There’s been a lot of anticipation over this 2022 South Africa tour of England, because most cricket pundits believed that the English side will be difficult to beat at home while many others felt that it’s only a matter of time before ‘Bazball‘ fails and hurts them badly. Right enough, the home team suffered a heavy loss in the 1st Test against South Africa.
It’s been a good tour for South Africa so far, as the ODI series was tied 1-1 and the T20 series went their way with a 2-1 victory. In the Tests, they’ve started well with a massive victory of an innings and 12 runs at the Home of Cricket, Lord’s. And while it was a bit embarrassing for the hosts, we’ve got to agree that there were a few highlights for them as well…
Stuart Broad stunning one-handed catch
One of the major positives for the hosts was that their veteran pacers in James Anderson and Stuart Broad were still able to lead the bowling attack, despite being pretty ahead in the age department. In the only SA batting innings, Anderson picked a wicket while Broad picked three. But Broady decided to contribute in other departments as well in this game.
For starters, he hit 50 runs with the bat in this Test, including 15(20) in the 1st innings and a very entertaining 35(29) in the 2nd innings, where the aim was to try and reduce the deficit and avoid an innings defeat. However, the biggest highlight for Broad in this game was a stunning one-handed catch he took at mid-on to dismiss one of the South African tail-enders in their only batting innings.
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It was Kagiso Rabada on strike and Matty Potts running in to bowl when this catch took place. It was a short-of-a-length delivery which Rabada decided to take on and he pulled it with disdain towards Broad. The pacer leapt into the air and everyone thought it had got over him and gone for a boundary, until he started celebrating the catch.
Even the commentators on air were looking towards the boundary when they realised that it was in fact plucked out of thin air by Broad, diving and picking it up with his right hand. The batsman was surprised, the bowler was surprised, the commentators and fielders were surprised, and Broad himself was also very pleasantly surprised as as SA went to 289/8 after that wicket.
After having retired from the shorter formats many years ago, Broad has focussed on his fitness as he only plays the longest format now. And today even at the age of 36 years, he’s able to jump around in the field like that and bring out the best of results from his body. Take a look at that stunning catch here:
Oh Broady! 😱
Live clips: https://t.co/2nFwGblL1E
🏴 #ENGvSA 🇿🇦 | @StuartBroad8 pic.twitter.com/SCkwjfD7g5
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 19, 2022
His fighting knock with the bat wasn’t enough in their 2nd innings as England got bowled out and they conceded an innings defeat. The 2nd Test begins on 25th Aug 2022 at Old Trafford and the hosts will be looking for a much better outing in that game. For similar cricket news from England vs South Africa 2022 and elsewhere around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
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