Captain Ben Stokes believes England have got their mojo back after mauling South Africa at Old Trafford.
His reign as skipper and Brendon McCullum's time as coach began in dazzling fashion with a 3-0 series sweep against New Zealand in June, followed by victory over India at Edgbaston.
Yet England were rocked by a Lord's thumping by South Africa last week, when the Proteas pacemen showed they had the skills to counter the home side's attacking approach.
That match was over inside three days, but so was the rematch in Manchester as England took their revenge, Stokes and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes hitting first-innings centuries to pave the way for victory by an innings and 85 runs.
James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and Stokes himself impressed with the ball as England's attack outshone the tourists' pace squadron, halting South Africa's four-match Test winning streak.
This was an England display that Stokes described as "amazing", and he wants more of the same in the decider at The Oval, starting on September 8.
He told Sky Sports at the post-match presentation: "To come back from disappointment at Lord's and to put in the performance we have this week, it's given us a lot of confidence back and sets the series up nicely for the last game at The Oval."
Stokes was named player of the match after his 103 with the bat and match bowling figures of 4-47, but the all-rounder felt there was a more worthy recipient: Foakes.
"He should be the one up here receiving this award," Stokes said. "The innings that he played and the way he kept this whole game, and through the whole summer, has just been incredible.
"He took seven dismissals as a keeper, but how tidy he is behind the stumps is a massive plus as a team. It's great as a bowler knowing you've got him there, and as a captain as well."
England have now lost only one of their 10 men's Tests against South Africa at Old Trafford (W5, D4), with exception being a three-wicket loss in July 1955.
Stokes said the recalled Robinson showed he was "a quality, quality bowler", and he suggested England's positivity, seemingly back in plentiful supply, should continue to serve them well.
"This is another progression for us," Stokes said. "When you have that clear mindset and that intent to go out and score, it can make things a lot easier."
It was a tough day for South Africa and their captain Dean Elgar, who will be without batter Rassie van der Dussen for the series decider because of a broken left index finger.
Elgar said: "I think there's a lot of learnings out of this. I always try and see a positive even though the result didn't go our way.
"We've got quite a few days before the next Test so I'm sure we're going to go back to the drawing board."
Elgar said luck had been on England's side at times in the contest, and now South Africa will head to London without Van der Dussen at their disposal.
The 33-year-old Van der Dussen made an obdurate 41 to defy England during the afternoon on Saturday, but once Stokes removed him to leave South Africa on 141-4, it was downhill all the way to 179 all out.
"From what I've heard he's obviously got a fracture in his finger," Elgar said. "I'm not a medical doctor, but I do think he's going to be ruled out of this series, which is extremely unfortunate, especially with the way he played today."
That assumption was confirmed by Cricket South Africa, a sore ending to a rough day for the tourists.
IPL: Royals extend lead at the top after Samson and Jurel see off LSG
Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel combined for an unbeaten partnership of 121 as Indian Premier League leaders Rajasthan Royals defeated Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday.
The Royals have now won eight of their nine matches in the 2024 campaign and are almost certain to be involved in the playoffs after chasing down their victory target of 197 with an over to spare in a seven-wicket triumph.
Another Royals win had looked unlikely when they fell to 78-3 in their run chase after Jos Buttler (34), Yashasvi Jaiswal (24) and Riyan Parag (14) all fell in quick succession shortly before the halfway mark.
But Rajasthan captain Samson fought back as he blasted 71 runs from 33 balls including seven fours and four maximums, while Jurel bounced back from a poor period of form to finish unbeaten on 52 from 34.
LSG reached 196-5 from their innings courtesy of a fine knock from their own skipper, KL Rahul. He reached 76 from 48 before eventually falling to Avesh Khan (1-42) in the 18th over.
Deepak Hooda made it to 50 as LSG rallied from 11-2, but ultimately their competitive total was within reach of the visiting Royals.
Data Debrief
This is the second time in as many home games Rahul has passed fifty, after he scored 82 against Chennai Super Kings last week.
Samson (385) and Rahul (378) are second and third respectively in the race to win this season’s orange cap, although RCB’s Virat Kohli continues to set the pace with 430 runs.
