South Africa vs England: James Anderson bites back at AB de Villiers

England’s embarrassment at a collapse that saw them lose their last seven wickets in just 13.4 overs will be tempered by the fact they had already won the series thanks to that remarkable victory in the third Test at The Wanderers.

A forecast of thunderstorms later in the day should have been an ample incentive for the batsmen to dig in and play for time, but they instead opted to go on the attack and were soon undone by a rampant South Africa attack.

India moved to second on the rankings last December when they obliterated the Proteas 3-0 on home soil, the first time South Africa had been beaten away from home in nine years.

Pakistan are in the fourth spot, followed by England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

“We are in a good position, we’ve got a strong lead and the wicket is deteriorating”, he said.

Rabada appears to have all the attributes to become South Africa’s first genuine black African cricket star since fellow fast bowler Makhaya Ntini.

The hosts declared their second innings on 248 runs setting England a mammoth target of 382 runs.

The biggest and most emotive debate now in South African sports is whether affirmative-action rules should be applied to give black players extra advantages when they were denied any during the apartheid era.

Kagiso Rabada starred again as South Africa finished the series with England on a high by claiming victory in the fourth and final Test by 280 runs on day five. “I never thought it was panic stations. Myself and Trevor (Bayliss, head coach) and the selectors will have to sit down and discuss that because the output we’ve had in this series hasn’t been good enough if we’re trying to get to
No 1 in the world”.

“I can’t really fault the lads too much, because if you’d said we’d win the series 2-1, we’d have taken that”.

Jonny Bairstow biffed his maiden Test century during the second Test in Cape Town – during a world-record sixth-wicket partnership of 399 with Ben Stokes – but also shelled a series of catches behind the stumps across the four games.

“It’s been a disappointing five days with the way we have played”, England skipper Alastair Cook said.

“We’ve got a long way to go, it’s a bit of a rebuilding phase for us, we’ve lost a lot of guys in the past few years, but I think it’s a bright future for us and we’re looking forward to the challenges coming our way”.