3rd Men’s Test, Day 4: England 6 wickets away from victory; South Africa need mammoth 375 runs

Dean Elgar's fighting 72 not out managed to save South Africa from further embarrassment on Day Four versus England.

England have strangled South Africa with the latter reeling at 117 for 4 at stumps on the penultimate day of the third Test. In pursuit of 492, South Africa’s top-order again failed to live upto expectations and were reduced to 52 for 4, before an unbeaten 65-run stand between Deal Elgar (72 not out) and Temba Bavuma prevented further hiccup. Nonetheless, the damage is long done and England will fancy their chances of taking an unassailable lead in the four-match series on Monday.

England finally declared with Jonny Bairstow’s wicket at tea. With a lead of 491. England bowlers had enough on board to go full throttle against South Africa. However, no one would have expected their top order to falter again like the first innings. Stuart Broad removed Heino Kuhn early by ripping through his defense. While Elgar was determined not to throw his scalp and put a price on his wicket, he saw the dismissals of Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis in quick succession.

Toby Roland-Jones’ dream debut continued as he got rid of Amla in a row. The right-hander came out with a defensive mindset and was in two minds whether to play or leave a delivery from the youngster. As a result, the ball kissed his willow and Joe Root took a low catch at slips. De Kock was bowled by a brilliant yorker from Ben Stokes. He had no answer to the delivery and went back for 5. Du Plessis followed suit on the very next ball. He offered on shot and the ball hit his pads. He took the decision upstairs but was adjudged out with the ball hitting the stumps. Stokes was on a roll and on the verge of becoming the first bowler to take a hat-trick at The Oval.

Nonetheless, Bavuma stitched an important stand with Elgar since then. He brought in a sense of calm, like witnessed in the previous outing, and held his end. Elgar, on the other hand, took on some blows but did not throw his scalp. With 11 fours, he is unbeaten on 72. South Africa may have restricted England from running through their batting line-up, but await a tall task to bat out the entire Day Five.

With only 6 wickets in hand, it looks like a lost cause already. However, the likes of Elgar, Bavuma, Chris Morris and Vernon Philander would like to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

Brief scores:

England 353 & 313 for 8 decl. (Tom Westley 59, Joe Root 50, Jonny Bairstow 63; Keshav Maharah 3 for 50, Chris Morris 2 for 70) lead South Africa 175 & 117 for 4 (Dean Elgar 72*, Temba Bavuma 16*; Ben Stokes 2 for 29, Toby Roland-Jones 1 for 20) by 375 runs.

Full Cricket Scorecard, England vs South Africa, 3rd Test