England vs South Africa 2017: 1st Test Day 1, 5 talking points
Joe Root revived England from a precarious position to notch up the highest score by an Englishman on his captaincy debut taking over the record from his predecessor, Alastair Cook. England ended Day 1 of the first Test at Lord's with 357/5 at stumps. The England captain was let off thrice in the innings by some indisciplined South African fielding and overstepping bowlers.
He made every one of those count as he counter-attacked the Proteas into a shell after Vernon Philander made his wobbly seam wreck havoc in the morning session which saw England opt to bat. The hosts did not have an ideal start and lost Cook and Keaton Jennings within the first six overs. Gary Ballance then departed to leave them at 49/3. Even though Big Vern returned to dismiss the dangerous Johnny Bairstow, Stokes gave Root the company he needed and the duo put on 114 for the fifth wicket.
If the Stokes-Root pair revived England, the Ali-Root pair put them in the driving seat. The duo scored at a rate of nearly run a ball and the 150+ run stand forced South Africa to a corner, shattering each of their plans on a well laid out Lord's surface. Root scored at more than run a ball in the sixth wicket stand with Ali.
Brief Scores: England 357/5 (Root 184*, Ali 61*, Philander 3/46)
Here are the talking points from Day one of the first Test.
#5 Philander toys with the openers
Returning from an ankle injury, the pinpoint accurate Vernon Philander looked in the groove from ball one. Against a circumspect Keaton Jennings and Alastair Cook, Philander seamed the ball around, beating the blade with the consistency and precision of a well trained archer until Cook half-heartedly poked at one on the fifth stump line and edged to the keeper.
Jennings looked like a sitting suck in front of Philander's artistry with the ball and was too dazed to even review when a ball that pitched outside leg and missed leg-stump was given out by the umpire. Such was the control and seam presentation that Philander exhibited that the England openers barely got a breather before he sent them back to their cup of tea. He returned to take the prized scalp of Bairstow before lunch to leave England in tatters.