Proteas bowler Nortje agrees they could have performed better with ball in hand on Friday

Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortjé believes while England performed well with the bat, his side could have done more to see off their challenge earlier on day two of the second Test in Manchester on Friday.

Much has been said about Proteas captain Dean Elgar’s decision to bat first at Old Trafford, despite overhead conditions indicating it could have been better to take first use of the red cherry when he won the toss at the start of the Test.

The fallout of that decision saw SA stumble to 151 all out shortly after tea on day one before the hosts closed out the day with 111-3 despite a late charge by the visitors' pace attack.

SA started day two 40 runs ahead and things looked good after two early wickets in the morning, however centuries by captain Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes handed the initiative back to the hosts.

England posted 415 -9 and they declared just before the close of play.

Despite two late scares in the final overs of the day, the Proteas will begin day three on 23-0 with Elgar (11 off 28) and Sarel Erwee (12 off 26) not out, still 241 runs behind.

The Kariega-born quick was explicit in his backing of the skipper’s call at the toss, saying he supported the decision “100%”.

Nortje, who took the only two wickets of the morning session, said the period shortly thereafter was the best time to keep the pressure on the hosts.

“That was definitely the period for the day, it was a major time in the game when we got the wickets.

“It is not going to happen every time [where] we are going to get a team out in a session or two, so it was definitely the ideal period to try and get more sticks. Maybe something was happening with the ball, [extracting] a bit more bounce because as the ball got older, it got a bit harder.

“We were trying to hit good lengths most of the time, so unless there is anything that you can specifically think of, I think most of the time we tried to go good, hard lengths, bring the stumps, LBW, and nick off in.

“There was a bit more bounce which made it hard to hit the stumps, but we tried to bowl our best ball and I don’t think we need to change anything. They did bat well as well,” he said.

Asked if the “Bazball” approach by Stakes and Foakes threatened the Proteas' bid for victory, Nortje felt there were opportunities to get them out early.

“At the start, we felt like there were opportunities, on occasions, the ball had been missing the edge of the bat throughout the innings, but they really absorbed the pressure well, particularly at the start.

“They slowly built that momentum and the partnership which was key for them, [because] later on the ball became older. One or two things went their way as well and they got the momentum on their side and started playing some shots later on. So they played the situation really well this time,” he said.

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