 to ensure victory in the final Test by 177 runs. Root had established himself as the best batsman the series, his output unencumbered by the captaincy; he had handled his team deftly on and off the field. He has looked comfortable in the job. He is now the man in charge. Bring on – no, let us not get ahead of ourselves – West Indies.

The shortcomings of this England side are obvious and will occupy the minds of the selectors over the next few days before a crucial meeting to decide the team for the first Test against West Indies on Thursday week. But crucially over the last six weeks Root has been able to maximise the skills of the established players, who have been the architects of victory over South Africa. In particular this applies to Moeen Ali and Jimmy Anderson, who have shared 45 wickets in the series.

On Monday this was most obvious in the way Root handled Moeen, who has been a revelation as a bowler since the drubbing he took in India last winter. With Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla cruising along Moeen was offering little threat. Both batsmen kept dragging his off-breaks to the leg side with the breeze, no matter where the ball was pitched. There did not seem a line for Moeen to bowl.

Soon Root switched his off-spinner to the James Anderson End. This was where all the pacemen wanted to bowl and that had been the case throughout the match when England were in the field. But Root now changed that pattern, recognising that priorities were different on a fourth-day pitch. This excellent surface was sleeping for the seamers when operating with an old ball. It was time to give his off-spinner all the assistance available; unusually it was the spinner who should have the better end. That switch paid dividends rapidly in a startling passage of play.

No longer was it so easy for the right-handers to shovel the ball on the leg-side as Moeen enjoyed a little drift that was encouraged by the breeze. Soon Hashim Amla was plumb lbw on the back foot, not for the first time in this series against a spinner, even though England had to ask for a review to gain that decision.

If the removal of Amla was critical, the dismissal of De Kock soon after was universally uplifting. Seldom have the two most phlegmatic English cricketers been so animated. De Kock drove against Moeen and edged; the ball flew rapidly to the off-side where Cook in the gully had stayed down as the manuals demand. England’s former captain, who was reckoned to be a bit of a liability in the field when he started in the team, stuck his hands in the right place and there the ball magically resided. It was a brilliant, instinctive catch, which had Moeen and Cook punching the air and the rest of the side in huddled exultation.

In the same over Ben Stokes pocketed another fine catch at slip to dispatch Theunis de Bruyn, the sort he practises assiduously each day with Trevor Bayliss. One imagines this was how Wally Hammond used to take them. Then, for good measure, Moeen was on hand to polish off the tail with consecutive deliveries and another nonchalant catch by Stokes. By now Anderson was more than happy to bowl at the wrong end, the one that does not belong to him, since he had snaffled two more victims, one of whom was a forlorn Faf du Plessis.

As usual in this series it all ended with bewildering speed. Earlier in the day, with Moeen left stranded on 75 after the swift departures of Stuart Broad and Anderson to Morne Morkel, it seemed as if England would have to work harder for their win, though there was little expectation that South Africa could knock off the 380 runs they needed to square the series.

Dean Elgar edged a beauty from Broad early on. Then Heino Kuhn, in what may well be his final Test, was caught at first slip by Cook off Anderson. Just before lunch Temba Bavuma feathered a delivery from Toby Roland-Jones and South Africa were 40 for three.

But after the break Amla and Du Plessis settled in, scoring at will. Suddenly batting was straightforward. It was now that Root started juggling his bowlers until he hit on the winning combination, which had Moeen given the privilege of the James Anderson End.

Thus England’s off-spinner ended up clutching the ball as a trophy and, rather sheepishly, waving it at the crowd having acquired his fourth five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Soon afterwards he received the man of the match award.

So there were plenty of causes of celebration for the England camp. For once the selectors’ primary source of angst is not the spin department. With Moeen in this form the cupboard is not entirely bare, though an accomplice for him would be handy. However there are holes to fill. The oddity is that England have won this series with something to spare, yet no one has any firm idea who should bat at No2 or No5 in the next Test. That is something for selectors, coaches and the captain, whose opinion gains in gravitas after this series, to ponder – tomorrow.

County Championship day 1 & one T20 Blast game

T20 Blast

Surrey 157/6 (20 ov)
Somerset 158/6 (18.2/20 ov)
Somerset won by 4 wickets (with 10 balls remaining)

T20 Blast

Durham 183/7 (20 ov)
Nottinghamshire 184/5 (13.5/20 ov)
Nottinghamshire won by 5 wickets (with 37 balls remaining)


Northamptonshire 195/4 (20 ov)
Worcestershire 171/6 (20 ov)
Northamptonshire won by 24 runs

T20 Blast

Durham 157/3 (20 ov)
Yorkshire 156/7 (20 ov)
Durham won by 1 run


Somerset 146 (19.4/20 ov)
Gloucestershire 152/3 (18.2/20 ov)
Gloucestershire won by 7 wickets (with 10 balls remaining)


Lancashire 173/5 (20 ov)
Leicestershire 169/3 (20 ov)
Lancashire won by 4 runs


Glamorgan 181/6 (20 ov)
Surrey 175/7 (20 ov)
Glamorgan won by 6 runs


Nottinghamshire 189/4 (20 ov)
Derbyshire 181/7 (20 ov)
Nottinghamshire won by 8 runs


Hampshire 168/6 (20 ov)
Essex 169/6 (19.4/20 ov)
Essex won by 4 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)


Kent 163/9 (20 ov)
Sussex 167/5 (19/20 ov)
Sussex won by 5 wickets (with 6 balls remaining)


Worcestershire 190/7 (20 ov)
Birmingham 185/7 (20 ov)
Worcestershire won by 5 runs

T20 Blast

Middlesex 136 (19.1/20 ov)
Hampshire 137/4 (17.3/20 ov)
Hampshire won by 6 wickets (with 15 balls remaining)


Gloucestershire 150/9 (20 ov)
Glamorgan 32/2 (5 ov, target: 38)
Gloucestershire won by 5 runs (D/L method)


Northamptonshire 158/4 (20 ov)
Lancashire 147/9 (20 ov)
Northamptonshire won by 11 runs


Yorkshire 180/5 (20 ov)
Derbyshire 184/5 (19.4/20 ov)
Derbyshire won by 5 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)


Surrey 148/8 (20 ov)
Sussex 150/2 (13.3/20 ov)
Sussex won by 8 wickets (with 39 balls remaining)

T20 Blast

Nottinghamshire 210/8 (20 ov)
Leicestershire
No result

T20 Blast (1st Aug)

Birmingham 172/9 (20 ov)
Northamptonshire 170/7 (20 ov)
Birmingham won by 2 runs


Kent 159/6 (20 ov)
Hampshire 154/4 (20 ov)
Kent won by 5 runs

T20 Blast

Leicestershire 104/9 (20 ov)
Derbyshire 107/3 (13.5/20 ov)
Derbyshire won by 7 wickets (with 37 balls remaining)


Yorkshire 223/5 (20 ov)
Nottinghamshire 225/5 (19.1/20 ov)
Nottinghamshire won by 5 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)

Somerset 102/3 (8 ov)

Sussex 71/4 (8 ov, target: 104)

Somerset won by 32 runs (D/L method)

Lancashire 174/8 (20 ov)

Birmingham 176/5 (19.4/20 ov)

Birmingham won by 5 wickets (with 2 balls remaining)

Durham 201/2 (20 ov)

Worcestershire 204/2 (18.1/20 ov)

Worcestershire won by 8 wickets (with 11 balls remaining)

Glamorgan 199/2 (20 ov)

Kent 174/4 (20 ov)

Glamorgan won by 25 runs

Essex v Gloucestershire T20 Blast

Essex
Gloucestershire
Match abandoned without a ball being bowled

T20 Blast

Glamorgan
Surrey
Match abandoned without a ball bowled


Lancashire
Nottinghamshire
Match abandoned without a ball bowled


Derbyshire
Northamptonshire
Match abandoned without a ball bowled


Birmingham
Yorkshire
Match abandoned without a ball bowled

T20 Blast

Middlesex 203/6 (20 ov)
Essex 131 (16.2/20 ov)
Middlesex won by 72 runs


Worcestershire 158 (20 ov)
Northamptonshire 160/3 (17.4/20 ov)
Northamptonshire won by 7 wickets (with 14 balls remaining)


Somerset 197/6 (20 ov)
Kent 181/3 (16.3/18 ov, target: 181)
Kent won by 7 wickets (with 9 balls remaining) (D/L method)

T20 Blast

Somerset 204/9 (20 ov)
Hampshire 190 (19.3/20 ov)
Somerset won by 14 runs


Worcestershire 208/8 (20 ov)
Nottinghamshire 195/5 (20 ov)
Worcestershire won by 13 runs


Yorkshire 152/8 (20 ov)
Durham 128/7 (20 ov)
Yorkshire won by 24 runs

T20 Blast

Durham 123 (18.1/20 ov)
Nottinghamshire 129/1 (16/20 ov)
Nottinghamshire won by 9 wickets (with 24 balls remaining)


Glamorgan 176/5 (20 ov)
Gloucestershire 151/7 (20 ov)
Glamorgan won by 25 runs


Birmingham 187/7 (20 ov)
Leicestershire 157/8 (20 ov)
Birmingham won by 30 runs


Derbyshire 211/5 (20 ov)
Lancashire 176/9 (20 ov)
Derbyshire won by 35 runs

T20 Blast

Glamorgan
Essex
Match abandoned without a ball bowled


Hampshire
Surrey
Match abandoned without a ball bowled


Lancashire 174/5 (20 ov)
Durham 143/8 (20 ov)
Lancashire won by 31 runs


Middlesex 162/6 (16 ov)
Somerset 166/5 (15.5/16 ov)
Somerset won by 5 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)


Kent 176/4 (20 ov)
Sussex 87/3 (8 ov, target: 88)
Match tied (D/L method)


Birmingham 197/4 (20 ov)
Derbyshire 177/9 (20 ov)
Birmingham won by 20 runs


Yorkshire 233/6 (20 ov)
Worcestershire 196/7 (20 ov)
Yorkshire won by 37 runs

T20 Blast

Northamptonshire 195/8 (20 ov)
Nottinghamshire 52/0 (5.1 ov, target: 41)
Nottinghamshire won by 12 runs (D/L method)

