Cricket: England defeat South Africa by 9 wickets, win series 2-1

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Nakul Shivani | Date 12-09-2022
England defeated South Africa in the third test by 9 wickets
England defeated South Africa in the third test by 9 wickets

 

London

England cricket team made an excellent finish to their summer after it defeated South Africa in the final test to win the three-test series 2-1 on Monday.

England made a mockery of the 130-run target set by South Africa, chasing it down in just 22.3 overs with nine wickets to spare on the final day of the test match.

Zack Crawley finally repaid the trust of the selectors and played a scintillating knock of 69 runs of 57 balls to help the home side secure a series win.

Kagiso Rabada claimed the solitary wicket of the innings, dismissing Alex Lees, who missed out on a half-century by 11 runs.

The bowler could have had another wicket in the first over of the day, but Kyle Verreynne dropped a straightforward catch to deny him his second scalp. Crawley scored the winning runs and finished the game with a boundary.

The match was only 151.3 overs long, making it the fourth-shortest men's Test match in history and the shortest since 1912.

However, it only took six sessions and 25-odd minutes for England to win the contest. The pacers led the way for the hosts in the first innings, which saw South Africa dismissed for 118. Ollie Robinson's fifth five-wicket haul in Tests was well supported by Stuart Broad's four-wicket haul.

South Africa started their second innings in an attempt to take a big third innings lead after being bowled out for a petty score in the first one. The Proteas seemed much more secure in their second innings until Dean Elgar's wicket caused a catastrophic collapse. South Africa, who were 70/1 at one point, were bowled out for 169.

After cleaning the Proteas cheaply in the first innings, England appeared to be cruising for a massive first-innings lead, but South Africa came back well through Marco Jansen (5/35) and Kagiso Rabada (4/81) to limit the margin to just 40 runs.

The man of the match was given to Ollie Robinson for match figures of 7 for 89.

England Captain Ben Stokes was adjudged the 'Man of the Series'.

Jonny Bairstow, who was ruled out of the third test and the World Cup squad due to a freak accident was deemed 'Player of the Summer'.

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South Africa had earlier won the first test of the series by an innings and 12 runs before England drew level winning the second test by an innings and 85 runs.