Post Match Presentation
The South Africa Player of the Series is Kagiso Rabada: “It seemed like every game was decided from the toss. In hindsight, we’ll take a lot of learnings out of this, we are a young team, including myself. We’ll look to get better. I injured myself in the first T20, but the medical staff was outstanding and grateful to be able to play some cricket. We have a lot of talented players and the world is our oyster.”
The Player of the Match is Ollie Robinson, for match figures of 7 for 89, including a first (third)-day five-for.
“It’s been a really enjoyable comeback for myself and the team. It’s nice to get to where I am but I don’t feel like the finished article. A tough winter ahead, so I’ll keep pushing on. The environment is a great place to thrive under Stokesy and Baz. We’re all having a great time out there. With Stokesy, you always get complete honesty. This was a helpful surface and the Oval always has a bit of carrying.”
Dean Elgar: “It’s not been great for me in Test matches, but a lot of fond memories (from playing for Surrey) at The Oval. Good first innings helped us at Lord’s, first-innings runs are so big in the UK, and we’ve failed in that department. Tough decision [re-selection], it didn’t work this game, but lots of eye-opening experiences for those guys. I’ve got to give our bowlers credit, they ran in and did all that was asked of them, but it all boils down to our batting.”
Ben Stokes
“It’s been a great series for us as a team, no real individual stand-out performances, but different people at different times have broken the game open at different times. In the conditions we’ve found on day one, the toss is one you want to win, but you have to execute your plans and counteract the team that does win it.
On his bowling: “When you’ve got the bowlers like Jimmy, Broady, and Robbo with the skills they possess, it’s about managing them, and bringing myself in at an appropriate time when the big lads have done their spells. They’ve been phenomenal.”
On his batting: “You can keep criticising me if we are going to keep winning six out of seven games. For me it’s about the clarity of messaging, me and Brendon are delivering the message, we can do only so much. The team and backroom have really bought into this. It’s really rare, this game with it being shortened, our main aim was to create a result, and to play in a way that entertains people.”
On Crawley, and the young guys: “Important to allow them enough time. The way Popey’s come out and played, he’s shown what he’s capable of playing, and Zak and Leesy, opening the batting in England is very hard. Don’t underestimate how they set the tone.
And the old boys: “Phenomenal to have two of the great seam bowlers in your team, two sporting greats, very blessed. They are a huge credit to themselves and this game, and a lot of young players who want to be fast bowlers look up to them.”
And on his captaincy: “You mention Joe, he’s got to take credit for captaining the side for six years then buying into something different. Everyone has bought into it, I’m really thankful they see the bigger picture of what we want to achieve. A different challenge in Pakistan, more spin to face, but we will go in with a positive mindset, just might have to think differently about the conditions.”
England vs South Africa 3rd Test Highlights today, Monday 12-9-2022. 3rd Test, The Oval, South Africa tour of England 2022.
England chose to field.
England team: 1 Alex Lees, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Ollie Robinson, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson
South Africa team: 1 Dean Elgar (capt), 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Keegan Petersen, 4 Ryan Rickelton 5 Khaya Zondo, 6 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 7 Wiaan Mulder, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Keshav Maharaj, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Anrich Nortje
Head to Head In Test’s: 155
England Won: 65
South Africa Won: 35
England Test Rankings: 4th
South Africa Test Rankings: 3rd
Form guide
(last five completed Tests, most recent first)
England WLWWW
South Africa LWWWW
Match Timings: 10:00 GMT | 11:00 Local
Umpires – Nitin Menon, Richard Kettleborough
TV Umpire – Chris Gaffaney
Match Referee – Ranjan Madugalle
Reserve Umpire – Martin Saggers
Match number – Test no. 2476
