England on the verge of victory over South Africa

England need to take six wickets on the final day to secure victory over South Africa in the third test.

Joe Root declared on 313/8 at tea to set South Africa a target of 492 to win and the bowling attack took four wickets during the last day of the session as the South Africans finished on 117 runs.

Tom Westley, Root and Jonny Bairstow all hit half-centuries before Keshav Maharaj took their wickets. Keaton Jennings added 48 but was caught by Chris Morris with Ben Stokes scoring 31.

Stuart Broad wasted no time after the change of innings to take out Heino Kuhn for a score 11 in the sixth over. Root then caught out Hashim Amla at slip from Toby Roland-Jones’ bowling.

Stokes then took two wickets in two balls to take the score to 52/4. Quinton de Kock fell for five runs before Stokes took Faf du Plessis out for a golden duck.

Dean Elgar’s 72 not out and Temba Bavuma’s 16 not out steadied South Africa’s ship before the close of play, but they still have an uphill struggle tomorrow with 98 overs due to be played.

Cover Photo: Joe Root by Naparazzi used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.