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Tournament: South Africa Tour of England, 2022
Date: September 08, 2022
Format: Test
Venue: Kennington Oval, London, United Kingdom
Time: 10:00

We have seen a couple of one-sided affairs in the ongoing test series between England and South Africa. England takes on the proteas in the final test of the series on Thursday. The series is tied at one game each with both sides registering innings victories in the first couple of games. Neutrals watching the game would be hoping for a more competitive game of cricket at the Oval.

ENGLAND

After succumbing to a terrible mauling at the hands of South Africa in the first test, England bounced back superbly in the second to inflict a similar defeat on the South Africans at Old Trafford. Their opening ball bowlers are veterans of test cricket Chris Broad and James Anderson. They bowled brilliantly to curtail the South African first innings to 151 runs. Then for England, skipper Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes scored hundreds to provide a massive 264 runs lead. These two were also involved in a 173-run partnership to take England to a total of 415 runs where they declared their innings.

After Ben Stokes picked up the crucial wickets of Rassie van der Dussen and Keegan Peterson in successive overs, there was no hope of a comeback for the visitors. The result was never in doubt after that, as swing bowling from Anderson and the pace of Ollie Robinson dismantled the South African lower order. Stokes was named man of the match for his 103 runs and 4 wickets in the match. 

England has named the same team that played in the Old Trafford test for this match. Even the starting 11 for the team is likely to be the same as that in the second test. For the second test, the only change England made was bringing in Robinson for Matthew Potts. Jack Leach is another bowler who hasn’t fired yet for England although he has picked up 3 wickets from the first 2 tests. 

SOUTH AFRICA

There are many things on the line for South Africa in the 3rd test. They have lost their last 3 series against England. Before that, England had won just a single test series from 6 attempts since the turn of the century. But South Africa is ranked a place higher than its opponents in the World test ranking. In case the proteas win this last test at Oval it will come through their fearsome bowling attack that blew away the English side in the first test at Lord’s. But very few countries in the world have the depth in the batting line-up like England. 

The wicket on offer at the Oval is usually a flat one and is widely regarded as a good one for batting. Dean Elgar-led South African outfit will be up against it. Kagiso Rabada was the only batsman to score more than 21 runs at Old Trafford in the first innings of South Africa. South Africa will be looking to avoid this mess again if they have to be competitive in the 3rd test. 

South Africa will be picking their playing 11 from the same set of 16 players they brought for the test series. Elgar made one change to the side in the second test bringing in Simon Harmer in place of Marco Jansen. This was despite a good performance by Marco Jansen in the first test. This decision was far from being vindicated as Hammer could score just 18 runs and managed a single wicket. 

Winning Prediction

England have 4 victories in the last 5 Tests played against South Africa. They have won the last three bilateral Test series played since 2012. Though SA is in the second spot of the ICC WTC with 6 wins and 3 losses, England has five wins in the last six Tests. Joe Root has 2 centuries and 3 half-centuries at this venue. It will be a tough game for both sides as they will be playing in wet conditions.

We predict that England will defeat South Africa.