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South Africa tour of England
Test Format
2nd Test
England v South Africa
Old Trafford
Manchester, England
25-29 August 2022
England will be targeting an improved performance with the bat when they take on South Africa in the second
test at Old Trafford, which gets underway on Thursday, August 25.
The first test at Lord's didn't even go the distance as Brendon McCullum's team lost by an innings and 12 runs inside three days, with the Proteas only being forced to bat once.
Only Ollie Pope offered any resistance in the first innings, scoring 73 runs out of a total 165 before being dismissed by Kagiso Rabada, who took 5/52 in 19 overs.
In reply, the tourists posted 326 which saw Sarel Erwee also top scoring with 73, while Stuart Broad was the pick of the England bowlers with figures of 3/71 in 19.1 overs.
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The hosts didn't fare any better in the second innings and were restricted to just 149 runs as they struggled to cope with the pace of Anrich Nortje, who finished with 3/47 in seven overs.
McCullum wants to see the top order take the fight to the Proteas seamers in Manchester and admitting they didn't do a good job of applying enough pressure with the bat in London.
"I guess one of the messages we will be talking about is did we go hard enough with our approach?" he said. "Could we maybe go a little harder and try turn some pressure back on the opposition as well?
"When the game was in the balance and a couple of spells from their boys were testing, we could maybe have been a little braver to be able to turn some pressure back on the opposition - in both innings.
"But, you have to try to absorb pressure at times and get yourself back to a position of parity to then put some pressure back on the opposition. We weren't able to do that."
South Africa skipper Dean Elgar was surprised with how quickly the situation escalated on day three after seeing Nortje rip through England's middle order with a devastating spell of fast bowling.
"I definitely didn't think that waking up this morning," Elgar said. "I was thinking the guys have got to bat long and hard and try and extend that lead, and when it's our turn to come and bowl, we've got to put the ball in the right area thinking it might flatten out.
"But Nortje's spell was something that just broke the back. He ran in with a lot of intent and a lot of anger, and it was great to watch from where I was fielding, I'm sure it wasn't nice to face."
Head-to-Head (Tests)
Matches - 154
England - 64
South Africa - 35
Draws - 55
Test Team Rankings
3 - South Africa
4 - England
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