T20 Blast

Somerset
Gloucestershire
Match abandoned without a ball bowled


Worcestershire
Lancashire
Match abandoned without a ball bowled


Sussex 87/2 (8/9 ov)
Glamorgan
No result


Northamptonshire 165/8 (20 ov)
Leicestershire 107/3 (14.3 ov, target: 110)
Northamptonshire won by 2 runs (D/L method)


Nottinghamshire 227/3 (20 ov)
Derbyshire 221/5 (20 ov)
Nottinghamshire won by 6 runs


Surrey 156/7 (20 ov)
Middlesex 141/7 (20/20 ov)
Surrey won by 15 runs


Yorkshire 179/5 (20 ov)
Birmingham 150 (18/20 ov)
Yorkshire won by 29 runs


Hampshire 124/9 (20 ov)
Essex 129/3 (14/20 ov)
Essex won by 7 wickets (with 36 balls remaining)

T20 Blast

Middlesex 179/8 (20 ov)
Kent 163/8 (20 ov)
Middlesex won by 16 runs


Leicestershire 144/8 (20 ov)
Durham 117/8 (20 ov)
Leicestershire won by 27 runs


Hampshire 126/9 (20 ov)
Sussex 127/4 (17.2/20 ov)
Sussex won by 6 wickets (with 16 balls remaining)

T20 Blast

Worcestershire lost to Derbyshire by 7 wickets
Surrey beat Essex by 10 runs

T20 Blast

Gloucestershire 138/9 (20/20 ov)
Kent 130 (20/20 ov)
Gloucestershire won by 8 runs

5 match ODI Series (3-2 Zimbabwe) & 1 Test SL 1-0 ZIM

1st ODI

Sri Lanka 316/5 (50.0 ov)
Zimbabwe 322/4 (47.4 ov)
Zimbabwe won by 6 wickets (with 14 balls remaining)

A belligerent 112 from Solomon Mire set Zimbabwe on track, Sean Williams' 65 provided stability, and Sikandar Raza's sparkling 67 not out laid out the finishing touches as a fearless Zimbabwe ran down Sri Lanka's score of 316 to make history in Galle.

Not only was this Zimbabwe's first ODI victory against Sri Lanka on the island, it was also the first time any team successfully pursued a score in excess of 300. In the end, the chase seemed virtually nerveless. Raza and Malcolm Waller accelerated through the final overs to reach the target with the only six of the innings, with 14 balls to spare and six wickets in hand.

Nothing Sri Lanka tried in the back half of the innings worked. Angelo Mathews tried switching his bowlers haphazardly, bringing his wicket-takers back early, and bowled seven men in the innings, but none could shake Zimbabwe's resolve.

As ever, dropped catches will haunt Sri Lanka. Mire was dropped on 17 and 94 - the first of those a difficult opportunity to the wicketkeeper, but the second a straightforward chance to Lasith Malinga, who made a mess of an overhead catch from short fine leg. Williams was also dropped on 13 by Danushka Gunathilaka at point. Had that chance been taken, Williams and Mire would only have had 37 together. Instead, their third-wicket stand of 161 off 133 balls would form the spine of Zimbabwe's rousing victory.

Perhaps you could argue that Sri Lanka should have scored more than 78 in the last 10 overs, given the number of wickets they had in hand, but that is a minor quibble. With Kusal Mendis hitting 86, Gunathilaka joining him for a century stand, and Upul Tharanga making 79 not out, the batsmen largely did their part.

Zimbabwe's innings began inauspiciously, Hamilton Masakadza gloving a legside Malinga ball to the wicketkeeper, before Craig Ervine top-edged a sweep off Akila Dananjaya to deep square leg just after the first Powerplay had finished. With the score at 46 for 2 in the 11th over, 317 looked distant indeed. But in that same over, Mire hit successive boundaries, and followed those up with a reverse sweep for four soon after.

Suddenly, batting began to appear much easier. Mire and Williams rotated the strike fluently, and Sri Lanka's two inexperienced spinners were perhaps guilty of a little indiscipline - Aponso particularly expensive through those early overs. Dananjaya at least seemed to draw regular mistakes from the batsmen, and perhaps could have been used more intensively when Sri Lanka were searching for wickets. By the time he was brought back, the match had largely slipped.


2nd ODI

Zimbabwe 155 (33.4 ov)
Sri Lanka 158/3 (30.1 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 7 wickets (with 119 balls remaining)

Two days after Sri Lanka's slow bowlers were crashed around at Galle, two fresh spinners trussed up Zimbabwe's middle order, before Sri Lanka's batsmen completed a largely unflustered chase of 156. The heft of this seven-wicket victory - achieved with 19.5 overs remaining in the innings - will put some confidence back to into the Sri Lanka side, following their shock defeat on Friday.

Nineteen-year-old legspinner Wanidu Hasaranga made the most dramatic contribution, becoming the third debutant in ODI history to claim a hat-trick, when he wiped out Zimbabwe's tail with the 14th, 15th and 16th deliveries of his international career. But by that stage, Sri Lanka were already in command, thanks largely to Lakshan Sandakan, who was sidelined for long periods by the selectors but was deadly upon his return here.

Zimbabwe's batsmen tried to sweep him hard, and often, as they had done to Amila Aponso and Akila Dananjaya in the last match, but Sandakan, wise to this plan, switched up his lines when he saw a premeditated shot coming. And in any case, he enacted so many revolutions on the ball that his dip and bounce prompted fatal mistakes. He had Craig Ervine caught behind, before Sikandar Raza top-edged a reverse sweep, and Ryan Burl was bowled attempting one. Peter Moor then edged the ball back onto his stumps, and Sandakan claimed a final analysis of 4 for 52. To Angelo Mathews' credit, he allowed Sandakan to bowl out early in the game despite a shaky economy rate. All ten of his overs were delivered between the 10th and 31st of the innings.

Hasaranga, meanwhile, was required to deliver only 2.4 overs, but was nerveless in that spell, persisting with an aggressive length even when batsmen had hit boundaries off him. In fact, his hat-trick came immediately after Malcolm Waller crunched him down the ground for four. Waller was bowled off the inside edge by an arm ball, before Donald Tiripano and Tendai Chatara were both dismissed by googlies. Like the men who had come to crowd the bat, the packed banks of his home ground also went into a frenzy at the hat-trick wicket. Hasaranga became the fifth Sri Lanka bowler to claim an ODI hat trick, and the third to do so on debut, after Taijul Islam and Kagiso Rabada.

Zimbabwe had their moments in the match, but unlike on Friday, could not mount pressure on Sri Lanka for sustained periods of time. Tendai Chatara claimed two wickets in his second over, but Upul Tharanga soon becalmed the innings, and very quickly, Sri Lanka were steadily sailing towards the target - Tharanga 75 not out, to follow his unbeaten 79 on Friday.

Hamilton Masakadza and Craig Ervine had earlier been involved in a promising 56-run second-wicket stand in Zimbabwe's innings, but when Masakadza was caught and bowled sharply by Asela Gunaratne, a collapse followed. Zimbabwe lost five of their top six for 52 runs, in the space of 10.3 overs. Malcolm Waller offered the only resistance, slapping six boundaries in his 29-ball 38 - all but one of those boundaries coming off the spinners. While he and Peter Moor were at the crease, Zimbabwe would still have hoped for a score of over 200, but Hasaranga would wipe out the tail faster than anyone would have imagined.

Gunathilaka played on attempting to pull Chatara in the third over, and Kusal Mendis edged a leg-side ball to the keeper, but though the early overs remained tense, Zimbabwe could not make enough headway in them to push the hosts. Tharanga was poised early in his innings, pushing gentle singles and twos while Niroshan Dickwella ventured more aggressive strokes, but when Sri Lanka passed 100, he began to flow. He hit two leg-side boundaries to go to his fifth fifty-plus score in his last eight innings, and continued to attack as Sri Lanka drew near the total. At the other end was Angelo Mathews, prodding his team towards their target with characteristic care.

Zimbabwe will perhaps feel that they deployed the sweep shot a little too eagerly on this occasion, after that stroke brought them Friday's success. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, may reflect on the benefits of deploying a wicket-taking spin bowler through the middle overs.


3rd ODI

Zimbabwe 310/8 (50.0 ov)
Sri Lanka 312/2 (47.2 ov)
Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets (with 16 balls remaining)

A score of over 300 used to be safe in Sri Lanka. Before Friday, chasing sides had attempted to run down scores of over 300 on 32 occasions, and failed every time. Now, in the space of a week, two such scores have been hunted down with ease - Sri Lanka today overhauling Zimbabwe's 310 for 8 with eight wickets in hand and 16 balls remaining, without ever really appearing to extend themselves.

Leading the pursuit today were Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka - two first-time centurions - who, in a searing opening partnership that yielded 229 runs, left Sri Lanka in such an ascendant state that the remaining 82 runs almost seemed a formality.

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Dickwella, forever slinking around his crease, scored well over half his runs behind the wicket, playing sweeps, cuts, dabs and scoops aplenty. Gunathilaka, meanwhile, stood tall in his crease, and played an array of regal drives and disdainful pulls. Having trailed Dickwella for much of the innings, he would finish with 116 runs off 111 balls. Dickwella made 102 off 116 deliveries. Upul Tharanga and Kusal Mendis saw the chase home with little drama - Tharanga making 44 not out, to go with his two unbeaten fifties previously in the series.

That the hosts were chasing so many was thanks to a rollicking fifth ODI century from Hamilton Masakadza, which was followed by a rapid finish from Sikandar Raza and Peter Moor during a Zimbabwe innings in which even Lasith Malinga found himself besieged. Masakadza's 127-run second-wicket stand with Tarisai Musakanda - playing this match in place of Ryan Burl, who was admitted to hospital after aggravating a food allergy - formed the spine of Zimbabwe's innings, with Sean Williams also making a handy contribution.

Zimbabwe's own bowlers would soon themselves falter, thanks to the challenges of playing at this venue. Not only did the pitch offer little for seamers, such turn as it afforded spinners was slow and unthreatening, while Hambantota's lively crosswind complicated their quarry further. It also did not help that Zimbabwe dropped four catches, the costliest of which was the grassing of Dickwella at point, off the bowling of Williams, when the batsman had been on 64.

