England makes good start against South Africa

Batting first after winning the toss, England’s Crawley took only 80 balls to reach the milestone as he took advantage of a pedestrian home attack, sorely missing the suspended Kagiso Rabada. The South African bowlers failed to get anything out of what was expected to be a seamer-friendly pitch.

Rain delayed the start of play on Friday until after lunch, but Crawley and Dom Sibley wasted little time, laying a platform as England looks for a third successive win over its host and a convincing 3-1 series victory. Crawley was 57 not out and Dom Sibley was on 39 after the first 30 overs of the contest in an extended afternoon session.

Crawley suffered a blow to the head from an Anrich Nortje bouncer and needed treatment before being able to continue. Sibley was given out caught behind off debutant left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks when he was on 10 but reviewed immediately and successfully as TV replays showed the ball had not touched his bat.

He was then caught on 12 when he steered Vernon Philander’s delivery to Temba Bavuma in the gully region but the bowler overstepped the mark and was no-balled. South Africa used all five seamers inside their first 20 overs as it searched fruitlessly for a breakthrough.

It had left out spinner Keshav Maharaj and handed Hendricks his first cap, bringing back all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius. England had hoped to bring Jofra Archer back into its line-up but the elbow injury that had kept him out of the last two Tests flared up again in the warm-up on Friday, meaning Mark Wood kept his place in the attack.

England also went with an all-seam attack as Chris Woakes replaced off-spinner Dominic Bess.