ENG vs SA: Hosts in trouble as rain plays spoilsport
Day 1 of the first England versus South Africa Test at Lord's saw rain play spoilsport after the hosts sank deep in trouble. England were reduced to 116/6 before Stuart Broad came in and faced two deliveries. The match was called off post that. Only 32 overs were possible on Day 1 of the Test. Here are further details.
England openers Alex Lees and Zak Crawley departed cheaply as the side was reduced to 25/2. Kagiso Rabada claimed both wickets for the visitors. In-form England batters Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow departed quickly too. From 55/4, England rallied on to 100/5. Ben Stokes (20) supported Ollie Pope. After Stokes' dismissal, Ben Foakes departed soon before rain stopped the day's play.
SA's four-man pace attack bossed the day, bowling in the right areas. All attributes ranging from pace, swing, bounce and movement were extracted well. Both England openers played poor shots to deliveries that stayed straight to nick behind. Root was trapped LBW by Marco Jansen of a delivery that swung in late. Anrich Nortje's perfect inswinger had Bairstow dismissed too.
Nortje was pick of the SA bowlers. He claimed three wickets for 43 runs. He got the key scalps of Bairstow, Stokes, and Foakes. Rabada took two scalps for 36 runs from 12 overs. Jansen took 1/18 from six overs.
Ollie Pope was the man who stood out for England. Just when everyone was struggling, Pope hung on and went on to get to a fine fifty. Pope amassed an 87-ball 61*, hitting four fours. His presence was the reason England got past the 100-run mark. This was Pope's eighth fifty as he has raced to 1,370 runs.
