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LONDON: Seamer Ollie Robinson took five wickets as England skittled South Africa for 118 on the third day of the third and deciding Test at the Oval before motoring to 84 for two in 16 overs in reply at tea in a fast-moving contest on Saturday after cricket paid its respects to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Robinson took 5-49 in 14 overs, his third five-wickets in an innings haul at this level and the best of the 28-year-old Sussex seamer’s 11-Test career, surpassing his 5-65 against India at Leeds last year.
He received excellent support from veteran England quick Stuart Broad, who took 4-41 as South Africa were bowled out in a mere 36.2 overs.
At tea, England had a first-innings deficit of just 34 runs.
Ollie Pope was on 38 and Joe Root on 23 as England look to seize control of what is essentially a three-day Test with the first day washed out by rain and the second cancelled as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth.
Openers Alex Lees (13) and Zak Crawley (5) were the two batsmen out, both falling to tall left-arm seamer Marco Jansen (2-19) as England looked to take the attack to the tourists with the bat.
The morning started in a reflective mood as, after a rendition of “God Save The King”, with the vast majority of the crowd singing it for the first time in their lives, there was a long round of applause as images of the queen were shown on screens around the ground.
And fired-up England did not take long to get to work. The excellent Robinson clean-bowled South Africa captain Dean Elgar (1) in his first over with a delivery that nipped back into the left-hander off the wicket and clattered into the stumps.
James Anderson then had opener Sarel Erwee (0) caught by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes, while Keegan Petersen (12) did not offer a shot and lost his off-stump to Robinson in a poor error of judgement.
Excluding Elgar, South Africas top seven batsmen have only played 38 Tests between them and in the face of an examination by the swinging Duke ball, the sense of panic was palpable.
Ryan Rickelton (11) played down the wrong line trying to defend a Stuart Broad delivery and was caught by Foakes, who also gobbled up an edge from Kyle Verreynne (0) off the bowling of Robinson.
The same pair combined to remove Wiaan Mulder (3), before Khaya Zondo (23) and innings top-scorer Jansen (30) offered some resistance.
Zondo, however, was out in the first over after lunch, when he fended at a lifting delivery from Broad to end a game stay of 57 balls.
Jansen, who hit four well-struck boundaries, was dropped twice in one Broad over. But the bowler had his revenge when the batsman edged a ball that moves off the seam to Root at first slip.
And it was Broad who ended the innings when last man Anrich Nortje was caught by Ben Stokes at short cover.
The series is poised at 1-1 following the first two Tests, both of which ended inside three days.
Scoreboard
SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings):
D. Elgar b Robinson 1
S. Erwee c Foakes b Anderson 0
K. Petersen b Robinson 12
R. Rickelton c Foakes b Broad 11
K. Zondo c Lees b Broad 23
K. Verreynne c Foakes b Robinson 0
W. Mulder c Foakes b Robinson 3
M. Jansen c Root b Robinson 30
K. Maharaj b Broad 18
K. Rabada not out 7
A. Nortje c Stokes b Broad 7
EXTRAS (LB- 2, NB-4) 6
TOTAL (all out, 36.2 overs) 118
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-2 (Elgar), 2-7 (Erwee), 3-21 (Petersen), 4-31 (Rickelton), 5-32 (Verreynne), 6-36 (Mulder), 7-72 (Zondo), 8-99 (Jansen), 9-110 (Maharaj)
BOWLING: Anderson 8-2-16-1, Robinson 14-3-49-5 (4nb), Broad 12.2-1-41-4, Leach 2-1-10-0
ENGLAND (1st Innings):
A. Lees b Jansen 13
Z. Crawley lbw b Jansen 5
O. Pope not out 38
J. Root not out 23
EXTRAS (NB-5) 5
TOTAL (for two wickets, 16 overs) 84
TO BAT: H. Brook, B. Stokes, B. Foakes, S. Broad, O. Robinson, J. Leach, J. Anderson
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17 (Lees), 2-43 (Crawley)
BOWLING: Rabada 6-1-49-0 (4nb), Jansen 6-0-19-2 (1nb), Mulder 2-0-11-0, Nortje 2-0-5-0