England thrash South Africa to win third Test: Records broken
England came up with a phenomenal performance as they thrashed hosts South Africa in the third Test, in Port Elizabeth, on Monday. With this win, England are now in the driver's seat, as they lead 2-1, with the final Test to be played in Johannesburg from Friday. The match saw quite some records getting scripted, as we take a look at few of them.
In an interesting stat, South Africa have been asked to follow-on for the third time in their previous five Tests. They had never suffered a follow-on in the 100 Tests prior to that. Also, this was their first follow-on at home since 2001-02, to Australia in Johannesburg, which the visitors had won by an innings and 360 runs.
In another notable observation, English spinner Dominic Bess has become the first spinner from the nation to claim the opening four wickets in a Test innings since 2012-13. The last Englishman to do so was Graeme Swann, who did it against India in Ahmedabad, as he had consecutively dismissed Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and Virat Kohli.
English all-rounder Ben Stokes surpassed the 4,000-run mark in Tests for the nation. He became the 35th Englishman to achieve this feat. Stokes also went past 600 career Test runs on South African soil. This was his second Test century in South Africa. He also became the seventh player in history to notch 4,000 runs and claim hundred-plus wickets in the format.
Stokes shared a 203-run stand alongside Ollie Pope for the fifth wicket. This is England's second-highest stand for the fifth wicket against South Africa in Tests. This is also the highest fifth-wicket stand for England on South African soil.
The last time before today England went to lunch on Day 1 of a Test without losing a wicket - Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook vs India at the Oval in 2011.#SAvENG
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) January 16, 2020
Middle-order English batsman Ollie Pope scripted a special record as he scored an unbeaten 135. In the process, he became the youngest Englishman to score a Test century in South Africa, at the age of 22 years and 14 days. The previous record was held by John Edrich (22 years and 342 days) in 1939.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, England posted 499/9, courtesy twins centuries from Stokes (120) and Pope (135). However, Proteas were bundled out for 209, thanks to 5/51 by Bess. After being enforced a follow-on, it was English skipper Joe Root, whose surprise spell of 4/87 absolutely destroyed the South African batsmen, as they lost by an innings.
