Broad tops ICC Bowling Rankings after Johannesburg spell

But although England would go on to win the fourth Test by an innings and 54 runs, Broad was not present for the finale after being hit on the face when a Varun Aaron bouncer squeezed between his grille and helmet. Quinton de Kock, who missed the third Test with a knee injury that he picked up while walking his dogs, will return to take guard behind the stumps.

Broad is the first England bowler since Steve Harmison to top the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers. He is out of the fourth Test in Pretoria this week and is unlikely to be risked in the one-day series to follow, leaving him to concentrate on being fit again for the World Twenty20 in March.

He felt discomfort during the second day of the third Test at the Wanderers, where England clinched the series, and scans have shown that he has a left side strain.

Head coach Trevor Bayliss was pessimistic about his prospects, paving the way for Chris Woakes, Chris Jordan or Mark Footitt to feature in Centurion, as England eye a historic 3-0 success. “Finny (Steven Finn) was trying to get on and I was trying not to get off. The air is a bit thinner here so a 10-over spell was probably a bit too much”.

He was England’s most threatening bowler in the first two games of the series and finishes with 11 wickets at 26.09. “That’s the challenge for these young blokes”, said Bayliss.

The latter was not named in South Africa’s initial 17-man squad for Centurion, which does include uncapped 33-year-old batsman Stephen Cook – who appears set for a belated worldwide debut after South Africa released out-of-form opener Stiaan van Zyl to play for Cape Cobras.

South Africa can only point to past statistics for a glimmer of sunshine.

“Winning in South Africa has been a dream of mine, so to do it in their own back yard is very special”, he said.

“But certainly on this performance he is the best in the world”. Some of the messages coming out in the press conferences don’t seem positive.

“Confidence is not oozing out of the dressing room and that is hard to turn around, particularly when you have a lot of inexperienced guys looking to fill other players’ shoes”.

“I wasn’t feeling overly well on the first day, but I said to the lads I’ll try and make it up to you second digs, so it’s nice to get a few wickets in the second innings”.