Early advantage for England in gloomy Old Trafford  

Rex Clementine in Manchester

There’s no country in the world that has the cricketing talents that South Africa can boast of.  Not only are they self sufficient, they generously give them away to others too in the form of Kevin Pietersen, Marnus Labuschagne and Grant Elliott. The Aussies, English and the Kiwis are the beneficiaries of South Africa’s large-heartedness, and in recent times even English counties have benefited in the form of Marchant de Langa, Kyle Abott and Duanne Olivier.

The only thing to dislike about South Africa is their cockiness that you too often see at the greatest cricketing events. Yesterday again you saw it. With conditions overcast and ideal for home town boy James Anderson, most teams would have opted to bowl first. But the Proteas opted to bat and paid the price as England quikcs reduced them to 77 for five at lunch.

Anderson provided the early breakthrough in the fifth over of the innings when he had Sarel Erwee caught behind by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. Then Ben Stokes and Stuart Broad picked up two wickets apiece to take complete control of the game.

England’s four pronged pace attack kept asking questions on a dry surface which is expected to help spin later on.

South Africa had won the first Test at Lord’s inside three days and are overwhelming favourites to make it to the finals of the World Test Championship.

Brief scores:

South Africa 77/5 (Keegan Petersen 21; Ben Stokes 2-6, Stuart Broad 2-17) vs England.