England beat South Africa by 211 runs to win the first Test at Lord’s on Sunday. The Proteas, set 331 to win, collapsed to 119 all out with more than a day to spare as England went 1-0 up in this four-match series and gave Joe Root a victory in his first Test as England captain.
Off-spinner Moeen Ali did the bulk of the damage with a Test-best return of 6/53 in a match where he took 10 wickets in total. Root himself rescued England from a top-order collapse to make 190 in a first-innings total of 458.
South Africa could only manage 361 in reply as Ali took four for 59 on his way to completing the Test double of 2,000 runs and 100 wickets. England lost seven wickets in Sunday’s morning session after starting the fourth day on 119 for one. But Jonny Bairstow’s 51 helped take England to 233 in their second innings.
That left the Proteas with a stiff chase and one that proved well beyond them. The series continues at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge ground on Friday.
Brief scores:
England 458 (Joe Root 190, Moeen Ali 87, Stuart Broad 57*, Ben Stokes 56; Morne Morkel 4/115, Vernon Philander 3/67, Kagiso Rabada 3/123) & 233 (Alastair Cook 69, Jonny Bairstow 51; Keshav Maharaj 4/85, Kagiso Rabada 3/50, M Morkel 3/64) beat South Africa 361 (Temba Bavuma 59, Dean Elgar 54, Vernon Philander 52, Quinton de Kock 51; Moeen Ali 4/59) and 119 (Moeen Ali 6/53) by