England recovered magnificently from their Trent Bridge horror show to record a thumping victory at The Oval and take a 2-1 lead in their series against South Africa. The tourists had embarrassed them to level the series in Nottingham but it was England’s term to serve up a humiliation in the third test. The tourists could not live with the intelligent and incisive bowling of Toby Roland-Jones and Moeen Ali and victory was resounding for England. Now they face a real test of their character. Their last nine home wins have been followed by defeat and they need to put an end to that sorry trend. Joe Root has a chance to mark the start of his captaincy by steering England to a level of consistency that has eluded them in recent times, and they have a great chance of doing so.
It has been a topsy-turvy series to say the least. It started off with England thrashing South Africa at Lord’s and looking extremely comfortable as they raced to a 211-run victory. It all went wrong at Trent Bridge, however, as the tourists were inspired by the return of captain Faf Du Plessis and tore threw the England order, leaving fans to watch on in bewilderment. The margin of victory was even greater, 340 runs, and going into the third test the question on everyone’s lips was: who is going to get thrashed this time?
It turned out to be South Africa. An inspired display from Alastair Cook and a magnificent century for Ben Stokes, capped by three sixes off three balls at the death, set the tone for the rout. When Roland-Jones destroyed South Africa’s order on the second afternoon, there looked to be no way back for the Proteas. Both teams went through the motions and a superb hat-trick from Moeen Ali sealed a famous win.
Taking the series 3-1 would mark a strong start to life as England captain for Root. He has already denied the tourists a fourth consecutive victory on English soil, but winning the fourth test would show he and his players have learned from Trent Bridge. They will face a stern test of their mettle at Old Trafford, and mental strength will be as important as technical nous. Too often for England, when the going gets tough, several wickets fall in quick succession and disaster strikes out of nowhere. If they can conquer their demons it will set them up for future series and give them the confidence to go on and establish themselves as one of the world’s best test sides. Greater challenges await, not least the Ashes at the tail end of the year, and Root and co could do with a timely boost to their collective esteem.
If they are forced to bat second they will have to find a way to overcome something of a hoodoo. They have won just four of their last 14 matches when batting second, compared to 12 out of 14 when batting first. That means they need to learn to deal with the pressure of chasing the match. They certainly have the talent to do so, as Stokes and Cook demonstrated so ably at The Oval, and should be buoyed by that success.
You can get even money on England to win this fourth test and that looks a great bet. Peruse a breakdown of the best betting sites and find the right one for you. Then it could pay to back this England side, which should be full of momentum after that win. You can understand why, after their Trent Bridge meltdown, the odds are so attractive, but over the course of this series England have proved themselves to be the superior team and they can cement that at Old Trafford.
