England close out first day on 260/6 against South Africa

Ben Stokes was dismissed on the penultimate over of play to leave the fourth test between England and South Africa well balanced after the opening day.

The England vice captain was bowled by Kagiso Rabada for 58 as England closed on 260/6.

Keaton Jennings was first to go, caught by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock for 17. Alistair Cook and Tom Westley then built up a partnership of 57 before Cook was caught by de Kock for 46.

De Kock then got his third catch of the day to take out Westley (29) in the 40th over.

Joe Root and Dawid Malan’s partnership of 52 continued England’s steady innings before Malan (18) edged to Faf du Plessis from Morne Morkel’s bowling.

A Root edge was dropped by de Kock on 44 and the captain eventually moved to 52 before being bowled lbw by Duanne Olivier.

Stokes brought up his half-century soon after but was eventually bowled out by Rabada, who posted bowling figures of 2/52.

Jonny Bairstow remains on the crease at 33, with number eight Toby Roland-Jones not facing a ball in the final over.

Cover Photo: Alistair Cook by Nic Redhead used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.