Highlights
- England and South Africa both have won a Test match each
- The Test match will be played at the Kennington Oval
- Harry Brooks will make his Test debut for England
ENG vs SA, 3rd Test: Bazball, a term that was coined earlier this year has taken the entire cricketing fraternity by storm. How Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have managed to revolutionize Test cricket is something that keeps on doing the round every time England plays. This is something that England is not doing for the first time. Post their debacle in the all-important 2015 ICC World Cup, Eoin Morgan completely transformed the white-ball game and as a result, England won their maiden ODI World Cup in 2019, in front of their home crowd, in their backyard.
As far as the context of this Test match is concerned, the English cricket team had to face a severe backlash from critics as they lost to the Dean Elgar-led Proteas side by an innings. But it was England's positive mindset that restrained them from altering their newfound way of playing red-ball cricket. England Test skipper Ben Stokes walks into this Test match sensing an opportunity. The English skipper has never captained his side in a series decider and this speaks volumes about the kind of dominance they've had. The hosts are walking into an unknown playing field and are wary of the threat that South Africa possesses as a side.
On the other hand, there is the Elgar-led Proteas side who started the series in a thumping manner as they defeated Ben Stokes and co. by a margin of an innings and 12 runs. The test match ended in 3 days which put England in a bad spot. But cometh the hour, cometh the man, Ben Stokes had decided that he will lead England from the front. In the second Test match, Stokes scored a sublime 103 runs in 163 deliveries and was joined by Ben Foakes who scored a sublime 113 off 217 runs. Settling the scores with South Africa, England defeated them by an innings and 85 runs. The Test series now stands level with England and South Africa having 1 victory each.
Squads:
England Squad: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes(w), Ollie Robinson, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, James Anderson, Ben Duckett, Craig Overton, Matty Potts
South Africa Squad: Dean Elgar(c), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Kyle Verreynne(w), Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Khaya Zondo, Wiaan Mulder, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Marco Jansen
