Lunch England 165 and 38 for 2 (Lees 12*, Maharaj 2-6) trail South Africa 326 (Erwee 73, Jansen 48, Elgar 47, Maharaj 41, Broad 3-71, Stokes 3-71) by 123 runs
It could have been worse for England, who also saw Alex Lees dropped in the slips off Kagiso Rabada, with the home side facing their stiffest Test of the summer after four wins in a row at the start of Ben Stokes’ captaincy.
England claimed a wicket with the third ball of the morning, but that was about as good as it got, as South Africa’s solid batting effort took them to a total almost double that managed by Stokes’ team. Only one player passed 50 for the tourists – opener Sarel Erwee – but nine of the XI reached double-figures to cement a strong position.
Nortje dealt with the barrage capably, despite a couple of half-chances that did not go to hand, and began to push the scoreboard on, driving Ben Stokes sweetly through mid-on from one of the rare balls in his half.
Jansen, batting at No. 6 for the first time, was the more watchful, adding just seven runs to his overnight score before edging Broad to slip just shy of a maiden Test fifty, as England finally reverted to a more orthodox approach. Nortje thumped Stokes for two more fours, before Broad removed Lungi Ngidi via another catch in the cordon – Jonny Bairstow holding on at the second attempt.
There was no let-up for England’s batters second time around, as they attempted to bat their way out of a hole. Lees should have fallen in Rabada’s second over, with an outside edge heading straight for second slip, only for Keegan Petersen to dive across Aiden Markram and put down a much harder one-handed chance.
In the event it was spin that made the breakthrough, as Maharaj struck immediately after coming on to bowl for the first time in the match. Crawley was plumb lbw attempting to sweep his third delivery, and Maharaj had a second a few overs later as Pope went back to one that ball-tracking showed would have hit leg stump.