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England’s Anderson set to return but Steyn doubtful for Proteas
It was a decisive win for England, who went into the series in fifth place on the Test rankings, while top-ranked South Africa suffered a continuation of the batting woes they suffered while being beaten 3-0 in a recent four-Test series in India.
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England removed AB de Villiers in the first over on Wednesday to race to a crushing 241-run victory in the opening test against South Africa at Kingsmead.
Hope was lost early in the day, as AB de Villiers was trapped lbw by the impressive Moeen Ali who got the wicket of Themba Bavuma only six deliveries later. Steyn’s wicket was the fourth to fall for the addition of just two runs, a collapse which started the night before when Finn found extra pace and lift in the final over of the day to dismiss Faf du Plessis. Since 1992, five of South Africa’s lowest Test totals have come in Durban.
Leading the attack in the absence of James Anderson, Broad’s brilliant first-innings display, when he took 4-25, was the key to England gaining an 89-run advantage they never looked like yielding.
And now captain Alastair Cook is ready for the good times to roll.
Ali gets Abbott LBW with that round the wicket line again.
England now head to Cape Town for the second Test 1-0 up and favourites to claim this four-match series against a side still ranked as the best Test outfit in the world.
Steven Finn continues to take wickets and showed his real quality by taking six wickets in the match and there were more positives for England as number eught Mooen Ali showed just what he can do, taking seven wickets in the match – taking his test match wickets tally to 61 wickets in just 20 test matches at an average of 35. “It can turn very quickly”.
The 28-year-old opened the bowling after South Africa resumed on 136-4 and his third ball of the day accounted for De Villiers.
“It wasn’t ideal to go home from Dubai with a stress fracture but it gave me a chance to rest my body”, he said. “I think because the wickets were good cricket wickets and we didn’t manage to capitalise on that”.
“It’s a really short turnaround now – the shortest I’ve ever done”, said Cook.
“There’s so much talent in this side but it will take relentless hard work”. “There will be a lot of comments on Twitter and Facebook, but we have to keep that noise out and believing in what the team is capable of”.
“Over the past eight months or so the guys have taken big strides forward as a side”.
“So I just charged in and hit the wicket as hard as I could and luckily got a bit more bounce. In the middle of a Test series like this, the hunger to get runs on the board is getting more”.
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“The danger is the word complacency, but that won’t happen in our squad – that’s not where we’re at as a side”, he added. “We didn’t play half as well as we can”. “The players are not happy with their performances but they are all supporting the captain”. They have kept the team in a good space in that regard.