Majestic Proteas embarrass woeful England by an innings at Lord’s in first Test

England promised abrasive and high-octane ‘Bazball’ but produced a feeble whimper.

Talk coming into the first of three Test matches against the Proteas at Lord’s was dominated by England’s newfound confrontational way of playing which inspired them to four recent series wins.

But they came unstuck against this determined and improving Proteas side which ignored the much talked about ‘Bazball’ and promised to adjust to conditions and play smart cricket.

SA won the toss and sent their hosts in to bat and that proved to be a masterclass by captain Dean Elgar as they went on to produce a majestic all-round performance for this win by an innings and 12 runs.

To beat England at home is one thing but to thump them by an innings at the home of cricket in just over six sessions to take a 1-0 lead in the series is to completely embarrass them.

The inquest will start for England as to how they capitulated and allowed the Proteas to register this thumping win at this revered venue where Kagiso Rabada registered his name on the honours board with a his 12th five-wicket haul.

England were bowled out for 165 in the first innings, with Ollie Pope their highest scorer with 73 runs, as they failed to deal with the pace from the likes of Rabada, Anrich Nortjé, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi who managed to exploit the conditions.

When they batted, SA were dominant as they scored 326 with Sarel Erwee the highlight of their innings as he top scored with a well-taken knock of 73 and he was followed by Marco Jansen with 48 and Dean Elgar with 47.

The batting foundation was laid by Elgar and Erwee, who put up a first-innings opening stand of 85 off 135, while Maharaj and Jansen kept SA in the game with a quick-fire lower-order stand of 72 off 75.

When the Proteas were finally bowled out for 326 before lunch on Friday, they enjoyed a lead of 161 and it proved to be a bridge too far for England as they suffered this heavy defeat.

Bowling after lunch in the second innings for SA became a mini Nortje show as he produced a performance of control, aggression and pace to demolish the England middle order before they were bowled out for 149.

Nortje ended his second innings with impressive figures of 3/47 and he was supported by Maharaj, Rabada and Jansen with two under their names and Ngidi taking the other one.

With the bat, England scorecard made for sorry reading as Lees and Broad were their top scorers with 35 each while heavy hitters Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes underwhelmed.

Rabada was named the Player of the Match for his fifer in the first innings but special mention must go to Erwee, Maharaj and Jansen who made solid contributions.