England stumble to 147-4 with losses after lunch

And on Day 1 of this final Test match, they were 260 for 6 in their allotted 90 overs versus South Africa.

They should win the final test and clinch the series. To ram home England’s advantage, and reward the spectators who stayed until the very end, Ben Stokes took an outrageous catch at gully to get rid of Kagiso Rabada (23) at the stroke of stumps.

It started off with England thrashing South Africa at Lord’s and looking extremely comfortable as they raced to a 211-run victory.

But for James Anderson, Lancashire’s most prolific Test wicket-taker, the chance to ply his trade from the newly conferred James Anderson End at Old Trafford merely raised his game to heights he has rarely matched in six previous matches on his home ground. “We spoke about creating pressure.and getting as many balls (as possible) in the right area”.

Consequently‚ Philander bowled only 32 of the 183.1 overs the Proteas sent down in the match‚ which England won by 239 runs to take an unassailable 2-1 series lead.

Hashim Amla looked in typically stylish touch while making 30, punching Stuart Broad off the back foot for a well-struck four.

Root was missed on 40 after South Africa wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock allowed a nick off Morne Morkel to fly past him without moving, apparently thinking it was going straight to first slip.

Bavuma battled hard for 46 before becoming the latest Proteas batsman to be out playing no shot this series, leaving an Anderson delivery that clipped the top of off stump.

Despite a run rate that remained stubbornly below three an over, the day offered an intriguing balance between bat and ball, with South Africa’s bowlers holding England’s batsmen in check for the most part, half-centuries from Joe Root and Ben Stokes notwithstanding.

England twice had to dig deep, when they were 92-3 with Tom Westley’s departure, and then at 187-5 when Root was lbw for 52 to Duanne Olivier.

He was dropped by de Kock on 54 and on Friday survived a review for a catch by Elgar when the third umpire – incorrectly in my opinion – ruled the ball had been grassed.

South Africa knew Vernon Philander was struggling before the Third Test began, but picked him anyway because he is crucial to their bowling attack. He could have gone in the second over of the day here only for a leading edge to loop up and fall just short of a diving Rabada in his follow through.

With just a single needed for his fourth Test century, Bairstow elected for the sweep against Maharaj.

England ended day one on 260/6 and will continue batting on Saturday at 11:00 local time or 10:00 GMT.

“There were a few expletives after I got out”, Bairstow told Sky Sports.

“Test cricket is a harsh world to come into and the tough thing for him is that there is talk about players being found out at global level”.

The Test series still holds the most gravitas, of course, and sharing the honours there would go quite some way to atoning for the disappointment of successive 2-1 reverses in the one-day global and Twenty20 series.