England moved steadily to 52-1 at lunch on day three of the second Test in Cape Town to drive home their advantage, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN at Newlands.
The Proteas were bowled out for 223 leaving them with a first innings deficit of 46 after stumbling from their strong position of 157-3 late yesterday afternoon when Dean Elgar and Rassie van der Dussen were at the wicket. The English bowlers struck late to set up an intriguing first session on Sunday.
It was the South Africans who blinked first as James Anderson wasted no time in picking up the final two wickets of Kagiso Rabada, who nicked off in the first ball of the day, and first Test hero Anrich Nortje.
Anderson and Stuart Broad used their experience and skill to oversee the Proteas freefall to a disappointing total with only four batsmen managing to reach double figures.
The two dismissals handed Anderson a 28th five-wicket haul in red ball cricket, while Ben Stokes became the first English fielder, apart from a wicketkeeper, to take five catches in a Test match.
Overcast conditions welcomed England openers Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley to the wicket but the Proteas failed to maintain their discipline.
The English pair made a steady start before Rabada struck in the 11th over, removing Crawley for 25 with Quinton de Kock taking a sharp diving catch to his right.
Joe Denly then joined Sibley out in the middle and wore off the pace of Nortje and Rabada before the break to put the vistors in a commanding position as they head into the middle session of the day with a 98-run lead.
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South Africa: Pieter Malan, Dean Elgar, Zubayr Hamza, Faf du Plessis (c), Rassie van der Dussen, Quinton de Kock (wk), Dwaine Pretorius, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.
England: Dominic Sibley, Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), Sam Curran, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, James Anderson.
