By Neil Manthorp.
South Africa lost seven wickets in the final session of the third day, including the last five in just 31 balls against the second new ball, to be dismissed for 179 to lose the second test against England by an innings and 85 runs at Old Trafford in Manchester on Saturday.
The series is now level at 1-1 with the third test beginning at The Oval on 8 September.
Seamers Ollie Robinson and veteran Jimmy Anderson shared seven wickets as the tourists collapsed from 141-3 at tea to 179 all out in 20.1 overs with Robinson, recalled to the XI after a lengthy absence, finishing with 4-43 while the evergreen Anderson added 3-30 to his first-innings return of 3-32.
Keegan Petersen and an injured Rassie van der Dussen had batted throughout the afternoon session to give South Africa the tiniest glimmer of hope but they were dismissed almost immediately after the break to trigger the collapse.
Petersen, unbeaten on 42 from 152 deliveries with just a single, late-cut boundary, edged a brute of a delivery from Ben Stokes to ‘keeper Ben Foakes six balls later having just seen Van der Dussen dismissed in the same fashion two balls earlier for his tea-time score of 41 from 132 deliveries.
Van der Dussen had bravely batted with a fractured left index finger and was ruled out of the final test immediately after the game with allrounder Wiaan Mulder, currently playing for Leicestershire, called into the squad as a replacement.
England’s three frontline seamers laid the platform for an inevitable victory with a wicket apiece inside the first hour of play with captain Dean Elgar (11) the first to go after a brilliant exhibition of seam and swing bowling from Anderson who moved the ball both ways to beat the inside and outside edges of the bat before flattening the off stump.
Fellow opener Sarel Erwee was similarly non-plussed by the movement and off-stump line of Robinson before deciding too late to leave a delivery and getting the thinnest of edges to Foakes. His unconvincing 25 spanned 59 balls.
Aiden Markram endured a horror innings which will surely spell an end to his test career for a while. He played and missed at a couple of deliveries before Stuart Broad removed his off-bail with a beautiful delivery angled into the right-hander to ‘dismiss’ him for an eight-ball duck. Except that it was a no-ball.
Markram (6) flicked the next delivery to the mid-wicket boundary to get off the mark but never looked convincing and Broad soon had his man courtesy of a wretched, loose drive to a wide delivery which ended in the hands of Zak Crawley at second slip.
Kyle Verreynne (17* from 46 balls) watched helplessly as Simon Harmer (16) was bowled by the second delivery with the new ball by Anderson while Keshav Maharaj (2), Kagiso Rabada (2), Anrich Nortje (0) and Lungi Ngidi (0) all came and went in quick succession as the hosts avenged their innings and 12-run defeat at Lord’s with an innings victory of their own.
ENGLAND: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes (wk), Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach, James Anderson
SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi.