Cricket News: England VS South Africa 1st Test Day 1 - Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje put England in a tough spot
It was a challenging day for England as South African pacers left Englishmen in trouble as they lost six wickets by the end of Day 1
Paul Collingwood applauds 'fantastic' Ollie Pope after South Africa dominate day oneOllie Pope has been handling one end of English batting currently on 61* along with Stuart Broad at stumps. After winning the toss, South Africa opted to bowl, and the visitors will be happy with the trouble they gave the hosts.
The Proteas entered the match with four seamers and capitalised on every bit of the pitch. In just 32 overs bowled on the first day, South Africa didn’t even feel a need to bring in their spin option Keshav Maharaj. Anrich Nortje (3-wicket), Kagiso Rabada (2-wicket), and Marco Jansen (1-wicket) dominated with their swing and bounce and kept taking regular wickets.
England’s test opening has been a concern for a really long time now. Alex Lees and Zak Crawley failed again in setting up a foundation because of which the complete middle order collapsed. Only Ollie Pope (61*) and Ben Stokes (20) managed to touch a double-run figure.
The highest partnership that England could manage was 45 runs in 57 balls between Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes. Rest, no partnership could bat more than six overs together.
Lords have always been under trolls regarding the uncertain nature of weather, and today was also one such day. Test matches getting hampered due to rain is a heart-breaking case.
Tomorrow, for day 2, the South African pacer will look again to attack and take the remaining four wickets while the real test will be with England as they have managed to score just 116 runs, and how much they can add more before losing all the wickets will be an exciting thing to watch.
Follow all of today's Cricket matches on our Live Match Centre