Instead, only biblical rain or an unthinkable last-day thrashing will prevent England from completing their sixth Test win of the summer and thus their best home season for 18 years. They will continue on 97 without loss, needing 33 more runs to reach the target of 130 before a celebration delayed by bad light finally begins. It follows the second night in a row where the players have been forced off early and this time, at 6.37pm, boos rang out around the Oval. Ben Stokes, whose three wickets had earlier helped bowl South Africa out for 169 in the second innings, clearly felt the same in the balcony, the England captain visibly upset by the umpires’ decision. Although forced to wait, Stokes could still think of a dominant performance from his players on a lively fourth day that was actually only the second. His own blistering efforts were just one part of a ruthless collective seam bowling performance, with Stuart Broad claiming three for 45 and Jimmy Anderson and Ollie Robinson two each. Perhaps most satisfying for Stokes was the sight of Alex Lees and Zach Crawley reaching unbeaten scores of 32 and 57 respectively after a 17-over attack on the target. The South African’s shoulders had slumped, notably when Marco Janssen got Lees caught at slip off the first ball of the chase, but that was still a huge boon for both openers. Crawley in particular looked unfazed by the task at hand, compiling a 36-ball half-century and hitting 10 fours. Granted, one bowled a catch between wicketkeeper and slip before the close, but at the end of a season in which the right-hander has struggled to repay the faith shown to him, those innings go down as a plus. Six hours earlier, England’s mood was not nearly as bright and in a summer where the quality of the Dukes’ ball was a running issue, they were talking about the latest they had at their disposal. The hosts had let their first innings evaporate – just four runs added to their overnight 154 for seven as the impressive Jansen completed a maiden Test with five wickets – and South Africa had started the second innings well. England’s 40-run lead was wiped out, two reviews were dismissed and conditions appeared to have relaxed for the batsmen. But just as Stokes had snubbed Sarrel Hervey for 26 with his third delivery of the match – a low-pitched one caught by Joe Root – to see the tourists on 70 for one after lunch, suddenly the ball started to swing lavishly and their efforts to change it not so mysteriously. Anderson and Broad were in their element, the oldest swingers in town putting on one last show of the summer for their audience. The knock was a trial once again, even if Dean Elgar decided to plead guilty when, rapped on the pad by Broad for the third time in the 22nd over, he walked off unchallenged. Given the experience of a green line-up, Elgar probably should have taken one regardless. Instead, he was back in the sheds when the replay showed him missing. Broad, meanwhile, enjoyed extra applause as Elgar’s dismissal took him to 564 wickets and thus into the top five on the all-time list in Test cricket. And then the only fielder above him, Anderson, soon got the batting going, setting up Keegan Petersen with a flurry of inswingers before chipping one off the right-hander and seeing an edge fly to slip. When Broad pinned Ryan Rickleton for a simple lbw at five, South Africa were suddenly 95 for four, just 55 ahead after an encouraging start. Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Something of a stalemate ensued, which underlined the opposing approaches of the two teams as Kaya Zondo and Wiaan Mulder dug deep for an hour, dismissing the old guard but adding just 25 runs to their pile. Hence, when Robinson continued the Test storm by removing both set men in the space of five balls with a more hurried swinger, the tourists had gone nowhere. At the other end, Stokes was at the back, conscious not to relieve the pressure in a match where his spinner, Jack Leach, had been relegated to the role of second baseman. And although he took South Africa’s lead after 100 when he had Jansen caught at a no-ball, his 10-over blast from either side of the tea closed down the lower order, uprooting his colleague’s leg stump with the passage of tea. with another ball that was released and having Kagiso Rabada scrambling soon after. Although Keshav Maharaj hit 18 valuable runs, Anderson and Broad came back to further improve their figures and confirm the target. Robinson may have fractured their partnership with the new ball of late, but the pair now have 997 wickets from 132 Test matches played together, a testament to their skill, fitness and hunger. And so, while the Oval is known for its farewells – even more so now after this historic week – there’s every chance the pair will fulfill Stokes’ pre-match prediction and make one last crack at Australia next summer. if the Dukes’ much-maligned ball moves like it did in this fourth after day two, just try to stop them.
