South Africa put England’s attacking philosophy to the test with ruthless bowling display

Dean Elgar had dared England to try their brand of gung-ho cricket against his South African seam attack in the build-up to this series, and his bowlers backed up their captain’s provocations with a ruthless assault of pace and swing on the first day at Lord’s.

Kagiso Rabada made the initial incisions into England’s batting line-up before Anrich Nortje tore through the middle order with raw pace, splaying the stumps to remove the star of England’s cricketing summer, Jonny Bairstow, for a duck, and coaxing a thick edge from Ben Stokes’s bat with the last ball before lunch. The South Africans fiercely celebrated the England captain’s wicket, and there was just time for Nortje to take out Ben Foakes before heavy afternoon rain ended play with England on 116-6.

England put on a show of full-throttle “Bazball” earlier this summer to whitewash New Zealand and beat India, staying true to their philosophy even when under the pump. Stokes insists his players will not veer from their newfound attacking instincts whatever the weather, but their determination to break Test cricket’s conventions will come under its greatest scrutiny yet if South Africa continue to produce bowling performances like this over the three-match series.

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In fairness to England’s batters, they did not lose wickets carelessly bar Alex Lees’s loose waft outside off-stump, and instead succumbed to a bowling attack diverse in threat and consistent in execution. Indeed Stokes might well argue that a more cautious England would have been stranded on 40-5 at lunch rather than the 100 they put on.

Most of those runs were scored by Ollie Pope, one of the rays of sunshine from a golden summer who has grasped his opportunity at No 3 and played an innings full of controlled aggression for 61 not out. He took advantage of the rare wayward balls with instinctive shot-making through the off-side, including a lavish uppercut over the slip cordon to the third-man boundary, looking like a man at ease with his game and no doubt buoyed by the confidence shown in him.

By contrast, Stokes is one of the few England batters to have underwhelmed so far in this new era and he showed some erratic moments, charging down the pitch without success on several occasions. A couple of beautifully poised strokes brought boundaries down the ground but it always felt like he was there for a good time, not a long time, and Nortje celebrated ferociously when the England captain guided a thick edge into the palms of Keegan Petersen at third slip.

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Elgar would have been particularly satisfied. The mind games had begun in the build-up when he belittled Bazball while Stokes claimed the notion was nagging away in South African heads. They continued in the middle before play as Elgar won the toss and elected to bowl, to Stokes’s visible surprise; Elgar has been consistent in choosing to bat first since taking the captaincy last year, but insisted his change of ploy was not to deprive England of their love of chasing the game. “It’s nothing to do with what they’ve done in the past, it’s more to do with conditions overhead,” he said with a grin.

Rabada passed a late fitness test on his ankle and hit the ground running with the early wickets of openers Lees for five runs and Zak Crawley for nine, who nicked to slip trying to defend a straight one. Crawley has not surpassed 50 in first-class cricket this summer and you suspect he will not be afforded many more chances with the in-form Harry Brook knocking at the door.

Rabada’s fellow opening bowler Lungi Ngidi found late swing from the Pavilion End without reward, and his replacement Nortje initially released some of the pressure on England with some loose balls that Pope cut and drove through the off-side. But at the other end the enormous Marco Jansen – who at 6ft 8in lays claim to being South Africa’s tallest-ever Test cricketer – was now hooping devilish in-swingers which, coupled with his natural pace and bounce, were almost impossible to read.

The 22-year-old is playing in only his sixth Test match and his first in English conditions, but looked utterly assured and got his reward when a befuddled Joe Root tipped forwards onto his toes only to see the ball curve back into his pads; a loud appeal went up and so did umpire Nitin Menon’s finger. Root quickly reviewed thinking the ball was sliding down, but ball tracking predicted the faintest clip of leg stump and the former captain was gone for eight.

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From there Nortje found his range, clattering through Bairstow’s stumps before the crucial wicket of Stokes for 20. After lunch, he persuaded Foakes to play on to his stumps with a ball that jagged inside, before the heavens opened.

The positive of a washed-out afternoon for England was that Pope may at least get the chance to bat in more benign conditions on Thursday, though he will need plenty of help from Stuart Broad and the rest of the tail if he is to go on and get a century. England will need it to post a competitive score, though they will not be panicking yet, nor will they waver from their methods. If there’s one thing this summer has taught us it’s that nothing is more Bazball than clutching bloody-minded victory from the jaws of hopeless defeat.