Neither team's bowlers emerged with much credit. Malcolm Waller was Zimbabwe's best - his tidy offspin accounting for the partnership-breaking wicket of Dickwella. Asela Gunaratne had earlier returned 2 for 53 from 10 overs, which turned out to be the best figures in the game. Malinga's figures were blown out by a 17-run final over, and he ended with 1 for 71 off nine overs. Lakshan Sandakan's 1 for 73 off ten did not make for pretty reading either.

Dickwella and Gunathilaka were immediately belligerent. Dickwella slapped the first ball of the innings - delivered by Carl Mumba - behind point for four, before Gunathilaka cracked two fours apiece off Mumba and Chatara in the second and third overs. It was a track on which very little sideways movement could be gleaned, and the bounce could be completely trusted. After five overs, Sri Lanka were flying, at 36 for none. After 10, with 11 fours between the openers, they were 69 for none. After 15 overs, they were 101… and well… you get the idea - the chase was almost velvet-smooth.

The only major hiccups were in Williams' first over. Dickwella reverse-swept a ball straight to point, who dropped it, before Gunathilaka briefly left his crease only for Peter Moor to fumble the ball and miss a very difficult stumping chance. But neither batsman appeared flustered at any stage. Dickwella got to his hundred in the 33rd over, and Gunathilaka in the 36th. They were out within six balls of each other, but the chase would pass to good hands.

Earlier, Masakadza had also been domineering from the outset, establishing a strike rate of better than 100 in the Powerplay, and maintaining it throughout. Both he and Musakanda appeared at ease during their big second-wicket stand. Sri Lanka's bowlers raised a few lbw appeals, but they largely came against the run of play, rather than as a result of sustained pressure. Musakanda did not advance quite as quickly as Masakadza, but still received enough loose deliveries to stroke into a favoured legside. Masakadza, meanwhile, hit his first fifty off 47 balls, then sped up, needing only 36 further deliveries to move into triple figures.

Wanidu Hasaranga and Gunaratne struck through the middle overs to keep Zimbabwe in check, but they batted deep enough to prosper in the slog overs nonetheless. Raza and Moor hit twenties to plunder 47 off the last four overs, but even a Zimbabwe innings as good as this could not prevent Sri Lanka from taking a 2-1 lead in the series.


4th ODI

Zimbabwe 219 for 6 beat Sri Lanka 300 for 6 by four wickets (DLS method)

Craig Ervine's experience and Malcolm Waller's composure blended well as Zimbabwe overcame rain, pressure and fading light to clinch a steep chase and take the series into the decider. The four-wicket win (Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method) in Hambantota was as much a result of their good work with the ball in the last 15 overs - they conceded only 92 to restrict Sri Lanka to 300 for 6 - as it was with the bat. This after Sri Lanka looked set for 350 at one stage, given the platform Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka set with an opening partnership of 209. They became the first pair in ODI history to score back-to-back double-century stands.

Zimbabwe lost two quick wickets in their chase, but not before the openers had added 67 in nearly 10 overs, helped along by Solomon Mire's 30-ball 43. When rain stopped play after the 21st over, Zimbabwe were 139 for 3, nine runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score.

There was a brief scare when the rains arrived too, with Zimbabwe needing to bat out one over to constitute a game. Sensing the possibility of going off, Angelo Mathews reintroduced Lasith Malinga. The first two balls took three minutes even as the drizzle picked up, leaving umpire Nigel Llong to have a chat with Mathews to speed up proceedings. Malinga eventually finished the over and a relieved Zimbabwe played out one more over from Gunathilaka before they went off.

One hour and 36 minutes later, Zimbabwe's target was a much steeper 219 off 31 overs. Eight balls after resumption, they lost Sean Williams as he waltzed down the pitch to swing through, only to be stumped. Then, Wanindu Hasaranga, the 19-year old legspinner, picked up his third wicket with a sensational return catch to dismiss Sikandar Raza. Zimbabwe were trembling, the ball was suddenly keeping low. The equation read 47 off 34.

But Ervine stood firm, sweeping and reverse-sweeping his way to a half-century to keep Zimbabwe alive. Waller did his bit with three fours in a 13-ball 20, and the pair added 43 off 23 balls. When Waller was dismissed, Zimbabwe needed 4 off 11 deliveries and it was Ervine, who fittingly polished the match off with a delicate reverse paddle. Ervine's solidity was key before the rain interruption, too, helping Zimbabwe ride out a wobble after Hasaranga had got rid of Mire and Hamilton Masakadza in consecutive overs. Prior to this series, Zimbabwe had never won an ODI in Sri Lanka. On this tour alone, they have two wins, both emphatic.

The win meant that Sri Lanka's solid opening partnership and Dickwella's second consecutive ODI hundred were in vain. Dickwella's 116 made him the eighth Sri Lanka batsman to score successive ODI centuries while Gunathilaka, who curbed his aggressive style of play for a large part of the innings, contributed 87. Sri Lanka's total may have seemed enough on most days, but not against a young and unheralded batting line-up that came out and attacked with intent, seemingly unperturbed by the spin threat or the big boundaries.

That Sri Lanka found themselves behind in the second innings was because of a slowdown in their end overs. The inability of the middle order to come in and strike right from the outset gave Zimbabwe an outside chance, which they converted. The openers started cautiously before Dickwella signaled a change of intent by hitting Chris Mpofu for successive boundaries in the fifth over. Sri Lanka motored to 54 without loss in eight overs when captain Graeme Cremer introduced spin, bringing on Sikandar Raza. The move pushed both Sri Lanka batsmen into a slightly cautious approach, but their degree of control stood out. Dickwella brought up his half-century off 48 deliveries.

Gunathilaka also had some luck when Cremer put down a tough return catch with the batsman on 44. However, Gunathilaka accelerated soon after bringing up his half-century, even as Zimbabwe's bowlers persisted with the plan to contain the opposition. With 18 overs left, Sri Lanka were cruising at 193 without loss. Zimbabwe compounded their problems by reprieving both batsmen after they had crossed the 200-run mark but those errors did not turn out to be too costly as Waller accounted for both with his whippy offspin. Waller eventually finished with 2 for 44. While Mathews made a 40-ball 42, the lower order failed to kick on and Sri Lanka managed only 37 off the last five overs.


5th ODI

Sri Lanka 203/8 (50 ov)
Zimbabwe 204/7 (38.1/50 ov)
Zimbabwe won by 3 wickets (with 71 balls remaining)

They came to Sri Lanka ranked 11th, having been defeated by Scotland in the previous month, and having lost a series to Afghanistan earlier in the year. But bowling with venom, fielding with pep, and batting with intelligence, helped Zimbabwe win the deciding fifth ODI by three wickets in Hambantota, and stun the hosts 3-2. It is their first away series victory since 2009, and one of Zimbabwe cricket's finest moments ever.

Though their quartet of miserly spinners had trussed Sri Lanka up for 203 in their 50 overs, and though their openers slammed 92 for the first wicket, victory still had to be prised from their opposition on a slowing, turning deck. Zimbabwe were 137 for 1, when a Sri Lanka surge, led by Akila Dananjaya, claimed six wickets for 38.

But as long as Sikandar Raza was at the crease, Zimbabwe's chances of victory remained good. He survived the last of Dananjaya's overs, and alongside Graeme Cremer, saw out a burst of swinging Lasith Malinga yorkers. Having been such a high-impact player over the past nine days, perhaps it was also fitting that Raza made the series' final play. With six to get, he ran down the pitch and deposited Wanindu Hasaranga over the straight boundary to spark elation in the dressing room. His 27 nerveless runs followed an excellent turn with the ball, with which he captured 3 for 27 - two of those wickets having come in the tone-setting first 10 overs.

Hamilton Masakadza capped an outstanding series with an 86-ball 73, Solomon Mire and Tarisai Musakanda made useful batting contributions, and the other spinners - Cremer, Malcolm Waller and Sean Williams - all made important breakthroughs as well. So many in this Zimbawe outfit can take credit for the series triumph - almost every batsman has produced an impactful innings, Tendai Chatara has been reliable, and they have outfielded Sri Lanka too - though that is not the compliment it once was.

Sri Lanka will be left to rue their timidity with the bat - which was brought into sharp relief by Zimbabwe's openers - and their lack of ambition with the ball in the early overs. Where Raza had been immediately menacing, slowing the ball down, and tossing it tantalisingly up, Sri Lanka's spinners bowled too quickly through the early overs, when Mire and Masakadza were mowing them down. Even Dananjaya, who later found rhythm and wound up with 4 for 47, went wicketless in his first four overs and conceded 25 runs. In their defence, three of the six main bowlers in this match had played less than 15 ODIs.

For the third time in the series, Chatara took the first Sri Lanka wicket, but it was through Raza's calculative first spell that Zimbabwe truly applied their tentacles to this innings. He got Kusal Mendis to chip a ball to short midwicket after drawing him down the pitch, then ripped a perfectly-pitched ball past Upul Tharanga's forward defence to rattle off stump. Where in each of the previous two matches, Sri Lanka put up opening stands in excess of 200, they were 34 for three after 11 overs in this game. Raza had bowled six of those overs, and his two wickets had cost only 11 runs.

No Sri Lanka batsman appeared fluent, but Danushka Gunathilaka was the best of them in the early overs, using his long stride to smother some of the spin that foxed his teammates. Even so, his 47-run fourth-wicket partnership with Angelo Mathews was stilted. Mathews had picked up what seemed to be a groin strain early in his innings, and was unable to take the tight singles and twos that are perhaps at a premium on a pitch such as this. When he was caught at slip for 24, playing a tired drive to Graeme Cremer, Sri Lanka were 78 for 4, and already in serious trouble.

Gunathilaka passed fifty for the fourth time in the series, but then lost concentration, and his wicket. Before long, Sri Lanka were 126 for 7 in the 35th over, and it took an intelligent 59 not out from Asela Gunaratne to help them bat through to the 50th over and put up a serviceable score. He had gelled well with No. 10 batsman Dushmantha Chameera. Together, they mustered 34 off the last four overs - Gunaratne shuffling around the crease to hit square boundaries. Their unbeaten 50-run stand was the best of the innings.

Each of Zimbabwe's openers survived close calls early: a Lasith Malinga slower ball missing Hamilton Masakadza's off stump by centimetres, before Solomon Mire successfully overturned an lbw decision against him off Nuwan Kulasekara. But if there were early nerves, they would soon be clobbered into submission.

