Cricket
England beat South Africa by nine wickets at the Oval─── MORGAN PIEK 13:41 Mon, 12 Sep 2022
England needed just 26 minutes this morning to wrap up the Test series against the Proteas in London. The English needed to score just 33 runs on day five to win the 3rd Test by nine wickets at the Oval and thus claim the series 2-1.
Kagiso Rabada struck for South Africa by trapping Alex Lees lbw for 39 runs, but it had no impact on the Test.
The opening batter Zak Crawley finished unbeaten on 69 runs, while Ollie Pope ended on 11 not out.
The England captain, Ben Stokes, puts their series victory down to a team effort.
“It's been a great series for us as a team, and it's been one of those where we've had no real individual standout performances, but different people throughout the whole series have put their hands up for us during crucial periods.
“In a team sport that is what you want. You want to be able to turn to different people at different times and hope that they can break the game open for you with the ball and bat.
“That is definitely what we managed to do throughout the whole series.”
The Proteas skipper, Dean Elgar, in his turn lamented his team’s performance with the bat.
“What helped us in the win at Lord's was a good first innings with the bat in hand. We just need to be blunt about it.
“We haven't executed the runs like we were supposed to. The first innings' runs are so big in the UK. It's big around the world, but we failed in that department.
“As much as you need 20 wickets to win a Test, you need runs on the board.”
Sarel Erwee’s 75 runs at Lord’s was the highest total by a South African batter throughout the series.
The Proteas' next game will be on 28 September against India in the 1st T20 International.
