Rory Burns keeps England hopes alive at the end of day 3
Thanks to Rory Burns unbeaten knock, England have kept their
faint hopes alive of winning the first Test match on 3rd day play
against South Africa played at Super Sports Park, Centurion on Saturday.
Starting on the overnight score of 72 for 4, Rassie Van der
Dussen and night-watchman Anrich Nortje played with positive intent putting
pressure on the England bowlers. Both took advantage of poor bowling by the visitors.
Van der completed his maiden Test fifty off 65 balls. In the next over, Jofra
Archer got the breakthrough dismissing the debutant for 51. Van der Dussen and
Nortje added 91 runs for the 5th wicket. Quinton de Kock came to the
crease and took on Jofra Archer with some big hits which put England bowlers
under more pressure. Nortje was finally dismissed by Archer for well made 40.
Dwaine Pretorius could not contribute much as he was
dismissed by Ben Stokes with a simple catch at slips by Dom Sibley. Vernon Philander
looked composed with the stroke play and helped South Africa reach 197 for 7 at
lunch.
In the second session, Philander and de Kock continued to
make the batting look easy before Stokes dismissed de Kock for 34. De Kock and
Philander added 43 runs for the 8th wicket. Keshav Maharaj also
spent some time at the crease and added 30 runs for the 9th wicket
with Vernon Philander. Jofra Archer picked his 5th wicket haul
getting rid of Maharaj. Kagiso Rabada played some lovely strokes and continued to
pile the misery. Sam Curran picked the final wicket getting the wicket of
Vernon Philander with a good catch by Jonny Bairstow who replaced Jos Buttler. South Africa were bowled out for 272 setting a target of 376 runs
to win in the 4th innings.
In reply, Rory Burns was given a reprieve as he was given
out by the umpire but on review the umpire had to change its decision. After
that, Burns looked in aggressive touch hitting lovely boundaries. At tea England
were 24 for 0.
Rory Burns and Dom Sibley showed their class putting the bad
balls away for boundaries. Burns reached his fifty off 62 balls. As things
looked dangerous for South Africa, Keshav Maharaj got the breakthrough
dismissing Dom Sibley for 29. Dom Sibley and Burns added 92 runs for opening
wicket. Maharaj troubled Burns and Joe Denly which made life tough for the
England batsmen. In the last over, Burns survived a chance but remained steady.
England ended the 3rd day on 121 for 1.
South Africa 284 in 84.3 overs ( Quinton de Kock 95, Hamza
39, Stuart Broad 4/58, Sam Curran 4/58) and 272 in 61.4 overs ( Van der Dussen
51, Vernon Philander 46, Dean Elgar 22, Faf du Plessis 20, Jofra Archer 5/102,
Ben Stokes 2/22) England 181 in 52 overs ( Joe Denly 50, Ben Stokes 35, Vernon
Philander 4/16, Kagiso Rabada 3/68) and 121 for 1 in 41 overs ( Rory Burns 77*,
Keshav Maharaj 1/16)
England require 255 runs to win.
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| Rory Burns 77* helps England fightback on day 3 |
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