Mire biffed three fours and a six off the fourth over - bowled by Kulasekara - and once Zimbabwe were off, it was more or less a Powerplay boundary binge. The batsmen would hit one six apiece, and nine fours in total by the end of the 10th over, many of those hits coming down the ground. At that stage, Zimbabwe had knocked 62 off the total. Though Mire would soon lose his stumps, trying to paddle sweep Gunaratne, a further 40 would come off the next six overs, and Zimbabwe would be halfway to the winning score.

Malinga's dismissal of Masakadza in the 24th over seemed a mere bump at the time, with so much batting to come, but bowling to left-handers now, flight, dip and rip returned to Dananjaya's game, and he threatened to derail the chase. He first had Craig Ervine lbw, had Williams caught at short midwicket soon after, had Musakanda holing out to long on, and in his final over, had Peter Moor caught at leg gully. Malinga supported him with a tight spell and the wicket of Waller at the other end, but Zimbabwe could almost taste victory by now.

Raza and Cremer tiptoed onwards through the last of these bowlers' spells, and saw the team through to a famous victory. Much will be made of Sri Lanka's failures in the series, but Zimbabwe played some clever and courageous cricket to overturn their hosts.

T20 Blast

Sussex 156/8 (20 ov) v Gloucs No result
Essex 219/4 v Glamorgan 224/5 (target 220) Glamorgan won by 5 wickets
Derbyshire 152/8 v Lancashire 155/5 (target 153) Lancashire won by 5 wickets
Somerset 207/9 v Middlesex 186/7 (target 208) Somerset won by 21 runs
Leics 147/9 v Warwickshire 138/8 (target 148) Leics won by 9 runs

T20 Blast

Glamorgan 171/5 (17.2/20 ov)
Somerset
No result

T20 Blast

Worcestershire 148/8 (20/20 ov)

Leicestershire 149/5 (18.3/20 ov)

Leicestershire won by 5 wickets (with 9 balls remaining)

Surrey 205/5 (20/20 ov)

Kent 207/2 (19.3/20 ov)

Kent won by 8 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)

Hampshire 189/8 (20/20 ov)

Middlesex 160/7 (20/20 ov)

Hampshire won by 29 runs

Lancashire 176/4 (20/20 ov)

Yorkshire 64/2 (8.1/8.1 ov, target 65)

Match tied (D/L method)

Birmingham 156/4 (20/20 ov)

Northamptonshire 160/5 (20/20 ov)

Northamptonshire won by 5 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)

T20 Blast (13th July)

Kent 152/8 (20/20 ov)
Gloucestershire 156/4 (19.1/20 ov)
Gloucestershire won by 6 wickets (with 5 balls remaining)

Gloucestershire maintained their unbeaten start to the NatWest t20 Blast season with a six wicket victory over Kent at Cheltenham College.

Having tied with Middlesex in a thrilling game last Friday, Michael Klinger's side went one better thanks to four wickets for 29 runs from Benny Howell and useful knocks from Phil Mustard, Ian Cockbain and Cameron Bancroft.

Kent made a decent start after being put in to bat thanks to Joe Denly and Daniel Bell-Drummond. However, when that pair were parted at 45 for 1 in the sixth over, it was Gloucestershire who took the game by the scruff of the neck.

Denley followed Bell-Drummond back to the pavilion 11 runs later when he was well caught by Tom Smith on the deep square leg boundary.

From 56 for 2, Kent slipped unceremoniously to 87 for 5 in the 12th over with Sam Northeast holing out to Smith, again on the deep square leg boundary. James Neesham edged Chris Liddle to wicket keeper Mustard and when Alex Blake handed Smith a third catch, Kent were struggling.

They appeared to be limping towards a rather modest total but Sam Billings and sixth wicket partner Darren Stevens had a different idea. Although Gloucestershire continued to bowl and field well, they progressed at 10 an over until Matt Taylor took a fine catch at backward square off the bowling of Howell to send back Billings for 36.

Howell, who had already taken the wickets of Northeast and Denly, added his fourth scalp before the end of the 17th over when Matt Coles holed out to Jack Taylor at long on for a first ball duck.

From that juncture, Kent limped to 152 for 8, leaving Gloucestershire a total that was always well within their grasp.

Openers Klinger and Mustard provided the perfect platform on which the hosts could build.

The pair kept the board moving in the opening overs, with Mustard punishing anything up to the bat. They were eventually separated when James Tredwell bowled Klinger for 13 in the sixth over

Cockbain and Mustard added 41 for the second wicket before the latter carelessly drove T20 debutant Imran Qayyum to midwicket where Northeast took a smart catch.

Although Coles took an even better catch - one handed - to dismiss Cockbain for 31 at 108 for 3, Gloucestershire had already batted themselves within sight of victory.

Qayyum and Coles did their bit to claw Kent back into the game and the former bowled particularly well from the Chapel End, however, Bancroft once again proved his worth and with Howell batting as well as he bowled, the result was never really in doubt.

The pair added 40 for the fourth wicket and helped Gloucestershire to victory with six wickets and five balls in hand.


Surrey 158/9 (20/20 ov)
Middlesex 161/9 (18.4/20 ov)
Middlesex won by 1 wicket (with 8 balls remaining)

Steven Finn hit a dramatic winning boundary off Ravi Rampaul to earn Middlesex a nerve-shredding one-wicket victory in the NatWest T20 Blast against Surrey before a near sell-out 27,205 London derby crowd at a floodlit Lord's.

A sudden Middlesex collapse left Middlesex needing nine runs from the last three overs but with three wickets still intact. Then Jade Dernbach had Nathan Sowter caught at cover and John Simpson, trying to turn Ravi Rampaul to leg, was caught for 7 off a leading edge. From 133 for 3, chasing 159, Middlesex had staggered to 153 for 9.

That left last man Finn coming in to join Tom Helm with six still required. He survived a close lbw appeal from Rampaul before the next ball, also angled into his pads, flew away for four leg byes. Rampaul's next ball, the fourth of the 19th over, was an attempted slower ball and Finn clipped the resulting full toss to the midwicket ropes amid wild scenes.

Surrey captain Gareth Batty had earlier taken 4 for 14 with his off spin, including a double-wicket maiden in the 16th over when he dismissed both Eoin Morgan and Tim Southee, to set in motion the collapse which produced such a thrilling finish on a two-paced pitch.

Only Kumar Sangakkara, with 70 from 42 balls, took the attack to Middlesex's bowlers for anything other than a brief cameo and Surrey's eventual 158 for 9 never looked enough.

Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling began the chase well, the left-handed Malan hitting two fours in the first over from Dernbach and the stocky Stirling plundering two fours and a remarkable swatted six over wide third man from Sam Curran's opening over.

At 37, and after Malan had driven Rampaul's first ball high for four, Stirling fell for 23 in that same fourth over as he mishit to mid off. Malan, however, twice swung Rampaul for huge legside sixes in a sixth over which ended with Middlesex well ahead of the required rate at 64 for one.

Middlesex T20 captain Brendon McCullum made only 9 before slugging Batty's second ball high to long on, where 39-year-old Sangakkara took a good tumbling catch to his right, and Surrey's hopes rose when Malan chipped a low catch to Ollie Pope at extra cover from a ball which seemed to grip the surface.

Malan made 41 from 26 balls, and his early aggression allowed Morgan and Franklin time to steady Middlesex's reply, which they did with a judicious mixture of easy singles and the odd more adventurous stroke in a fourth wicket stand of 53 in six overs.

That looked to be guiding Middlesex to a comfortable victory, but then Batty returned to have Morgan caught at point for 31, with Southee slogging the next ball into the hands of long off.

Ryan Higgins drove his first ball for four, off Tom Curran, and then pulled his next for six. The next, however, was edged behind as Higgins went for 10 and the slide continued when Franklin was bowled later in Curran's over for 23. Then came the fall of both Sowter and Simpson, and Finn's late heroics.

It was Surrey's first defeat in the south group, after winning their first two games, while Middlesex added another two points to the one they gained for a thrilling tie against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham last Friday.

The match began with Finn's opening over, the second of the innings, being taken for 17 runs as Aaron Finch followed two legside fours with a pulled six into the Mound Stand. With Finch already having collected a five in the opening over, a direct hit run out attempt by Higgins deflecting off the bowlers' stumps and racing away for four overthrows, Surrey were off to a flyer.

Southee tried to stem the early flow of runs, producing a beauty to have Dom Sibley caught behind for 5 in his second over with the new ball, and when Helm replaced him at the Nursery End he bowled Finch for 22 through an attempted heave at his first delivery.

Helm's opening over only cost a single but Sangakkara increased the tempo again by lofting the unhappy Finn high over the covers for six and then taking a couple of steps down the pitch to swing Helm magnificently over long on for another maximum.

Sowter's introduction for the eighth over saw the Australian-born leg-spinner knock back Ben Foakes' off stump with his first ball, the England Lions wicketkeeper-batsman only briefly firing with 13, but teenager Pope - who also made 13 - then added 23 with Sangakkara before he was bamboozled and bowled by a slower ball from the returning Southee.

The Curran brothers did not last long, Stirling's off spin accounting for them both. Sam was bowled for 5, back when he should have been forward, and Tom was also bowled, for 4, when he tried to force square a ball which seemed to creep through a little low to hit his off stump halfway up.

Sangakkara, though, hit Franklin's left-arm seam high over extra cover for six and also drove and swung fours off the same bowler in a 16th over costing 18. When Finn returned for the 19th over, however, nursing figures of 0 for 40 from his first three overs, the great Sri Lankan left-hander diverted a low full toss into his own stumps as he tried an unconventional flick to leg from outside his off stump.

That success also allowed Finn to concede just two singles from his final over and, with Helm also bowling tightly in a 20th over in which Batty hit him straight to extra cover and Rampaul picked out deep square leg to go for ducks, the Surrey innings ended with something of a whimper.

Surrey were missing opener Jason Roy, because of a shoulder injury, while Kevin Pietersen is not scheduled to make his T20 Blast comeback until next Wednesday, in the home match against Essex.



