Moeen Ali hit back at Dean Elgar’s comments suggesting that the Proteas have found a chink in England’s armour. 

The Proteas rattled England on day two, bowling them out for 205 and piling on the misery by declaring at 343-9 on day three, taking a 473 lead into day four.

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‘They rely heavily on their experienced batters to score the runs,’ Elgar told BBC. ‘We got a few guys out cheaply in the first innings, which worked brilliantly for us because those lower and middle order guys couldn’t do that.

‘I definitely think we have opened up a few cracks in their side, which will be brilliant for us in the rest of the series.’

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Ali hit back at the Proteas opening batsmen, dismissing what Elgar had to say.

‘I don’t think any cracks opened up. He can say what he wants,’ Moeen told TMS. ‘We have to bat for two days. You can’t rule it out at all with our batting line-up and the players that we have. We bat a long way down.

‘I wouldn’t put it past us. We’ve got players who actually believe we can do that. There’s quite a lot of us who gave our wickets away, so we’re itching to get a big score on the board.’

The Proteas will aim to bowl England out on day four and level the series.

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