Test Series

De Zorzi, the Proteas’ opening batter, was dismissed for 78 before lunch, while Bavuma was dismissed late in the day for 80, allowing West Indies to gradually claw their way back into the contest. Wiaan Mulder, not out on 37, and Kagiso Rabada, on 12, will resume batting for South Africa on Friday’s third day.

Jomel Warrican has been the pick of the Caribbean bowlers so far, with Kemar Roach (2-53) and Jayden Seales (2-57) also picking up key wickets.

Scores: South Africa 342 for 8 (Bavuma 86, de Zorzi 78, Warrican 3-66) vs West Indies

Resuming at 45-1 on a slow pitch that requires patience instead of flair, South Africa were initially kept quiet by West Indies' senior seamers Kemar Roach and Jason Holder, who started on good lengths but were punished as soon as they strayed.

While de Zorzi, who resumed on 32, got to his 50 off 78 balls, Tristan Stubbs (20) didn’t have the same luck as he edged a delivery from Roach to Holder in the slip cordon, adding only 18 to his overnight score of two.

Bavuma, in his first Test innings since March 2023, and de Zorzi kept West Indies at bay with a 51-run third wicket stand, which was eventually broken when the latter gloved to Kavem Hodge off Warrican shortly before the lunch interval.

After the break, Bavuma again dropped anchor and allowed his partner, David Bedingham, to take the fight to West Indies in a partnership worth 50 runs. Bedingham (29) later holed out to debutant Keacy Carty off Seales.

Ryan Rickelton (19) came and went shortly after watching Bavuma raise his 21st Test fifty. However, the captain was later trapped in front, and as the day draws to a close, Warrican struck twice, removing Kyle Vereynne (39) and Keshav Maharaj (zero) to keep West Indies in contention.

Despite the team widely being acknowledged as having a potent bowling line-up heading into the series, many have raised concerns about how the Windies will fare at the crease against experienced English bowlers and potentially damp, cold conditions.

The absence of the talented duo of Shimron Hetmyer and Darren Bravo, who opted out of the tour for health reasons, have done little to assuage those fears but Reifer, who was recently returned to the coaching unit, insists the team’s hard work so far gives them a good chance of success for the upcoming series.

“I keep hearing everyone saying they are concerned about our batting.  We have some experienced guys here and the boys have been working really hard,” Brathwaite told the Mason and Guest Radio program.

“We understand the English conditions now. Young Hope and Brathwaite who were here before are now experienced players…” he added.

“What we have been working on is playing the ball late, in the Caribbean, our batters tend to go fairly hard at the ball but we are working on playing the ball as late as possible, and trying to leave alone as many deliveries as possible on top of the off-stump.  It’s important when the ball is moving around you try to play as little as possible and rotate the strike.  We have been having a lot of discussion on battling their spells and building innings.”

The Caribbean team will not need to look far for an example of its batting line-up struggling in English conditions than the first Test of the tour three years ago.  After England made 514, the West Indies were dismissed for 168 and 137.

Captain Kraigg Brathwaite leads the charge on the batting ranking, as he moved up two slots to 40th position, following scores of 48 and 47 in the second Test, which West Indies lost by 241 runs. They lost the first Test by an innings and 114 runs and will try to avoid a whitewash in the final Test in Edgbaston starting on Friday.

Wicketkeeper/batsman Joshua de Silva was rewarded for his first innings score of 82 in that match, as he jumped seven places to 61st, while Jason Holder’s 27 and 37 saw him inched up two places to 70th. Kavem Hodge’s 120, which was his maiden Test century, pushed him into the top 80.

The Dominican batsman moved 21 places up to 75^th, one spot behind Kyle Mayers, who, despite being out of action, remains in 74th. Alick Athanaze held firm in 77th, while discarded Jermaine Blackwood (50th), Tagenarine Chanderpaul (83rd), Roston Chase (86th), and Kirk McKenzie (100) are the other Caribbean batsmen in the top 100.

On the bowling chart, new-ball bowlers Alzarri Joseph and Jayden Seales made the only notable improvements to their rankings. Joseph moved up two places to 33rd after finishing with five wickets in the match, and Seales moved up 10 places from 44th to 34th with six wickets.

Meanwhile, England batter Harry Brook has achieved a career-best third position after notching a century in the second Test.

Brook, who scored 36 and 109 in Nottingham, advanced four places, while his teammates Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope have also made significant gains in the latest weekly update to the men’s rankings, which are carried out on Wednesdays across formats.

Left-handed opener Duckett has progressed six places to 16th position after notching scores of 71 and 76, while Player of the Match Pope has advanced from 29th to 21st with scores of 121 and 51.

Chris Woakes is back into the top 20 of the bowling rankings for the first time since September 2021, after he finished with four for 84 and two for 28 in the match, while spinner Shoaib Bashir has advanced 18 slots to 53rd position after he took his third five-wicket haul in just his fifth Test.

In the ICC World Test Championship standings, England are placed in sixth place, while West Indies are ninth, as per the percentage points that determine qualification.

The West Indies and England are set for a return to international cricket next month with a three-match Test series, in England.  With the spread and effects of the coronavirus still very much evident in the UK, however, some have questioned the wisdom of the decision, particularly based on the risk posed to the players.

