The tourists' display in the fourth Test against South Africa is a familiar story, says the Analyst - but they're not out of it yet
England have an uphill task in the next two-and-a-half days of the fourth Test to compensate for their lacklustre cricket on day one and some indifferent batting on day two.
Low-intensity bowling and sloppy fielding allowed a reinvigorated South Africa to reach 224-1 after two sessions of the match.
England have been playing catch-up ever since and on the morning of day two they lost four wickets to leave their first innings tottering.
It is a familiar story of late. England raise their game at the crucial stage a of series to pressurise opponents into mistakes and clinch pivotal matches.
Thereafter their cricket goes off the boil. They seem to suffer from DRS: Dead Rubber Syndrome.
They are not quite out of the match. Despite being well behind on first innings, the pitch is still good and they do bat deep – important for later in the match as well as on the third day.
And the South African attack is a less fearsome proposition than it might have been, with Morne Morkel slightly diminished by the burden of being the spearhead in the continued absence of Dale Steyn.
Having said that, the young quickie Kagiso Rabada has stepped up impressively to fill the gap with a second five-wicket haul.
Alastair Cook had set the tone. When he has the bit between his teeth as he did here he is hard to dislodge and it took a fine delivery to prise him out still just short of becoming the first Englishman to pass 10,000 Test runs.
Despite the satisfaction of England winning the series, Cook would have felt like he hadn’t previously properly contributed with the bat.
This time, though, he resisted the South Africans for four hours for his 76 and drew the fast bowlers sting. Others, apart from Root, haven’t shown quite the same application.
If England fall more than 100 short there is the chance of a result.
South Africa have the chance to prove their bowling has renewed potency and capitalise on their impressive first-innings score. England will have to try and survive for a day and a half.
We know Cook has both the attitude and the aptitude to do this.
It will be a good test of whether Alex Hales and James Taylor, in particular, ultimately have the technical and mental attributes for Test cricket. It may be their last chance to demonstrate it.
But irrespective of whether England hang on to their 2-0 series lead, their DRS tendencies will still hamper their chances of moving up to No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings.
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