Essex 170/6 (20/20 ov)
Somerset 148/9 (20/20 ov)
Essex won by 22 runs

South African spin bowler Simon Harmer led a parsimonious attack in defending a total of 170 to give Essex their first win of the NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

Harmer, who has taken the red-ball domestic cricket by storm with 47 Specsavers County Championship wickets to date, added three more white-ball victims to his tally as his 3 for 39 from four overs ended Essex's two-defeat start to the campaign.

It was a fine response by Essex as they recovered from the shock of losing Tamim Iqbal who had abruptly returned to Bangladesh after only one match in unexplained circumstances.

Harmer was backed up by a fine spell by Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir, who posted outstanding figures of 1 for 17 from his 24 balls. Paul Walter took two wickets in the final over to finish with 3 for 28.

Somerset were undone by two wickets in five balls by Harmer mid-innings and were unable to keep up with the required run rate, falling short by 22 runs.

Essex had struggled to penetrate some outstanding Somerset fielding and were indebted to Ryan ten Doeschate's 37-ball 56 and some lusty late hitting by Ashar Zaidi, who included three sixes in his 35, for setting what turned out to be a matchwinning total.

Chasing 171, Somerset lost Johann Myburgh to a top-edge that lobbed to Harmer at backward point to give Jamie Porter his first T20 wicket.

Two wickets in the eighth over for Harmer knocked the stuffing out of Somerset's reply after they had reached 47 for 1. He had Jim Allenby caught in the covers by ten Doeschate and Peter Trego pouched on the long-off boundary by Tom Westley.

Steven Davies was next to go when he swished at a wide one down legside from Ravi Bopara and was caught behind. Suddenly Somerset were 58 for 4 and nine overs gone.

Like Essex, Somerset were struggling to get the ball away on a slow pitch, but Adam Hose and James Hildreth tried the aerial route with straight sixes off Zaidi and Bopara respectively. But when Hildreth attempted to do the same to Harmer he was caught by ten Doeschate diving forward on the long-leg boundary for 27.

Hose got a bottom edge to Amir to give James Foster his second catch behind and Lewis Gregory was caught behind for a belligerent 23 off 12 balls. But time and overs were running out for Somerset. They required 36 from 12 balls with Amir restricting them to just eight from the penultimate over.

Craig Overton went for broke but was caught at cow corner by Dan Lawrence before Tim Groenewald was held by Zaidi to give Walter two wickets in the final over.

Essex had looked in some trouble themselves from the start of their innings and were 36 for 3 in the sixth over after being put in.

Lawrence started the rot when he lost his off-stump going for an ungainly heave against Gregory. He was followed swiftly by Varun Chopra who was reprieved by Hose's dropped catch at deep mid-on, but next ball skied Craig Overton and Groenewald took the catch at short third man. And Westley departed when he played over a slower delivery from Groenewald.

Bopara and ten Doeschate set about a repair job, turning singles into twos, with the captain upping the tempo with a straight six and a one-bounce four off successive balls from Roelof van der Merwe. But when the partnership had reached 50 inside six overs, Max Waller took a brilliant return catch low to his left to remove Bopara for 24.

Essex became bogged down in the middle overs before Zaidi pulled Waller for successive sixes over the short midwicket boundary and out of the ground.

Ten Doeschate hooked Overton for four before pushing a two into the on-side to reach fifty off 34 balls that included five fours and a six. But he departed in the penultimate over, caught on the long-off boundary by Overton diving forward.

Zaidi launched his third six over midwicket in the same over, but was caught out of his ground for 35 when James Foster hit the ball straight back to van der Merwe who turned and removed the bails. But Essex's total proved to be enough.

T20 Blast

Hampshire 188/3 (20/20 ov)
Sussex 169/7 (20/20 ov)
Hampshire won by 19 runs

Gloucestershire v Worcestershire Days 2-4 (LVCC D2)

Day 4

Gloucestershire 383 & 286-4 dec: Dent 135*, Roderick 81
Worcestershire 300-9 dec & 155-5: Clarke 93*
Match drawn

Joe Clarke rescued Worcestershire from a worrying position, scoring 93 not out to earn the visitors a draw against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

Chasing a notional 370 to win in 51 overs, Worcestershire slipped to 5-3.

But Clarke, Ben Cox (21) and Ross Whiteley stabilised the innings and they were 155-5 when hands were shaken.

Earlier, Chris Dent's 135 not out and 81 from Gareth Roderick helped Gloucestershire to 286-4 in their second innings before they declared.

Second-placed Worcestershire's 11-point haul took them 15 behind Division Two leaders Nottinghamshire and 13 above Kent in third, with all three teams having five games left to play.

Gloucestershire stayed seventh after taking 12 points from the match.
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Day 3

Gloucestershire 383 & 62-1: Tavare 23*
Worcestershire 300-9 dec: Cox 124; Noema-Barnett 4-31
Gloucestershire lead by 145 runs

Only 70 minutes of play were possible on day three of the Division Two game between Gloucestershire and Worcestershire because of rain.

In the 15.3 overs that were bowled, the hosts progressed from their overnight second-innings score of 20-0 to 62-1.

Cameron Bancroft (22) was the only wicket to fall, edging a John Hastings delivery to Ross Whiteley at slip.

But the bad weather saw an early lunch taken at 12:30 BST at Cheltenham and no further play was possible.

Gloucestershire lead Worcestershire, who are second in the table and started the match 26 points behind leaders Nottinghamshire, by 145 runs going into the final day.

T20 Blast

Northants v Yorkshire (match abandoned without a ball being bowled)

The T20 Blast North Group game between Northamptonshire and Yorkshire was abandoned without a ball being bowled because of rain.

Bad weather throughout the afternoon in Northampton left no chance of play starting at the scheduled time of 18:30 BST and it was called off at 18:50 BST.

It is the first match of this season's competition to be washed out.

Both sides collected one point and have three in total, having won one and lost one of their first two group games.

Only T20I: West Indies bt India by 9 wickets

India 190/6 (20/20 ov)
West Indies 194/1 (18.3/20 ov)
West Indies won by 9 wickets (with 9 balls remaining)

Evin Lewis in his last T20I against India: 100 off 49. Evin Lewis in the whole ODI series against India: 67 off 121. Evin Lewis back in this T20I against India: 125 not out off 62 balls, including 12 disdainful sixes. Despite just 54 off 49 coming from the other end, Lewis carried world champions West Indies through in a chase of 191, which they finished with nine balls to spare. It should have been a bigger chase after the start India got - 64 for the opening stand between Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan in 5.3 overs - but India couldn't find a finishing kick with Rishabh Pant getting stuck for a slow innings of 38 off 35. India didn't help their cause as they dropped Lewis on 47 and 55.

India's thrust against West Indies' rust

Expectedly West Indies put India in after winning the toss, and expectedly India laid out the big guns upfront. West Indies made the errors up front. Their opening bowlers, Sameul Badree and Jerome Taylor, haven't played much cricket of late, and it showed. Badree is a highly successful T20 bowler because of the hard lengths he bowls: neither drivable nor pullable or cuttable. Here, though, he bowled too short, and both the openers tucked in, taking three fours in the first over. Taylor started too straight with fine leg up, and he too went for three fours in his first over. India's 50 came up in the fifth over.

"In my pocket"

Kesrick Williams already has one big Indian scalp to his name, that of MS Dhoni in the tense win in the ODI in Antigua. Here he began India's slowdown even though Kohli hit him for six and four off the first two balls of the sixth over. His deceptive slower ball, which even Dhoni failed to pick, drew the catch from Kohli's bat, and then came out his celebration. He stopped mid-pitch, pulled out an imaginary notebook from his pocked, flipped its imaginary pages, plucked one of those out, folded it and kept it in his pocket.

More celebrations were in store as two balls later, he saw Dhawan half way up the wicket with nowhere to go. Williams took aim and knocked back the stumps at the non-striker's end. India were now 66 for 2 in six overs.

Pant struggles in the middle

No other young talent has had seasoned observers of Indian cricket as excited in recent times as Rishabh Pant has had. India delayed his introduction into ODI cricket to post Champions Trophy, but even during the ODIs in the West Indies, he was not given a chance. With every passing game, fans got frustrated. Finally when Pant got his chance - in this one-off T20I - he found himself a little like a deer in the headlights. The start was inauspicious enough: the first ball he faced, he nudged to leg, set off for a run, and a couple of strides in realised Williams had been quick to reach the ball. Dhawan gone.

Then even as Dinesh Karthik, playing his first T20I in four years, found a way to bat fluently against West Indies' spinners, Pant just couldn't find a way to break free. He tried big hits against both spin and pace, but he could neither hit out nor get out. He endured a blow on the shoulder too. This innings was reminiscent of how a young Ravindra Jadeja struggled when promoted in a World T20 innings in England in 2009.

Once Karthik gave up his stumps once too often and was bowled behind his legs, India were up against it with a suspect lower middle order to follow. India 151 for 3 in the 16th over.

Taylor stitches India up

The veteran Taylor came back to shut India out now. He got Dhoni - on whom the onus rested now - with a cleverly disguised slower ball, and poor Pant tried a desperate reverse ramp next ball. Jadeja denied Taylor the hat-trick, but West Indies had caused enough damage to deny India any momentum in the second half of the innings. Only four boundaries came in the last six overs.

The Lewis show

On a flat pitch with no assistance for bowlers, Lewis unleashed som e majestic hitting. He kept his head down and kept swinging at those balls pitched in his swinging arc. No bowler survived his merciless hitting. There was a certain disdain to how he kept clearing fields. It was a slightly high-risk innings, which meant there were chances created. First went up off the bowing of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. On a blustery day with loud vuvuzelas in the stand, India either forgot calling or failed to hear the calling. Mohammed Shami came in the way of Kohli who had run in from long-off, and forced a drop. Next over, three men converged towards Karthik at long-on; once it was established it was his catch, failed to adjust to the late swirl. To make matters worse, Dhoni had earlier missed a stumping.

Lewis then went back to hitting sixes and decimating the Indian attack, which never looked like defending 190.

Sunday's domestic cricket

LVCC DIV 2

Gloucestershire 343/8 (96.0 ov)
Worcestershire
Toss uncontested, Worcestershire elected to field first


Jack Taylor scored a buccaneering century as Gloucestershire reached 343-8 on the first day of their County Championship match with Worcestershire.

