South Africa vs England 2017: 2nd Test, 5 talking points
South Africa rose from the ashes to deliver a thumping knockout punch of 340 runs and embarrass England at Trent Bridge, led by their superb skipper, Faf du Plessis. England were staring at defeat by the end of third day with 474 to chase down and two full days remaining on a pitch which was cracking down.
South African pace bowlers ran in strong on day four and had England two down in no time courtesy Vernon Philander when their skipper, Joe Root joined hands with Alastair Cook. England knew that their hopes of stealing a draw rested on these two but then Faf du Plessis and Chris Morris pulled off a heist.
Morris, known for his limited-over lines in Test cricket was surprisingly tasked with softening Joe Root.
The move worked wonders as Morris delivered a superb yorker to clean-up Root thus effectively ending their hopes in the Test match. Once Cook departed the formalities were completed in no time by Proteas as they levelled the series with a performance that would make Graeme Smith's world-beating team proud.
Brief Scores: South Africa 335 (Amla 78, Anderson 5/72) & 343/9d (Amla 87, Moeen 4/78) beat England 205 (Root 78, Maharaj 3/21) & 133 (Cook 42, Philander 3/24)
Have a glance at the talking points from the Test match.
#5 Mark Wood under scrutiny
While James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes all played their roles to perfection in the two Tests of the series thus far, Mark Wood has endured tough times. While he bowled the quickest delivery by an England bowler in the game, Wood was nowhere near good enough to warrant a spot for the third Test.
That Root failed to extract the best from Wood would be harsh, but the captain should be able to tell the bowler exactly why he is in the team. Wood isn't there to bowl the fourth stump line all day long. He is there for his pace and intimidating bouncers. He is there to push batsmen on the back foot and then york them out.
Wood is there to do what Chris Morris did to perfection in the Test match. If anything, he could take a leaf out of how Du Plessis managed the dynamic bowler.