Seven wickets by James Anderson and Ollie Robinson in the final session was enough to hand England a comprehensive innings and 85-run victory in the second Test in Manchester yesterday.
The visitors were dismissed for 179 in their second innings as the fast bowling duo ripped through the SA batting line-up with the new ball to level the series at one-all.
Captain Ben Stokes started the rot for the Proteas with two wickets after tea, but it was Anderson and Robinson’s heroics in the post-tea session to condemn the visitors to a crushing defeat.
The Proteas, who found batting extremely difficult in the face of some tight English bowling, saw them score just 38 runs for the final seven wickets.
Earlier, three wickets in the morning session put England in the pound seats after play started with SA on 23-0 with captain Dean Elgar and Sarel Erwee still at the crease.
The series-deciding Test gets underway at the Oval in London on September 8
The opening duo lost their wickets within a few overs of each other when Elgar was bowled by James Anderson for 11 and Erwee edged an Ollie Robinson delivery through to Ben Foakes for 25.
Aiden Markram (6), attempting an expansive drive, was caught in the slip cordon by Zak Crawley with the score on 54-3. Keegan Petersen and an injured Rassie van der Dussen then set about resurrecting the Proteas innings as they batted for the duration of the second session.
They weathered the early storm to go to lunch on 88-3 and picked up where they left off as they moved SA past 100. The duo continued on and, despite numerous deliveries just missing the outside edge of both bats, went to tea on 141-3 — still 123 runs behind.
Stokes got the post-tea session off to a perfect start when he ended an 87-run fourth wicket stand by dismissing Van der Dussen, caught behind by Foakes for 41, after surviving an earlier edge that was not detected.
New batter Kyle Verreynne smacked two boundaries off Stokes to bring up the 150 for SA. Stokes claimed his second when he had another set batter, Petersen, for 42, again caught by Foakes to end the 68th over with SA on 152-5.
With two new batters at the crease, the visitors looked to reestablish some sort of normalcy as they kept the English bowlers at bay by rotating the strike regularly.
With the new ball in hand, Anderson struck with the second delivery of the over as he disturbed the off stump Simon Harmer (16) with SA on 172-6 in the 81st over.
Robinson followed suit with the wicket of Keshav Maharaj for 2, caught at fourth slip by Ollie Pope.
Anderson recorded his 100th Test wicket against SA when he pitched a delivery up to Kagiso Rabada (2) and found the outside edge of the bat to present a simple catch to Joe Root at first slip.
Robinson wrapped up the SA tail with the wickets of Anrich Nortjé and Lungi Ngidi for 0 to finish with four wickets for 43 runs.
Anderson finished the innings with 3 for 30 in 15 overs, Stokes with 2 for 30 while Broad claimed 1 for 24 in 13 overs as Verreynne ended not out on 16.
The series-deciding Test gets underway at the Oval in London on September 8 and the Proteas will be looking to bounce back and put up more of a fight in their bid to claim the series.
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