Lord's Test: Bazball crumbles as South Africa hand Ben Stokes 1st defeat as England captain
India Today
England vs South Africa: Kagiso Rabada picked up 8 wickets and Anrich Nortje 6 as South Africa pacers decimated England to help the visitors clinch and innings and 12 runs in the first of a 3-match Test series at Lord's.
South Africa captain Dean Elgar has walked the talk. The experienced skipper had said, in the lead up to the Test series opener at Lord's, that he is confident that his team would be able to seize crucial moments and not let England run away with the momentum as they did against New Zealand and India earlier in the summer. And the Proteas did exactly that over 2-and-a-half days at the iconic Lord's as they hammered England by an innings and 12 runs.
South Africa's fiery pace attack dented the much-talked-about Bazball approach as England never really had any momentum with the bat, getting bowled out for 165 and 149 after the visitors took a lead of 161 runs.
England vs South Africa, 1st Test Day 3 Updates
It was also the first defeat for Ben Stokes as England's full-time Test captain and head coach Brendon McCullum, who took over at the start of the summer. England had headed into the series, flaunting their 'Bazball' approach, after having won 4 Tests on the trot but they were comfortably outplayed by a spirited South African team.
South Africa took a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series and consolidated their top spot in the World Test Championship table. Notably, Dean Elgar's men have not lost a series so far in 2022, having beaten India 2-1 at home, drawn a series 1-1 in New Zealand and hammered Bangladesh 2-0 at home.
