Moeen Ali took England to the brink of a series victory over South Africa by producing one of the most memorable innings of his Test career.
Moeen has made decisive contributions with both bat and ball yet few have been as telling as today’s knock. A draw here will be enough to secure the first home Test series win over South Africa since 1998.
When he walked to the wicket, England were 134 for six, a lead of 270. They were in charge, but had Moeen been out cheaply, South Africa might have mopped up England’s second innings quickly and given themselves a realistic target for victory.
When rain brought a premature close to the day, Moeen was 67 not out, from just 59 deliveries, on a surface that had made batting look tough work for everyone else – including Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow. They are 224 for eight, a lead of 360, with two first innings wickets still standing.
Moeen had some luck. His first delivery flew off the inside edge and just missed his leg stump.
Then, on 15, he nicked Keshav Maharaj to slip, where Dean Elgar held the catch before spilling it when tumbled to the ground. Matches can turn on such moments and Moeen has probably ensured this is beyond South Africa.
He scored 38 runs from his last 22 balls and brought up his 50 with a straight six off Maharaj, which was caught on the England balcony by Bairstow. It was one of three sixes for Moeen, who also struck eight fours.
Anyone who had seen the earlier action would have found Moeen’s innings hard to believe. The top order struggled yet again, with Alastair Cook (10) and Tom Westley (9) caught in the cordon off Morne Morkel.
The struggling Keaton Jennings made only six, dismissed to a horrible attempted upper cut off Kagiso Rabada that was caught by Hashim Amla at first slip. Dawid Malan, another trying to justify his place in the side, was caught at bat-pad for six off Maharaj.
Then the pitch started to misbehave. Joe Root, one short of a half-century, hung on the back foot to Duanne Olivier and was surprised by a grubber that bowled him off his pad.
Read More
Stokes was undone by a beauty from Olivier that zapped towards him off the seam, and Faf Du Plessis took a sharp catch at second slip. Bairstow fell for 10 to another impressive catch, this time by Rabada at long-leg, which gave the impressive Olivier his third.
That gave South Africa a sniff, but they couldn’t hold their catches – and now Moeen has surely put this game out of their reach.
