Joe Root revived England from a precarious position to notch up the highest score by an Englishman on his captaincy debut taking over the record from his predecessor, Alastair Cook. England ended Day 1 of the first Test at Lord's with 357/5 at stumps. The England captain was let off thrice in the innings by some indisciplined South African fielding and overstepping bowlers.
He made every one of those count as he counter-attacked the Proteas into a shell after Vernon Philander made his wobbly seam wreck havoc in the morning session which saw England opt to bat. The hosts did not have an ideal start and lost Cook and Keaton Jennings within the first six overs. Gary Ballance then departed to leave them at 49/3. Even though Big Vern returned to dismiss the dangerous Johnny Bairstow, Stokes gave Root the company he needed and the duo put on 114 for the fifth wicket.
If the Stokes-Root pair revived England, the Ali-Root pair put them in the driving seat. The duo scored at a rate of nearly run a ball and the 150+ run stand forced South Africa to a corner, shattering each of their plans on a well laid out Lord's surface. Root scored at more than run a ball in the sixth wicket stand with Ali.
Brief Scores: England 357/5 (Root 184*, Ali 61*, Philander 3/46)
Here are the talking points from Day one of the first Test.
#5 Philander toys with the openers
Returning from an ankle injury, the pinpoint accurate Vernon Philander looked in the groove from ball one. Against a circumspect Keaton Jennings and Alastair Cook, Philander seamed the ball around, beating the blade with the consistency and precision of a well trained archer until Cook half-heartedly poked at one on the fifth stump line and edged to the keeper.
Jennings looked like a sitting suck in front of Philander's artistry with the ball and was too dazed to even review when a ball that pitched outside leg and missed leg-stump was given out by the umpire. Such was the control and seam presentation that Philander exhibited that the England openers barely got a breather before he sent them back to their cup of tea. He returned to take the prized scalp of Bairstow before lunch to leave England in tatters.
#4 The wretched reviews and Ballance's awful comeback
Had the Jennings’ dismissal been reviewed, the opener would have still faced some more music from the impressive Philander but Ballance and the opener himself got that one wrong. Ballance, however, called for a review when a fullish Morkel ball trapped him in front.
Replays revealed that he was plumb in front and that the ball would have hit the stumps comfortably. It was an end to his misery at the crease. He was constantly tested by the trio of South African seamers, with Morkel tirelessly testing him with bouncers him before sending him back to the hut with a full ball that he was least expecting.
The same sequence of tactics had led to his ouster from the Test side a few months back but given the way he played today, South Africa will have one less man to plan for.
#3 England cripple South Africa by targeting Maharaj
Such has been Keshav Maharaj's influence in Tests for South Africa since his debut that holding up one end seemed a given. However, England cracked South Africa's plan by going after the left-arm spinner. Ben Stokes slammed him for a six off the second ball he faced from him while Root and Ali swept and toyed with him.
He was never allowed to settle as Root and Stokes constantly took the attack to him. Under pressure Elgar was forced to turn to Theunis de Bruyn but Root took a liking to the part-timer and hit him out of the attack. Maharaj ended the day conceding at a rate of 4.9.
#2 Moeen Ali piles on the misery
If South Africa thought they had seen the end of England's fight with Ben Stokes' wicket, they did not account for the underrated Moeen Ali. The unassuming all-rounder has an average of 95 at no.7, the highest for anyone with more than 10 innings in the position. He looked in ominous touch and kept the Proteas fielders leather hunting in the company of the captain.
Their partnerships cruised at the rate of knots and before they knew what hit them, South Africa found themselves in deep trouble. Maharaj was thrown out of the attack, Rabada and Morkel looked listless and Philander seemed a shadow of his morning self as Ali went on to smash his 10th Test half-century.
#1 Root punishes South Africa for their missed chances
You don't drop Joe Root, South Africa. The new England skipper is a superb batsman and has been rocking the world stage in the past couple of years. With his top order falling like nine pins, Root had to hold together one end and rally what remained of the middle-order with him, but he was sloppy with his stroke selection early on. Luckily for him though, the Proteas were even more sloppier on the field.
Aiden Markram, the substitute fielder, was the culprit first time around, standing way inside the boundary ropes at deep fine leg he had little chance when Root top edged a hook to what would have been down his throat if he had stood where he needed to. JP Duminy, screamed at by South African fans for his listless batting, put the England skipper down at gully a few overs later. Rabada was the luckless bowler on both occasions.
The sensational England captain went on to smash his 12th Test hundred. He went on to muster 150 but not before another let off. Maharaj had him stumped on 149 only for replays to reveal that he had overstepped.
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