Player of the Match
Player of the Match

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

Q de Kock
Q de Kock
95(128) 14x4 - 0x6
Control %78%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 21 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
13 18 18 8 16 5 5 12
RJ Burns
RJ Burns
84(154) 11x4 - 0x6
Control %86%
  • Productive Shot
  • flick
  • 35 runs
  • 4x4 - 0x6
3 15 7 12 22 5 2 18

Best performances - Bowlers

JC Archer
JC Archer
O17
M1
R102
W5
Eco6.00
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
2W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
VD Philander
VD Philander
O14.2
M8
R16
W4
Eco1.11
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
2W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Match Details

Toss

England , elected to field first

Player Of The Match

Series result

South Africa led the 4-match series 1-0

Match number

Season

Hours of play (local time)

10:00 start, Lunch 12.00-12.40, Tea 14.40-15.00, Close 17.00

Match days

26,27,28,29 December 2019 (5-day match)

Reserve Umpire

Match Referee

Points

South Africa 30, England 0

Scorecard Summary

SOUTH AFRICA 284(84.3 OVERS)
1ST INNINGS

ENGLAND 181(53.2 OVERS)
1ST INNINGS

SOUTH AFRICA 272(61.4 OVERS)
2ND INNINGS

ENGLAND 268(93 OVERS)
2ND INNINGS

Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: Alan Gardner

END OF OVER:
93 | 12 Runs 2 Wkts | ENG: 268/10

  • James Anderson0 (0b)
  • Kagiso Rabada24-3-103-4
  • Anrich Nortje17-4-56-3

1.20pm: Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay! South Africa have won a Test - what a wonderful day! The wounded buffaloes have drawn first blood in this series, leaving Root's lions limping on to the Newlands Test with another L against their record. They'll hope to have a fitter group to pick from in five days' time, with an early finish here perhaps aiding recuperation. South Africa, meanwhile, will be aiming to keep their New Year's revolution going down on the Cape, and of course we'll be back for more... until then, Miller's report is the place to start, and stick around for more to come from Firdose and George. Thanks, as ever, for all your comments. From Matt, Miller and myself, it's cheerio for now. Bye!

1pm: Time for the presentations, starting with England captain Joe Root: "Yes, been really tough off the field, had pretty much everything thrown at the group, 10 guys going down ill and credit to everyone they stood up and tried to put in the best performance possible, didn't let anyone down. [Chance of winning?] Absolutely, not been long since we've seen a similar chase from a similar group of players. We got ourselves in a position at lunch, same as Headingley, we were fully confident we could chase, put together partnerships and needed to get through the new ball. [Poor first innings?] Really disappointing but pleasing to see us put in a better performance straight away. [Bowl first?] Think it was 50-50, you get a side 111-5 and you think you're ahead of the game. Maybe a slight opportunity missed but credit to South Africa as well. [Cape Town] Pretty much everyone's been ill, hopefully that's the end of it and we can prepare well and bounce back strong. [Archer five-for] He's a huge talent, he can have a massive impact, still at the start of his Test career and he's going to keep learning and getting better. Great response after New Zealand, shown a lot of character."

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis: "We needed that, the last couple of months have been tough. We worked really hard building up and I thought it was a really good Test. Today the effort was incredible, and the wickets came towards the end. We haven't won a Test in a while, for us this is the start of a new chapter, we want to go up to better things and this is just the start, make sure we keep working hard and doing the right things. The bowling in the whole Test match was very good. Probably day one and two was most in it for the bowlers, both teams bowled well. The sun at SuperSport Park makes it go up and down. The last two days were better for batting, so to keep a strong England team to 2.6 [RPO] for the day was credit, made sure they didn't go anywhere. I thought Anrich Nortje was really good, we expect that from KG but Anrich in his first Test at home - we know he's got a lot of pace but I thought he bowled with great control. Good signs for the Test team going forward. We need new bowlers, with Vern off to greener pastures, now we're going to need one or two more. [Debutants] Really happy with those things, going to the guys and saying that's the best feeling, winning a Test match. First one is emotional. You create a platform for them to feel welcome, and go out and do their thing."

Quinton de Kock is named Man of the Match: "Yeah, the situation, I had to understand how I was going to go about things, I thought they bowled well and made us struggle but it's nice to go out and contribute when the team's in a tough situation. Glad we got over the line. When I went out, I was thinking I should leave well, get into rhythm but I went with what was going at the moment. [Second innings] Obviously Jofra was coming in hard and I had to find a way to counteract that, that was the best way I thought to go about it. [Hand injury?] Finger's all good, got keeper's fingers, just another day in my life. Probably be sore tomorrow but I'll carry on."

2.52pm: Well, it wasn't that close in the end, was it? South Africa held their nerve and eventually the collapse came, England losing their last seven wickets for 64. So Faf du Plessis' team will take a 1-0 lead in the series, ahead of round two in Cape Town next week. Lots to sift through, but clearly England's decision to bowl first backfired on them, and they twice tumbled from promising positions - 142 for 3 in the first innings, and 204 for 3 today. South Africa's good bowling went largely unrewarded in the morning, but they chipped away, with Anrich Nortje particularly impressive at key moments. In the end, the architect of England's first-innings demise, Vernon Philander, was left wicketless but that bonus wasn't enough to get them close. First win in six Tests for South Africa, and a huge boost to du Plessis after the turmoil of recent weeks.

92.6
W
Rabada to Broad, OUT, bowled 'im, neck and crop! Broad exposes this stumps and Rabada obliges by putting England out of their misery. The Gazelle of Doom tolls the bell, securing a 107-run victory for South Africa after a sweaty old tussle at SuperSport Park

SCJ Broad b Rabada 6 (11m 6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 100.00

92.5
2
Rabada to Broad, 2 runs, scooped high into the leg side, shouts of "catch!... but Maharaj can't quite get there! Made a valiant effort running across from mid-on

"6 for 58 runs....England doing England again," chirps Amit

92.4
2
Rabada to Broad, 2 runs, back of a length, straightening on the stumps and thick-edged down to fine leg
92.3
2
Rabada to Broad, 2 runs, dug in short, Anderson humps one away through the leg side on the pull

Out walks James Anderson, wearing spectacles a look of grim resignation. We're still some way off Jack and Ben territory

92.2
W
Rabada to Buttler, OUT, swings it high into the leg side, well held in the deep by Pretorius! Buttler's battle is over, a filthy mow across the line resulting in a steepling top edge towards deep midwicket

JC Buttler c Pretorius b Rabada 22 (53m 33b 2x4 2x6) SR: 66.66

92.1
6
Rabada to Buttler, SIX, steps away, smoked over long-on! Buttler mounts the barricades for one last futile (surely?) act of defiance

Small victories dept: This is the highest fourth-innings score at Centurion

England 4th innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st92RJ BurnsDP Sibley
2nd47JL DenlyRJ Burns
3rd19JL DenlyJE Root
4th46JE RootBA Stokes
5th18JM BairstowJE Root
6th10JE RootJC Buttler
7th19JC ButtlerSM Curran
8th5JC ButtlerJC Archer
9th6SCJ BroadJC Buttler
10th6JM AndersonSCJ Broad

ICC World Test Championship

TeamMWLDPTSWRpWr
AUS1484233221.392
IND17124152051.577
ENG21117344241.120
NZ1174042031.281
PAK1245328630.822
SL1226420010.729
WI1338219410.661
SA1358026420.787
BAN70612000.601