With 291,409 thousand reported cases and 41,279 deaths, the UK is the hardest-hit region in Europe.  The ECB has, however, been taking precautions with a chartered flight for the team to the UK and the implementation of a biosecure environment for the series, which will keep the players quarantined from the rest of the general public for the duration of the tour.  There is still, however, some risk attached but Grave has been quick to dismiss suggestions the invitation was accepted because of a debt owed.

“We got a three-million-dollar advance of our ICC distribution that was given to us by ECB.  It’s a short-term interest-free advance because its due to be paid back in full in July, directly by ICC to ECB and will be deducted from the money we get,” Grave told Barbados Nationnews.

“In early May when we received it, we weren’t discussing it at all because the situation in the UK was not the state that it is now.  So, I guarantee you it’s not linked in any way shape, or form to our touring or not touring.”

The tourists showed some fight as the day drew to a close before being bowled out for 236, but England's turn with the bat was cut short due to bad light.

Sri Lanka got off to the worst possible start as England ripped through them 6-3 in the first seven overs, with Woakes (3-32) getting a double-wicket maiden, dismissing Nishan Madushka and Angelo Mathews.

Shoaib Bashir (3-56) kept up the pace after lunch, as Sri Lanka slumped to 113-7, but they soon found their footing.

Captain Dhananjaya de Silva dug deep, racing to 74 off 84 balls, while Milan Rathnayake added 72 before Bashir dismissed them both. Stand-in captain Ollie Pope then ran out Vishwa Fernando to end Sri Lanka's innings.

With the light already poor, Sri Lanka were forced to open the bowling with spin - Ben Duckett and Dan Lawrence moved to 22-0 before the umpires intervened, leaving 12 overs unbowled. 

Data Debrief: Pope makes strong start

Pope is the 82nd man to captain England in Test cricket, and the 12th this century. Despite losing the coin toss, he could not have asked for a better start after taking over from the injured Ben Stokes.

For Sri Lanka, Rathnayake impressed on his debut after helping to drag Sri Lanka towards the 200 mark - his tally of 72 is the highest score ever made by a number nine on Test debut. 

Ben Stokes declared “write this team off, write me off at your own peril” after his England side ended their tour of India with an abject defeat inside three days in Dharamsala.

James Anderson becoming the third bowler and first non-spinner to reach 700 Test wickets on Saturday was relegated to secondary status by England’s meek batting display as they lost by an innings and 64 runs.

A fourth successive defeat and seventh in 12 Tests was confirmed within just eight sessions of play, with England on a downward slide after winning 10 of their first 11 under Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

The duo’s methods have come under scrutiny during a 4-1 series defeat and Stokes has underperformed, averaging 19.9 with the bat, but the England captain was bullish about his team’s future prospects.

“Not just myself but the team are big enough to say we’ve been completely outplayed in the last four games,” Stokes said. “I’m always man enough to say we got beaten by the better team.

“Failure is a great teacher to sports teams. You either let failure and disappointment eat you up and shoot you down or you learn from failure and you make sure you don’t lose the enthusiasm of what we do.

“This series shouldn’t affect anything we’ve managed to achieve before this tour. It’s the first time, particularly these last four games, that this team has been dominated pretty much the whole time.

“We will use this as inspiration to become a better team and to become better players. I am obviously disappointed with my performance, but write this team off, write me off at your own peril.”

While Joe Root made 84 before he was last man out, he lacked a useful foil as England were skittled for 195, needing 259 to make India bat again, as Ravichandran Ashwin banked five for 77 on his 100th Test.

England have reached 400 just once in this series – in their famous triumph in Hyderabad in the opener – and what has been billed as an attack-minded mantra under this leadership has been questioned.

“The media name ‘Bazball’ – everyone says, ‘what is it?’ – in my opinion it’s wanting to be a better player,” Stokes said.

“In the face of defeat and failure, ‘Bazball’ will hopefully inspire people to become better players and become even better than what we are.

“I think we’ve done a lot of things right. One thing India have done is stay true to what makes them successful. We have done that but not been able to execute how we’d like to.

“Whenever we managed to wrestle back any type of momentum with the ball or bat, India were always able to then put it back on to us. That was where the Tests after the first one were won and lost.”

Stokes, who played his 100th Test in Rajkot, refused to make any excuses at the end of an anticlimactic few months for England in all formats. As well as this defeat, they were knocked out of the Cricket World Cup at the group stage and lost both ODI and T20 series in the West Indies.

“If we we weren’t disappointed, if we weren’t frustrated at how the series has ended up, I don’t really know what other emotions you could have,” Stokes said.

“Use it as fuel. I always feel like I can’t work any harder, but I’ll come away from this tour and go home and work even harder than what I have done out here for the summer coming up.”

Anderson, with his father in the crowd, finally joined Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne in the 700 club. The 41-year-old spent several months in the 690s but the moment came when Kuldeep Yadav hung out his bat and edged through to wicketkeeper Ben Foakes.

“He doesn’t play the game for the milestones, he plays for his team-mates and England,” Stokes added. “He’s just an unbelievable ambassador for the game and in particular fast bowling.

“If someone came up to me and said who should I emulate if I want to be a good fast bowler, the first name I’d say is Jimmy Anderson.”