Joe Root and Joe Denly fell in quick succession here today to interrupt England's smooth progress on the opening day of the Second Test at Newlands.
England’s build-up to the Test had been shambolic, with Rory Burns ruled out of the tour through injury and Jofra Archer sent for a scan on his painful elbow.
But the captain looked in sparkling form as he raced to 30 before Anrich Nortje began to cause him problems.
First, Root was dropped at first slip by Rassie van der Dussen — the third catch he has shelled in the series — then he was unsighted by a vicious short ball, which he could only glove behind.
He is concerned about his form against bouncers and this will not have improved his mood, when he looked like making a match-shaping contribution.
His wicket reduced the visitors to 105 for three and then Denly, who had spent 49 balls on 21, was bowled between bat and pad by the spin of Keshav Maharaj to leave England on 127 for four.
Burns suffered ankle ligament damage that could require surgery, while the full extent of the injury that kept Archer out of this Test is unknown.
England will not play football again on this tour and Ashley Giles, England’s director of cricket who is a known critic of the controversial warm-up is extremely frustrated by the loss of Burns, who has been in excellent form for England since his maiden century in the First Ashes Test at Edgbaston in August.
His composed second-innings 84 at Centurion gave England hope of an unlikely victory and the management are fans of his calm demeanour.
England have played football as a warm-up for many years and Burns is not the first injured in the process. Jonny Bairstow lost his place as keeper in Sri Lanka 14 months ago after an injury suffered in practice, while Joe Denly was chopped down by Owais Shah in his first spell as an international a decade ago.
Archer was having a second scan today but is in pain and it remains possible that he will be ruled out of the tour. In better news, England hope to have Mark Wood and Jack Leach match fit again for the Third Test in Port Elizabeth, which starts in 13 days’ time. Without Archer, Wood’s pace would appear a must.
Those injuries have compounded England’s awkward position on a tough tour, which saw 17 members of staff struck down by illness and the First Test lost by 107 runs, leaving the tourists, who did not win a series in 2019, with much to do.
England made three changes for this match. Burns and Archer were replaced by 21-year-old Zak Crawley and 22-year-old Dom Bess respectively, while Ollie Pope, 22 yesterday, returned for Bairstow, who made a memorable maiden century in a record-breaking partnership with Ben Stokes at this ground four years ago.
England, who still have 18 players on tour due to illness cover, are unlikely to call up a replacement for Burns at this stage, leaving Bairstow as the only specialist batting cover. Burns’s injury left England with an extremely inexperienced opening pair of Crawley (playing his second Test) and Dom Sibley (in his fourth).
The pair are both tall right-handers and this is the first time that England have had two right-handed Test openers since 2003, when Michael Vaughan and Rob Key opened together.
Root won the toss again, but opted to bat first this time, unlike at Centurion. With a dry surface prepared, this felt an important toss to win. Unlike at Centurion, there was no “50-50” decision. “It looks a good surface,” said the England captain. “Hopefully, we can exploit that."
Even on a pitch without demons, Crawley and Sibley were charged with a mighty task against Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada. In fact, both men recorded their highest Test score, but for Crawley, who made his debut in the middle order on the tour of New Zealand, that only required reaching two.
Philander, particularly, was immediately on the money and, after a brief working over, had Crawley caught behind with a ball that did just enough.
Denly, who like Burns is settling at Test level, joined Sibley to put on a fine stand of 55. Sibley was typically strong off his pads but also scored through the offside, while Denly looked solid.
But, when Rabada swapped ends for a second spell before lunch, he had Sibley caught behind for 34. That brought Root, who would have hoped a little longer sat watching, to the crease.
He was in the wars at Centurion, suffering from illness and being hit on the head and hands, and was immediately struck by Rabada, who followed up by beating him all ends up.
At least off-spinner Bess will have been encouraged by the sharp turn extracted by Keshav Maharaj when beating Denly.