An inauspicious start saw Cameron Bancroft dismissed for a diamond duck.

But Chris Dent (65) led the recovery and Taylor changed the pace of the game with a stylish unbeaten 118 from 149 balls, sharing a 96-run stand with Phil Mustard (50).

Seamer Ed Barnard was the pick of the Worcestershire bowlers with 4-67.
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T20 BLAST

Durham 161/7 (20 ov)
Northamptonshire 162/4 (19.2/20 ov)
Northamptonshire won by 6 wickets (with 4 balls remaining)

Lancashire 173/9 (20 ov)
Leicestershire 178/7 (20 ov)
Leicestershire won by 3 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)

Surrey 181/7 (20 ov)
Somerset 177/9 (20 ov)
Surrey won by 4 runs

Glamorgan 198/3 (20 ov)
Sussex 180/6 (20 ov)
Glamorgan won by 18 runs

Essex 166/8 (20 ov)
Kent 169/3 (18.3/20 ov)
Kent won by 7 wickets (with 9 balls remaining)

T20 Blast

Derbyshire 165/8 v Yorkshire 162/7 (20 ov, target 166) Derbyshire won by 3 runs

Nottinghamshire 158/6 (20/20 ov)
Birmingham 159/4 (20/20 ov)
Birmingham won by 6 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)

County Championship SUS V LEI Day 3 & 4

RESULT

Sussex 262 & 443-6 dec: Van Zyl 166*, Brown 67, Wright 60
Leicestershire 281 & 193: Ackermann 43, Horton 35, Hill 35; Archer 4-30
Sussex won by 231 runs

Seamer Jofra Archer helped secure Sussex a fourth County Championship Division Two victory of the season as they beat Leicestershire by 231 runs.

Set 425 to win, the Foxes slumped from 116-3 at lunch on the last day at Arundel to be dismissed for 193.

Archer finished with 4-30 in the second innings to take his championship wicket tally against Leicestershire to 16 in their two fixtures this season.

Colin Ackermann (43) top-scored for the visitors in their sixth loss this year.

T20 Blast

Gloucs 182/5 v Middlesex 182/9 - Match tied
Yorkshire make record 227-5 & beat Notts
Birmingham Bears beat Worcs by eight wickets
Buttler hits 59 off 39 balls for Lancs
Wins for Lancs, Hants & Derbys
Surrey beat Essex by two runs

Rabada suspended for second Test

South Africa have suffered a huge blow with Kagiso Rabada being suspended for the second Test against England at Trent Bridge after being sanctioned by the ICC for giving Ben Stokes a send-off on the opening day at Lord's.

Rabada was fined 15% of his match fee and handed one demerit point for this incident, but had previously been given three demerit points for an altercation with Niroshan Dickwella during the one-day international in Cape Town in February and the total of four points means he is now suspended for one Test.

An ICC statement said: "During the opening day's play in the Lord's Test against England on Thursday, Rabada was found guilty of breaching article 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel, which relates to "using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batsman upon his/her dismissal during an International Match"

"Thursday's incident related to Rabada using inappropriate language after dismissing England batsman Ben Stokes, which were audible over the stump microphones and also resulted in the batsman to turn before walking off the field."

Stokes was the first of Rabada's three scalps in the England first innings, during which the 21-year old seemed to lack some of his usual venom. Though he has touched his usual 90mph pace, Rabada has struggled for rhythm throughout this tour but his absence will still rob South Africa of one of their most reputed quicks and will only add to the unsettled feeling around the touring side.

South Africa went into the Lord's Test without captain Faf du Plessis, after he remained at home following the birth of his first child. Du Plessis is expected to be back in time for Trent Bridge, where he will have to manage an attack sans Rabada.

In reserve, South Africa have Duanne Olivier, their first-class competition's leading-wicket-taker who also bowls quickly, has a good bouncer and made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers, as well as allrounders Andile Phehlukwayo and Chris Morris. Olivier is the likeliest replacement for Rabada unless South Africa feel the need to beef up the batting reserves and play Morris. Phehlukwayo, who is uncapped, only has an outside chance of playing.

Rabada's absence will also have a small impact on South Africa's transformation numbers, which don't apply from game to game but do add up over the course of a season. South Africa are required to field a minimum average of six players of colour, of which two must be black African.

5 match ODI series WI 1-3 IND

1st ODI

India 199/3 (39.2 ov)
West Indies
No result

The way India bat to the template of 300 in ODI cricket nowadays, it sometimes feel only some external factors can stop them. They were on their way in the first ODI of the series when the rain in Trinidad had its say.

India followed a slow start with steady acceleration, but rain cut their innings short at 39.2 overs, in which they managed 199 for 3. The rain did let up for a bit, and the water and the covers were cleared too, West Indies were then set 194 in 26 overs, but more rain arrived before they could begin their chase.

During the play possible, India almost sleepwalked towards 300 on a slow pitch. Ajinkya Rahane replaced the rested Rohit Sharma, but it was as if nothing had changed for Shikhar Dhawan. The two added 47 in the first overs, which in about two off India's average 10-over score since the 2015 World Cup, and then they both began to impose themselves, putting together their fourth century stand in 14 attempts at the top of the order.

Rahane will be frustrated he didn't convert this into a big hundred: he is yet to seal himself a slot in the XI, and once KL Rahul is fit he is expected to be the third opener in the squad, not least because he can effective in the middle order too. In the end, his 62 off 78, ended by a Miguel Cummins slower ball when Rahane had started to take the odd risk, did set India up.

Dhawan continued as if this too was a Champions Trophy match, falling for 87 off 92. Devendra Bishoo, the extra spinner West Indies played, kept India tied down through a spell of 10-0-39-1. India were looking to Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni for a big finishing kick when the rain arrived.
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2nd ODI:

India 310/5 (43/43 ov)
West Indies 205/6 (43/43 ov, target 311)
India won by 105 runs

Fifty overs. Forty-three overs. It doesn't quite matter. India are a bot designed to score 300 and not too many more when batting first, which proved to be more than enough against the inexperienced West Indies batting. No team has scored as many 300s as India - 96 - and it was fitting that they took the lead by seamlessly recalibrating their approach in a rain-curtailed ODI.

Ajinkya Rahane got to his third ODI century - the period approaching his hundred was the only slow spell in India's innings, Shikhar Dhawan's run continued with yet another half-century, and Virat Kohli knocked off an effortless 87 off 66. Shai Hope delayed the inevitable West Indies defeat with a fine 81, but once they had lost two wickets before the first run had been scored off a bat, further rain was their own ally. It was not to be.

Early morning rain had left the pitch damp and the atmosphere heavy, ideal bowling conditions that prompted the hosts to invite India to bat. The conditions eventually didn't turn out to be as treacherous as expected, but it didn't help that West Indies' new-ball bowlers never got their length right. They were either too short or too full, getting cut and pulled or driven with ease. There was also more intent from the India openers, who as a partnership have the best average among all pairs who have added at least 1500 runs together. Rahane got going with an upper-cut for a six, and Dhawan loved the driving practice given to him, off-driving Jason Holder for successive boundaries before pulling him for one more in the eighth over. India's 63 in the first 10 overs was about 14 more than what has been their average since the 2015 World Cup.

The busy scoring continued, especially given that Devendra Bishoo, who bowled well in the first match, struggled with his length. In Bishoo's third over, Rahane picked up two boundaries to get into the 40s. He lost Dhawan immediately after, stumped off the offspin of Ashley Nurse for 63 off 59, but took over the dominant role as Kohli settled down. As in the first match, this was atypical of Rahane, who usually slows down after a quick start against the hard new ball. Here, as on Friday, he accelerated gradually after a sedate start.

From 36 off 45, Rahane scored the next 50 runs in 40 balls, but slowed down near the hundred. The nerves were understandable. Here is a Test shoo-in who has struggled to cement a place in ODIs because he has failed to convert those quick starts on a regular basis. With KL Rahul nearing fitness, this chance, which has come through the rest given to Rohit Sharma, could be his last. You can understand Rahane wanted to grab it. He risked a run-out, he edged a cut, and the next 11 runs took 16 balls. He then laced a cover drive to bring up the hundred, but fell immediately after, looking to slog.

Kohli, though, didn't let the wickets slow India down. His acceleration was dramatic. He scored his final 50 runs in 25 balls. You could see he was struggling physically because of the high humidity, which is perhaps why there was an extra effort to set that solid base and concentrate on the swing of the bat and not the power. He didn't over-hit any of his four sixes, but hit them so clean that he didn't need to look up to see where they went. In the end, that lack of power did him in when he lofted an Alzarri Joseph slower ball to long-on in the penultimate over of the innings.

If there were any doubts about India getting the 300, Holder put paid to them by bowling three beamers and a foot-fault no-ball in his last two overs. The extra deliveries and runs took India over, making it 99 runs in the last nine overs. The next 99 runs would take more than half the length of West Indies' innings, and three wickets to boot.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar started off bowling in areas where batsmen's mistakes hurt them, taking two wickets in his first two overs. In the fourth over, Hope steered Umesh Yadav to score the first run off the bat. By the time he hit the first boundary of the innings, in the sixth over, the asking rate had crossed eight.

Hope showed the promise he carries with a composed innings, but he alone was never going to be able to make up for the disastrous and a struggling Evin Lewis at the other end. One of the final acts of the match belonged to a man bowling for the first time in ODIs: Kuldeep Yadav had Lewis stumped off a wrong'un, and Hope lbw on the sweep moments after the batsman had hit him for a six over long-off. He later came back to have Holder stumped off another wrong'un to stamp out the last bit of resistance.
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3rd ODI

India 251/4 (50.0 ov)
West Indies 158 (38.1 ov)
India won by 93 runs

Looking at how West Indies struggled in the chase of 310 in Trinidad, you felt they would need a leveller to compete with India. In Antigua, they got a bit of a leveller when they won the toss on a damp pitch - start was delayed by 45 minutes because of torrential rain a day before the match - and kept India to 251, but their batsmen still fell short by 93.

It was also a leveller that ODI cricket can do with every now and then: slips in place, value on short singles, premium on playing long innings. Reaching the run rate of four only in 43rd over, India's 251 for 4 was the third-lowest total this decade for a side batting first and losing four wickets or fewer. Ajinkya Rahane, auditioning for the opener-cum-middle-order reserve role, batted through 42 overs for 72; his strike rate of 64.28 was the second-slowest since 2010 for openers batting first and facing 110 balls.

