South Africa vs England 2017: 2nd Test day 1, 5 talking points
South Africa recovered from a mini slump to post 309/6 at stumps on Day 1 of the second Test between England and South Africa at Trent Bridge. Opting to bat first, the Proteas looked solid in the first hour against the menacing duo of Anderson and Broad, both of whom had a juicy Trent Bridge surface to extract life from.
Elgar eventually fell to Anderson, giving the Englishman his 300th Test scalp at home, the most by any fast bowler in home Tests. While Kuhn survived some stinging blows, Amla looked increasingly uncomfortable against the England pacers. Kuhn's wicket brought out a surprise as South Africa opted to send in Quinton de Kock at 4.
de Kock lambasted the England bowling in a counter-attacking innings alongside Hashim Amla, who completed 8000 runs in Test matches, giving South Africa the edge by tea.
However, the middle-order once again fell prey to some poor shots and it looked like England would wrap things up on Day 1 but Philander and Morris had other ideas as they forged an unbeaten 74 run stand to take the visitors to stumps.
Brief Scores: South Africa 309/6 (Amla 78, de Kock 68, Philander 54, Broad 3/47)
Here are the talking points from Day 1 of the second Test.
#5 South Africa fight Trent Bridge morning blues
Trent Bridge is notorious for collapses. Ask the Aussies, who succumbed to a brilliant Broad spell of 8/15 in the last Ashes on England soil. Knowing this, it was bold from South Africa to win the toss and bat first on a pitch that had Broad and Anderson licking their lips. But du Plessis knew that if they could fight the morning blues, the pitch had runs in it, and fight they did.
Despite losing Elgar to a loose drive, Heino Kuhn brought out all his experience alongside Hashim Amla. Anderson and Broad probed constantly with testing lines and perfect seam movement but South Africa resisted the temptation and everything thrown at them before lunch. Kuhn and Amla took them to 56/1 in the first session, content that they had seen off the most difficult period of the Test with minimal damage.