England dispatched South Africa in just under a half-hour on the final morning of the Test summer at the Oval, romping to a nine-wicket victory in the deciding match in front of a scattering of fans for whom the allure of free tickets and the promise of a home victory was sufficient to justify the trip to Kennington.
England’s greatest concern along the road was a concussion test for Ollie Pope, who attempted a reverse ramp against Marco Jansen but only succeeded in deflecting the ball off his wrist and onto his chin. England only had a paltry 33 runs to win when the fourth day’s play was stopped due to darkness. With all ten second-innings wickets in hand and a dry outlook, the outcome was never in doubt.
England was rewarded with a fluent 69 off 57, which included a blast past cover for four to win the match, and an opening partnership of 108, England’s highest of the summer and their third-highest in the last five years.
In a remarkable display of optimism, Jansen stated on Sunday night that England’s triumph parade might be halted by capturing quick wickets when play started. Instead, Kyle Verreynne behind the stumps missed a seemingly simple opportunity to dismiss Alex Lees off Kagiso Rabada in the first over of the day, and off the second over, bowled by Jansen himself, the same batter edged just over Keegan Petersen at third slip, the fielder reacting slowly and only managing to wave as the ball flew by.
Lees was eventually dismissed by Rabada in the third over, with a successful review confirming that the batsman was trapped lbw. Following Lees’ dismissal, Pope and Crawley reached their target with relative ease.
Ben Stokes, the captain, and Brendon McCullum, the coach, have had a wonderful first summer in command after achieving victory. Before their appointment, England had won only one of 17 matches; since then, they had won six of seven Tests, defeating New Zealand, India, and eventually South Africa.
The lone loss occurred in the first game of this series when England was outplayed by an innings and 12 runs at Lord’s Stadium. The next week, they even the series with a similarly one-sided victory at Old Trafford, this time by an innings and 85 runs, setting up an odd and memorable finale at the Oval.