However, that helped set the base for an MS Dhoni assault, who in Kedar Jadhav's company, added 81 in the last 7.4 overs to take India well past 220, which might have been about par, considering West Indies' inexperienced bating. Rahane's wicket seemed to have come at the right time: Jadhav got 26 balls to smack 40 runs in, and Dhoni matched it with 50 off the last 29 balls he faced.

Devendra Bishoo was again the pick of the bowlers, going for 38 runs for the wicket of Yuvraj Singh and adding a stunning catch to it. He, though, was introduced after Ashley Nurse had bowled five overs. The focus was clear: despite a helpful pitch and a start that had reduced India to 34 for 2, West Indies were happy to contain and take the wickets that came their way instead of actively going out looking for them.

Those of Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli came their way. They didn't display the required patience to weather this mode of bowling. Dhawan ramped a short ball but lack of pace did him in. Despite struggling against the unpredictable bounce, Kohli went to steer a rising delivery and gave the man at gully a catch. Yuvraj Singh's would have come their way earlier than it did, but they neither appealed strongly nor reviewed when Yuvraj should have been out. By the time they got Yuvraj - thanks to a review again - he and Rahane had added 66, taken India to 100 and into the 27th over.

Rahane had slowed down after scoring 19 off the first 19 balls he faced, and Dhoni himself struggled against the spin of Bishoo. The two batted on, but West Indies kept squeezing through defensive bowling. By the 39th over, it seemed Dhoni had decided it was time to go. He went after Bishoo, in his ninth over. One slog fell short of long-on, and the other lobbed towards short third man, to debutant Kyle Hope, who had earlier taken an excellent catch to dismiss Kohli. This time, though, the ball seemed to hold up in the wind, and started to dip just short of him. He dived after having committed to go one way, but couldn't control the catch. Dhoni was only 28 off 50 at that point.

Rahane didn't enjoy similar luck when he decided it was time to go, against Miguel Cummins' pace in the 43rd over. Bishoo judged his upper-cut perfectly, ran in from deep point, and dived at the right moment.

Rahane had gone Miguel Cummins not just because there was finally pace on the ball but also because debutant Kesrick Williams, charged with bowling five overs out of the last nine, was doing well. So Dhoni targeted Jason Holder, and took 17 off his last over, stunningly fetching one length ball from wide outside off and depositing it flat over square leg for six. Jadhav saw Dhoni's innovation, and raised him a sweep shot off Cummins, having gone on a knee and well outside off well before Cummins released, and then pulling off the shot with surprising ease thanks to his still head.

Steady heads was what West Indies needed at the top, but Umesh Yadav broke through the defence of Ewin Lewis in his first over, skidding the ball under his bat from round the wicket. That brought together brothers Hope, Kyle and Shai, who added 45 for the second wicket before they both fell to bouncers from Hardik Pandya. West Indies continued to read Kuldeep Yadav, who bowled Roston Chase with a wrong'un before R Ashwin premiered a new bowling action and stuck in his first over.

Ashwin shaped up to bowl a bit like a legspinner would but focused on his offbreaks more than he did in the previous match. In his first over, he had an overblanaced Jason Holder stumped with a wide down the leg side. You can't be certain if Holder did actually play for a legbreak. You can be certain West Indies were now looking at their last hope: the partnership between Jason Mohammed and Rovman Powell.

Powell played a couple of attractive strokes to go with a couple of streaky ones as the two added 50 together, but India slowed down the pace of the game. Spin came on at both ends, four runs came in 23 balls, and Powell finally tried the big slog to give Kuldeep his second wicket. Ashwin soon had his second with the trigger-happy Ashley Nurse caught at square leg. West Indies still needed 103 at that point. Only finishing touches were left, which the spinners duly did.
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4th ODI: West Indies v India Jul 2, 2017 (14:00)

West Indies 189/9 (50.0 ov)
India 178 (49.4 ov)
West Indies won by 11 runs

The wine is oxidising fast. Add Antigua 2017 to the list of matches MS Dhoni has failed to finish off since 2014. He scored India's slowest half-century in 16 years as they failed to chase down 190 on a slow pitch against a spirited attack that managed to tide over a costly drop and a tactical blunder in the concluding stages. Jason Holder compensated for bowling Roston Chase in the 44th over with four wickets and a personal-best five-for, but it was Kesrick Williams, playing only his second ODI, who frustrated the hell out of Dhoni, conceding just 13 in four overs after the 40th and taking Dhoni out with the last ball he bowled.

Four years ago, in the West Indies, Dhoni found himself in a similar situation on a similarly slow track, chasing 202, leaving himself 15 to get in the last over with the last man for company. He got it in three hits.

Here, India needed 16 off the last two, but Dhoni couldn't inflict any damage against Williams' mix of slower deliveries and quick length ones. Perhaps it was the bigger boundaries than Queen's park Oval's from four years ago, perhaps he doesn't trust himself that much anymore, but here Dhoni pulled the trigger sooner. He could have taken a single off the last ball of the 49th and left himself 13 to get in Holder's final over, but he blinked first and drilled a length ball straight into the lap of long-on.

Moments after the match, Dhoni was seen sitting dejected in the balcony, a little lost even, when a member of the India squad had to shake him physically to shake his hand. Dhoni knows this is the kind of chase he has built his reputation on. It will be a little harsh to talk of him when the batting around him failed more miserably, but everybody - Dhoni himself - knows these are Dhoni finishes.

When Dhoni walked in, he brought a sense of calm to a faltering batting. Shikhar Dhawan departed early, not respecting the slowness of the pitch and driving Alzarri Joseph on the up. Joseph's grandmother, operating the manual scoreboard at Sir Viv Richards Stadium, cheered on.

The bigger blows were to follow. West Indies' adherence to their bowling plans has never been more apparent than when they have bowled to Virat Kohli, when he is new at the crease. They believe he doesn't like the bowl up at his throat, and 41% of their bowling to Kohli has been in their own half. Different batsmen react differently to plans against them. Kohli hates to watch a plan succeed for a while before overcoming it. He wants to dominate. Out went his trusted weaving and ducking, and in came the hook shots. Holder's third bouncer in the sixth over produced the top edge, and we had a game on now.

Dinesh Karthik, replacing the injured Yuvraj Singh, and playing ahead of Rishabh Pant presumably because he was selected in the squad before Pant, did worse against the bouncer. After taking 13 balls to get off the mark, he top-edged one that was barely chest high.

In came Dhoni to join Ajinkya Rahane, who had again looked comfortable against the new ball. Before Karthik's wicket, West Indies had let Rahane off: Holder let one through his legs at mid-off and then Jason Mohammed dropped him on 23. Now the two began to bat cautiously; the asking rate was not an issue at this point. The old maxim of "India win if they bat 50 overs" still held true as Rahane and Dhoni laboured through their 54-run partnership.

West Indies were markedly different from two nights ago when they had failed to squeeze India after taking two early wickets. Here there were no easy singles as first Williams and Devendra Bishoo, and then Ashley Nurse, dried up the runs. While Rahane did get the odd boundary, Dhoni said an absolute no to taking any risk.

By the time Rahane took his last risk, sweeping Bishoo against the turn, the asking rate hovered around 4.55. It was still in Dhoni's control. You still felt Dhoni just needed to bat through. However, Dhoni was not batting like Dhoni does. He was still timing balls, but failed to find gaps. Bishoo and Nurse bowled 68 balls to him for 28 runs, slower than his innings strike rate of 47.36. Dhoni was even forced to play a sweep shot, which is the ultimate last resort for him against spin.

As Kedar Jadhav fell, bat-pad to Nurse with Shai Hope leaping from behind the stumps, the asking rate closed in on a run-a-ball. Hardik Pandya ramped one for four to buy some breathing space, Dhoni began to take risky singles, and in the 40th over, India needed more than six per over. Would it still be an India win if they batted through?

Dhoni definitely thought so. He kept waiting for the mistake from the opposition, a principle he has built the second half of his limited-overs career on. A tenet of captaincy he has handed down to Kohli. The mistakes weren't forthcoming, though, as Williams began to bowl the gun overs perfectly.

Now Holder is a leader by example, but his being at the forefront had cost West Indies 65 runs in 4.5 overs at the death in the last two matches. Perhaps he wanted to do the prudent thing. Perhaps he wanted to continue with offspin after Nurse's success. Whatever be the reason, after three conservative bowling innings, with 55 required off 42, with that painstakingly increased asking rate at stake, Holder asked Roston Chase to bowl his offspin… for the first time in the series. Chase proceeded to gift Dhoni a boundary down the leg side - his first in 103 balls, then bowled a wide and then went for a six to Pandya to bring the equation down to 39 off 36. Surely now India win if they bat through?

Surely not. Holder came back immediately to make amends with a leg-stump yorker to send back Pandya. In came Ravindra Jadeja, p[laying ahead of the rested R Ashwin, who has got a bit of a reputation of being headless under pressure in limited-overs cricket. When the singles ought to do it, he went for the big hit, sending a Holder slower ball down long-on's throat, making it 17 off 15. Dhoni should still have it, right?

Dhoni still seemed to have it as he took a single next ball, leaving Kuldeep Yadav, batting for the first time in ODIs, two balls to face from Holder. Both were dots. Williams began the 49th with a slower ball. Dot. Then, calmly, still as if in the middle overs of an innings, he pushed a single. Nothing wrong with it. That's how Dhoni is. last over it shall be, one on one, me vs you.

Williams, though, squeezed out two dots against Kuldeep before bringing Dhoni back on strike for the last ball. And that's when Dhoni blinked. That's when he did the uncharacteristic thing. Imagine the amount of pressure he must be under at that moment to give up his trusted path.

Holder finished the innings with a flourish, notching the five-for, keeping West Indies alive in the series, making up with his bowling the direction and purpose they lacked with the bat. When West Indies batted, you wondered if they would choose not to bat at all after winning the toss if there was a provision for the two captains to just negotiate and decide a total India had to chase. They would still have brokered a better deal than the 189 that they got, joint second-lowest total for a side batting first and playing out its allocation of 50 overs since the 2015 World Cup; the lowest belonged to Zimbabwe.

