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England vs South Africa on July 14

Continuing their dominance over the visitors from limited-overs to Test cricket English beat South Africa in the first match at Lord’s by 211 runs and took a lead of 1-0 in the series. It was a remarkable performance by the England team to clinch an authoritative victory. It was England’s biggest victory against South Africa in terms of margin of runs since 1912. Skipper Joe Root, with 190 in the first innings total of 458, helped the hosts to victory but there was a bat and ball contribution from Moeen Ali which took the game away from the Proteas. Ali scored 87 in the first innings and went on to take 10 wickets in the match. The Proteas will rue that none of the four batsmen who made 50 in their first innings were able to kick on to make a big 100. There was a fight back in the second innings reducing England to 233 after they had put on 80 for the first wicket but chasing an unlikely 330 for victory, South Africa collapsed in a heap. The Proteas will welcome back skipper Faf du Plessis but Rabada is suspended for this second test.

·         Best economical pick – Captaining for the first time in tests, an exemplary fighter Dean Elgar scored a magnificent half century in the second innings. He will be relieved to give the captaincy back to faf du plesis for the second test.

·         Top captains & vice captains – An excellent start as captain Joe Root was firmly control of his bowlers and strategy, and more attacking in his field settings. Root put his team in a position of dominance with his innings of 190 in just 234 balls, at a strike rate of 81.1 in a Test match, smashing 27 boundaries and a couple of maximums. If there was one man who stole the show at the Lord’s Test, it was the commonly perceived Part-Timer Moeen Ali. His 87 off 147 balls was as important as that of Joe Root. After picking up four wickets in the first innings, he backed it up with figures of 6-53. He became the first player to score a half-century and to secure a ten-wicket haul in 37 years for England.

·         Smart pick – In his second innings of 51 Jonny Bairstow was at his best when bossing the bowling and organizing the tail, whereas in his first innings, coming in at 49 for 3 he was not so certain how to play it.  

·         Cautious Pick – The South African Spin All Rounder JP Duminy dropped an important catch of Joe root in the first innings when he was batting on 16 and he has never lived up to the brilliance of his first 2 tests and likely to make way for Faf du plessis for 2nd test.

My XI – Joe Root (Captain), Moeen Ali (Vice-Captain), Dean Elgar, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Jonny Bairstow, Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Ben Stokes, Keaton Jennings