South Africa chase 331 to beat England

 

Photo: AP London: England added 51 valuable runs after lunch before getting dismissed for 233 by South Africa on Day 4 of the first test at Lord's, leaving the Proteas with a tough victory target of 331 on Sunday. After reducing England from 139-1 to 182-8 in a frenetic opening session, South Africa was frustrated in its bid to take the two remaining wickets on a dying pitch. Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood put on a 45-run stand for the ninth wicket before Wood was bowled by Kagiso Rabada for 28. Bairstow reached his fifty with a pull for 2 runs but was out for 51 when he was stumped, after missing a sweep off off-spinner Keshav Maharaj. Jimmy Anderson was unbeaten on 0, and Maharaj had figures of 4-85. Starting the day on 119-1 and with a lead of 216 runs, England lost seven wickets for 43 runs in 93 balls before lunch. It could have been worse, only for Vernon Philander to drop Bairstow in the deep when the batsman was on 7. Fast bowler Morne Morkel did the early damage for the South Africans, dismissing overnight batsmen Alastair Cook (caught by a diving Temba Bavuma for 69) and Gary Ballance (caught behind for 34) in quick succession. Wickets continued to tumble. England captain Joe Root, who made 190 in the first innings, dragged a topspinner from Maharaj onto his stumps for 5 before Rabada was introduced to the attack and trapped Ben Stokes lbw with a delivery that kept low. Rabada has been banned form the second test at Trent Bridge, starting Friday, for swearing at Stokes following his dismissal of the allrounder in the first innings Thursday. The paceman kept his celebrations muted this time, putting a finger to his lips and not making eye contact with Stokes. At that stage, England had lost four batsmen for just 10 runs. Bairstow responded with four fours in five balls — one of which came after he was dropped by Philander off Maharaj. But in the last 10 minutes of the session, Maharaj bowled Moeen Ali for 1, Rabada bowled Liam Dawson for 0 off a high full toss just below the waist — completing a pair of second-ball dismissals for the allrounder — and Stuart Broad departed for 0 after nicking Maharaj to Theunis de Bruyn at short leg.