James Anderson set to return for England

“There is a big opportunity that presents itself when you play like that”.

“Most of the guys in this team are fairly young and inexperienced, so I think naturally that will come, but we’ve got to keep challenging them to do that”.

“Over the last eight months or so the guys have taken big strides forward as a side”, Cook added. “It’s only just the beginning of a journey for this young team”, said Bayliss, who was appointed in May. There’s so much talent in this side. I haven’t had a look at the wicket but it seems pretty good from here, and you can soon lose a toss – they have some great batters who could score runs and we have to be careful about that.

England’s main all-time wicket-taker James Anderson is about to return to their assault for the second check towards South Africa beginning on Saturday after recovering from a calf damage.

Stuart Broad and Steven Finn excelled in the opening match, taking 11 wickets between them.

England coach Trevor Bayliss believes Nick Compton has justified his decision to recall the batsman to the England Test team.

“But if you haven’t got them, you pick the best available”.

Bairstow hit nine fours and three sixes before he was last man out, caught at long-off, after he provided a rare example of a batsman scoring freely on a dry, slow pitch. But the way Mo bowled was fantastic – he bowled brilliantly. He can be very proud of his performance under pressure. The lanky pacer picked four wickets in the first innings and will welcome the support from Dane Piedt, the off-spinner who picked up five in the second innings. “2015 was a year when we were up and down a lot”, he said, referring to the Ashes series against Australia, where wins were followed by defeats before England clinched the series 3-2.

“He’s been working hard but we have to wait and see how he pulls up”, Bayliss said.

Proteas captain Hashim Amla confirmed in a news conference on Friday that Steyn would miss out, with Kagiso Rabada set to deputise in the pace attack.

The Proteas scored 421 against the Windies in Cape Town in January but did not reach 250 again in 10 completed Test innings in 2015.

Titans fast bowler Chris Morris has been added to the squad as cover for Steyn, as has Lions fast bowler Hardus Viljoen after Kyle Abbott experienced tightness in his left hamstring after the match. South Africa never came close. Dean (Elgar) started it off brilliantly, his hundred has been the positive light from this Test match for us. If England could somehow assemble a win in Cape Town for the first time in almost 60 years, that would be something.

“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 said. Have we as a side learned?