With the prospect of chasing taken away at the toss, England were forced to find another way and failed, which will not have escaped the attention of South Africa captain, Dean Elgar. That said, the England squad arrived in Manchester on Tuesday, having attended the premier of the moving documentary Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes the previous evening, determined to rally round their talismanic captain, who delved deeper into the personal and mental health issues he has faced. That, combined with coming off such a heavy defeat, could further galvanise the home side.
England LWWWW (most recent first)
South Africa WWWWL
England: 1 Alex Lees, 2 Zak Crawley, 3 Ollie Pope, 4 Joe Root, 5 Jonny Bairstow, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Ben Foakes (wk), 8 Ollie Robinson, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Jack Leach, 11 James Anderson
Despite Ryan Rickelton spending a lengthy time batting in the nets on Tuesday, South Africa have stuck with the same squad for the second Test, leaving them with a choice between four seamers and two spinners. If they go spin-heavy, it could come down to a choice between Ngidi and Simon Harmer, who was 12th man at Lord’s.
South Africa (possible): 1 Dean Elgar (capt), 2 Sarel Erwee, 3 Keegan Petersen, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Rassie van der Dussen, 6 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Lungi Ngidi/Simon Harmer
A covering of green grass two days out appeared to be diminishing 24 hours before play.
After rain during the week and with more forecast through the night on match eve, finer conditions are expected along with temperatures in the low 20s Celsius for the duration of the match.
“What we’ve learned from ourselves is that you can’t always go out there and perform how you want to perform. But it’s not something that we’re going to take backward steps from. South Africa were better than us in that Test match and that’s fine. Sport’s set up for someone to be a winner and someone to be a loser and we’re going to be focusing on this game.”
Ben Stokes eyes a quick recovery after England’s setback at Lord’s.
“What happened in the first Test was something amazing. We played really solid, sound cricket. Our hunger was up there. And our hunger is still here. We want to play a brand of cricket that everyone loves back home. We know it’s going to be a lot tougher. England were hurt and I know they are coming back. I hope we can play another solid game of cricket. We know we have to start again.”
Dean Elgar backs his side against a wounded opposition.