CENTURION, South Africa: Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada’s career-best 7-112 set South Africa up for a big lead over England in the fourth test on Sunday.
Rabada rattled through England’s top and middle order as the tourists were bowled out for 342 after South Africa’s 475.
South Africa stretched its lead to 175 when bad light stopped play on the third day at SuperSport Park, reaching 42-1 in its second innings.
Rabada’s rich return, which included a burst of three wickets in two overs just before lunch, put South Africa in position for a desperately needed win to regain some lost pride.
England has already clinched the four-match series with a 2-0 lead ahead of this last test. South Africa hasn’t won in its previous nine tests, leaving newcomer Rabada without a victory in his young career.
“I don’t think I’ve arrived yet,” he said. “There’s still lots of work to be done. (But) It felt good to take those seven wickets.”
Rabada’s pace and movement troubled England all through an overcast day in Centurion, where the sun didn’t appear and the floodlights were needed from early in the afternoon. Alastair Cook and Joe Root each made 76 in England’s first innings, and Moeen Ali gave the tourists some fight with 61 from No. 8. But England faces a big challenge on a cracked and wearing pitch, where batting last promises to be difficult.
“We’re going to still have to be positive to try and get something out of this game,” Ali said. “But obviously it’s going to be tough.”
After taking England’s first two wickets on the second day, Rabada added five more on Sunday. Following a brief rain delay, he got the dangerous Ben Stokes for 33 in the afternoon to a flying edge to first slip with the new ball. Having removed six of England’s top seven, he finished with the wicket of Stuart Broad, who was caught on the boundary.
England started the day 138-2 with Cook and Root well set.
Cook, who needed an innings of 117 to become the first Englishman to score 10,000 test runs, never got going though. He added just nine runs to his overnight total before prodding at a Morne Morkel delivery and edging to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. Cook is now 41 runs short of 10,000, with a chance to reach the landmark in his second innings.
The captain’s exit broke a 99-run partnership with Root. Root showed more enterprise, hitting three fours in an over early on when he was also missed at gully. Root registered his third half-century of the series, to go with his hundred in Johannesburg. He had also survived, via an umpire decision review, after being given out to a catch behind off spinner Dane Piedt.
Rabada then took over.
He removed Root, and James Taylor and Jonny Bairstow — all in the 15 minutes before lunch. Rabada raced to his five-wicket haul, getting Root out to a thin edge behind. He steamed in next over and dismissed Taylor — caught behind trying to hook — and Bairstow for a duck, caught behind off the glove.
It gave the 20-year-old quick five-wicket hauls in back-to-back tests following his 5-78 in England’s win in the third test.
Stokes was winding up in typical fashion, and had battered a six into the sightscreen over long-off to go with his five fours. He was angry with himself when he went after a Rabada delivery that nipped away from him, and Hashim Amla held the catch at slip.
Part-time spinner JP Duminy broke a 43-run stand between Ali and Chris Woakes when Woakes edged and it rebounded off wicketkeeper De Kock and was held by Dean Elgar at slip. Rabada’s seventh was Broad.
Ali hit 11 fours in a useful counterattack, avoiding a much worse fate for England after it was 211-6 when he arrived. He was caught in the deep seeking late runs. As the gloom settled in, Stephen Cook was 23 not out and Amla unbeaten on 16 to take South Africa to stumps in its second innings. Elgar was the one man out, to James Anderson when a ball angled in toward him jagged away sharply to take the edge. That reinforced the belief that the pitch was starting to misbehave. It was Anderson’s 431st test wicket, putting him level with New Zealand’s Richard Hadlee in seventh all-time. -Agencies
