OTD | England knocked off the 33 runs they needed to win the third Test against South Africa in 2022

England registered a comprehensive nine-wicket victory against South Africa on 12 September 2022 to complete a string of series victories in the 2022 summer. This marked a successful start to the new era under captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum in the longer format of the game. 

The hosts were denied a solid start to the series as South Africa won the opener at Lord’s by an innings and 12 runs. However, Stokes and Co. bounced back at Manchester with an innings and 85-run victory. Both teams headed to The Oval to contest the decider of the three-match series. 

South Africa were invited to bat first and they struggled to find resistance against the English pace attack. Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad grabbed five and four wickets respectively to restrict the visitors to 118 runs in the first innings. All-rounder Marco Jansen was the top scorer for the Proteas with 30 runs. 

Ollie Pope stands tall to put England in the driver’s seat 

The South African pacers displayed similar heroics, with Kagiso Rabada and Jansen together taking nine wickets. However, Ollie Pope’s half-century helped them reach 158 before getting bowled out. Dean Elgar’s side could set a target of only 130 as England bowlers put in a collective effort to wrap up South Africa’s second innings at 169 runs. 

The England openers added 97 runs before the end of Day 4’s play. With 33 runs and nine wickets in hand on the final day, the hosts were confident of winning the series. Rabada managed to give an early breakthrough for South Africa by dismissing Alex Lees. However, Zak Crawley looked very solid at the other end. 

Crawley and Ollie Pope barely took 25 minutes to seal an impressive win for England. Ollie Robinson was adjudged Player of the Match for picking up seven wickets in two innings. Meanwhile, Stokes and Rabada shared the Player of the Series award.