Dean Elgar upstaged the rest of his teammates with a fluent fifty. Photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP.
The Proteas won’t win the third Test against England at The Oval.
A few years back they might’ve blocked long enough to escape with a draw.
But even that seems like too much of a stretch.
Also read: Why it’s wrong to underappreciate Temba Bavuma
The Proteas ended the fourth day on 117/4, requiring another 376 runs to win as the top order collapsed again.
At least the visitors have a settled pair at the crease in Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma, who’ve added 65 for the fourth wicket.
It’s all up to them on Monday if the Proteas are to survive.
The duo certainly deserve credit for their attitude.
They didn’t try to just keep the England attack out, they still looked to runs whenever possible.
Elgar, who’s unbeaten on 72, was particularly impressive.
He did have some hairy moments but he gritted it out and eventually stroked 11 boundaries on the day.
His strike rate is currently 64, showing that trying to survive need not mean becoming bogged down.
A sinner in that regard was Hashim Amla.
The bearded veteran really needed to take the lead in his batting effort and show his worth.
But he never looked willing to attack and instead just defended.
Given that he’s still experiencing problems outside off-stump, it was little surprise actually that he was caught at slip trying to withdraw his bat too late against Toby Roland-Jones (1/20).
He played himself into a hole – his five runs came off 37 balls – and seemed to lose confidence.
The Proteas really needed him to be more positive.
Frustratingly, captain Faf du Plessis (0) also didn’t contribute to saving the game after his error is judgement saw him leave a Ben Stokes (2/29) delivery that drifted in late and had him LBW.
It was the last thing they needed, especially after Quinton de Kock (5) was brilliant yorked by Stokes the previous delivery.
Earlier, England declared their second innings on 313/8.
South Africa actually bowled reasonably well but never looked like shooting their opponents out.
Tweaker Keshav Maharaj (3/50) proved the most successful bowler but an attacking half-century by Jonny Bairstow (63 off 58) put England out of sight.
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