There was no direction or urgency to how they batted on a pitch much flatter than the one India fought hard on on Friday. The perplexing part of it all was that for a major part of the innings, India didn't bowl to take wickets; there were open fields to take singles in but West Indies kept either defending or hitting the fielders in the circle.

If the lack of direction showed in the 192 dot balls faced by West Indies - at one point, Evin Lewis, a T20I centurion against India, had faced 15 straights dots from Umesh Yadav - lack of class showed in how they managed only tame dismissals whenever they tried to push the scoring rate. However, there was another factor at play, the slowness of the pitch, which they exploited decisively in the second half of the match.
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5th ODI

West Indies 205/9 (50.0 ov)
India 206/2 (36.5 ov)
India won by 8 wickets (with 79 balls remaining)

Normal service resumed in the West Indies as the hosts' batsmen failed again - this time on a much better batting surface - and India chased 206 down with relative ease to seal the series 3-1. Just like India seem wired to score around 300 no matter the situation or conditions, the number seems to be 200 for them. They got away with 189 in the last match, but on a pitch that the ball came on to the bat, their inability to score freely off the spinners - 76 runs in 24 overs - consigned them to defeat.

In the chase, Virat Kohli overcame his recent short-ball trouble by choosing to tide over the barrage as opposed to hooking everything. He now has more hundreds in ODI chases than anybody else - 18.

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The unsung heroes for India, though, were their spinners even though the scoreboard shows just one under the wickets column for them, that too for part-timer Kedar Jadhav. The fast bowlers, who took eight wickets between them, will, however, argue that they cleaned up after themselves after a profligate start. Umesh Yadav in particular struggled with the new ball, bowling either short and wide or full on the pads. Kyle Hope cashed in as he and Evin Lewis added 39 for the first wicket in 8.2 overs. Then he joined brother Shai to add a further 37.

At 3-0-22-0, Umesh was taken out of the attack, and was brought back soon after the fielding restrictions were taken off. He bowled two overs for four runs, then Kyle Hope attacked him with two boundaries and fell while going for a third. The ball was short enough, but the batsman failed to clear short midwicket. Umesh swooped in on that break with a full and straight delivery to send Roston Chase back first ball.

The stage was now for spinners to cut off the oxygen supply. Ravindra Jadeja found turn, Kuldeep Yadav remained difficult to negotiate, and Jadhav's low, round-arm, non-turning, slow offbreaks sent back a frustrated Jason Mohammed.

Walking in at 115 for 4 in the 31st over, Jason Holder used his long reach to put the spinners off their rhythm. He hit four fours, and a six off Hardik Pandya, but when he went to hit Shami straight down the ground he found an agile Shikhar Dhawan at long-on. The going was tough for West Indies after that.

And before that. There had been an 11-over spell without boundaries before Holder, and after Holder they managed only three boundaries, which incredibly were the first ones they had hit past the 40th over all series. Two of those were sixes in the last two overs from Rovman Powell that pushed West Indies past 200. Still they knew they needed lightning to strike twice if they were to defend this.

For a moment it seemed lightning might indeed strike twice when Dhawan went back in the first over of the chase, again driving on the up and failing to keep the ball down. In the fourth over, it should have become two down but Devendra Bishoo dropped Ajinkya Rahane at point. Rahane didn't go on to take his streak of 50 or more to five, but he added 79 with Kohli to set India on their way.

More importantly, Rahane's urgency and early boundaries meant Kohli could take his time dealing with the short ball. In the previous matches, his eagerness to score, a dominating batsman's ego if you will, had got the better of him, but here Kohli was prepared to wait it out. He kept ducking, weaving and leaving bouncers before he finally hooked in the ninth over, at least the eighth bouncer bowled at him. This was smoked clean in front of square for four with the wrists managing to keep it down.

The bouncers now came down to the occasional ones. Rahane reached his slowdown period now with the ball getting older, but slowly - and a little gingerly - Kohli began to dominate. It helped that there were quite a few loose balls on offer, especially from West Indies' legspinning talisman Bishoo.

As Kohli got more and more comfortable at the wicket, he began to put away even the good balls, as he did with a late cut off an Ashley Nurse length ball to move to 68 off 80. He moved to hundred in another 28 balls, unleashing an emotional celebration. Dinesh Karthik, playing only his second ODI in three years, provided Kohli good support, scoring a fifty off his own.

County Championship Day 4 (SUS V LEI Day 2)

Division One:

Surrey drew with Hampshire
Somerset beat Yorkshire by 179 runs
Middlesex beat Warwickshire by 1 wicket

Division Two:

Durham beat Derbyshire by 6 wickets
Kent drew with Northants
Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by 10 wickets

County Championship Day 3

Division One:

Surrey 410-7 v Hampshire 648-7d
Middlesex 334 & 36-2 v Warwickshire 334 & 233
Somerset 268 & 234-3 v Yorkshire 213

Division Two:

Northants 528-7 v Kent 701-7d
Durham 301 & 36-0 v Derbyshire 358 & 214


Day 1

Leicestershire 77-2 v Sussex 262

County Championship Day 2

Division One:

Surrey 113-1 v Hampshire 648-7d
Middlesex 302-7 v Warwickshire 334
Yorkshire 159-7 v Somerset 268

Division Two:

Gloucestershire beat Glamorgan by 10 wickets
Northants 180-1 v Kent 701-7d
Durham 274-8 v Derbyshire 358

County Championship Day 1

Division One:

Hampshire 361-4 v Surrey
Warwickshire 302-7 v Middlesex
Yorkshire 42-3 v Somerset 268

Division Two:

Glamorgan 117 & 59-5 v Gloucestershire 141
Kent 434-1 v Northamptonshire
Derbyshire 332-9 v Durham

Royal London One Day Cup Final

Alex Hales’s record-breaking 187 not out helps Nottinghamshire beat Surrey
• Surrey 297-9, Nottinghamshire 298-6; Notts win by four wickets
• Hales makes highest individual one-day score at Lord’s off 167 balls

Not many one-day cricket records last 52 years, and fewer still that involve the combination of Geoffrey Boycott and swift scoring. But Boycott scored 146 when Yorkshire thrashed Surrey in the 1965 Gillette Cup and, until Alex Hales’s scintillating unbeaten 187 in Nottinghamshire’s four-wicket win, it remained the highest score in a Lord’s final. Remarkably, Boycott’s record had come within three of being toppled earlier in the day as Mark Stoneman’s unbeaten 144 had carried Surrey to 297 for nine; Hales, largely on his own, meant Surrey lost their third straight final.

“In a one-day game?! That’s a surprise!” said a laughing Hales, when learning the identity of the man whose record he had broken. Boycott was not the only player to have a record pilfered: this was the highest individual one-day score at Lord’s, and the highest for Nottinghamshire, too. Hales has become a remarkable, dominant white-ball opener; he has England’s first and hitherto only T20 international century (and three of the highest scores in that format), and their highest ODI score, as well as this masterpiece. “The best I’ve seen, pure and simple,” was the verdict of Chris Read, the winning captain, with whom Hales shared the match’s defining partnership, 137 for Nottinghamshire’s sixth wicket.

He is not a man to drop when he has only nine, as poor Ollie Pope, 19 years old and playing only his sixth List A game, now knows. He was at cover when, off the bowling of Sam Curran, Hales hit hard at head height and the ball popped in, then out. Jason Roy, a man who knows a thing or two about Hales’s ability, wandered over from point to console Pope but, as Hales drove, flicked and hoicked away, the drop would come to cost 178 runs.

Until the 26th over, when Read joined Hales, by then on 116 in Notts’ 150 for five, there was a constant state of turmoil at the other end. Only Brendan Taylor, with 11, had reached double figures. Even as Read, playing his final game at Lord’s for the county he has served with such distinction since 1997, compiled a classy, intelligent 58, Hales finished with 63% of the runs. “I was acutely aware that the partnership needed to be built,” said Read. “Michael Lumb came to me shortly after he got out, and said to me: ‘He’s on today,’ and he knows him very well. When he’s on, there are few better. I just had to stay with him and knock it about.”

Even before Lumb was pinned plumb in front by Sam Curran, Hales had driven with vigour through cover and pulled the day’s first six (he would finish with four, to go with 20 fours). Moments after Riki Wessels was lbw to Ravi Rampaul, he brought up a 35-ball fifty, and was soon taking three successive fours off Tom Curran – driven through cover and down the ground, then thrashed through midwicket. Samit Patel, who had bowled so well for three for 51 earlier, pulled Rampaul to the man at fine leg, then Taylor feathered Jade Dernbach behind. Steven Mullaney never settled, but was unlucky to be adjudged lbw to Sam Curran.

Surrey’s had been a curious innings. Stoneman and Roy, helped by some awful catching (the latter was dropped first ball of the match at slip, and Stoneman at cover on 32) raced to 83 for none in 11 overs, before the introduction of Patel, who had Roy caught at cover off the leading edge with his very first ball. The arrival of Kumar Sangakkara was unsurprisingly unobtrusive and the cruise continued. When he was brilliantly caught by Read standing up to Mullaney, Surrey were still sitting pretty on 141 for two.

Stoneman was the glue holding Surrey together, but at the other end a procession began as Scott Borthwick meekly turned Patel to Mullaney at midwicket and, in Patel’s next over, Mullaney, by now at slip, snaffled Pope. Between times, Ben Foakes played down the wrong line, was bowled, and Mullaney had a hand in all five wickets to fall. Surrey had lost four for 39.

All this meant Stoneman, batting with the purpose of a man in the form of his life determined to prove the selectors wrong after his Test snub, calmed; his first 50 had taken 45 sweetly timed balls, but he finished with 144 from 149, and risks were rare. The support from the Currans and Gareth Batty was valuable but brief, and none could stay with him long enough for the late charge required. A target of 298 felt eminently achievable for a side that scored 802 runs in the two knockout games that carried them to Lord’s.

Hales and Read ensured that was the case, and that Stoneman and Boycott were trumped. Read, for whom this was a second Lord’s final win as captain after the 2013 YB40 (a triumph in which seven of the 11 here played), was caught on the fence pulling with 11 required, but it mattered not: James Pattinson, a seminal figure this season as they top Division Two and playing his last game for the county, took the slack from the tiring Hales to finish the job.