They also narrowly trail Kohli (40) when it comes to the most fours hit in this season’s competition, with Samson on 36 and Rahul just behind with 34.
Tape ball programme can help England find unorthodox talent – Richard Gould
The England and Wales Cricket Board hopes to unearth a new seam of talent beyond the game’s traditional league structure with a national tape ball scheme that allows players to thrive without “whites, willow and leather”.
The practice of using a soft ball wrapped in electrical tape to aid swing and variable bounce is a common one in Asia, where it has helped produce express pace bowlers like Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi and spinners such as Rashid Khan and Shakib-al-Hasan, but has been slow to enter the mainstream conversation in the United Kingdom.
The Chance to Shine charity has long pioneered tape ball cricket as part of its engagement hubs and now, with the ECB keen to live up to its lofty aspiration of becoming the most inclusive team sport in the country, it is at the heart of a new core cities programme designed to engage ‘diverse communities in urban areas’.
Speaking at a launch event where games were hosted in a warehouse space in Birmingham, ECB chief executive Richard Gould was optimistic about reaching out to those with an interest in cricket but limited access to the pavilions and prepared pitches in the club setup.
“We talk about clubs with picket fences around them. In the past that has been seen as the preserve of the ECB. We’ve missed a complete trick on that,” he said.
“When we talk about the recreational game we’re not just talking about Premier League clubs and village cricket clubs now. We’re talking about all forms of cricket that take place.
“You can play the game anywhere, any time, with anybody, in any environment you want. You don’t have to have whites, willow and leather to do it. You can just pick up a bat and a ball and have some fun.”
As well as fulfilling its remit of reaching out to all comers at a grassroots level, Gould also believes there are benefits to finding cricketers with different styles who have learned the game outside the traditional, private-school heavy pathways.
“Without doubt there are,” he said. “We have to get out and try to find the talent. More to the point, we have to try and find talent in areas that we haven’t normally looked for it.
“I do think county pathways will be looking to make sure they don’t miss out on this talent. It’s just about punching through all of our normal procedures and finding ways to both get people in the game and unearthing that talent which may be unorthodox and great.”
Meg Lanning: Exercise obsession and not enough fuel led to Australia retirement
Former Australia captain Meg Lanning revealed her “obsession” with exercise and not eating enough precipitated her surprise international retirement late last year.
Lanning was at the helm of one of the most dominant eras the sport has ever seen but she missed last year’s Ashes for medical reasons and pulled the plug on her Australia career in November.
She opened up about her hidden health issues on the Howie Games podcast, explaining that running up to 90 kilometres a week coupled with eating two small meals a day led to her dropping from 64kg to 57kg.
View this post on Instagram“I was over-exercising and under-fuelling,” the 32-year-old said. “It wasn’t a physical thing. I’ve always been really physically active and liked that side of it, but it became a bit of an obsession.
“I’d maybe eat a couple of meals a day if I was lucky but they weren’t significant. Initially it didn’t start off as a deliberate thing, it just became a bit of a new normal.
“But it slowly crept into conscious decisions because essentially I felt good.
“I wasn’t getting injured like everybody was telling me I was going to do. It sort of just spiralled and I was in denial, even though everybody kept telling me something wasn’t quite right.
“I was not in a place to be able to go on tour and play cricket and give the commitment levels that were required for that Ashes series, mentally and physically.”
Lanning, who led Australia to five World Cup titles in total and Commonwealth Games glory in 2022, said her struggle was not officially diagnosed as an eating disorder.
“It wasn’t labelled as that but I was exercising a lot and I wasn’t eating enough to fuel that – it was a bit out of whack,” Lanning said.
“It was a bit of control because I felt very out of control with what my future looked like. I felt like I was in control of that and that made me feel better.”
Lanning sought help from medical professionals after also struggling with insomnia and continues to play domestically, while she has been signed for London Spirit for The Hundred this year.
“I dreaded night time because I knew I would go to bed and not be able to sleep,” she said. “That would make me so mad. I would just get more angry with myself. If you can’t sleep, you can’t do anything.
“I feel like I’m in a good spot now. Cricket is still part of what I do. But I wasn’t cut out for the international touring schedule and what came with all of that.”
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