Moeen Ali's career-best bowling helped Joe Root start his tenure as Test captain with a resounding 211-run victory inside four days as 19 wickets fell in three remarkable sessions at Lord's
Moeen Ali
Moeen Ali, who claimed 6-53
Moeen Ali's career-best bowling helped Joe Root start his tenure as Test captain with a resounding 211-run victory inside four days as 19 wickets fell in three remarkable sessions at Lord's.
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Jonny Bairstow also bailed out England with a defiant half-century, after a collapse of seven wickets for 43 runs, and then kickstarted South Africa's descent to 119 all out with an athletic leg-side catch as their attempt to pull off the ground's second-highest run chase veered instead on to the fast track to defeat.
Spin then predictably did much of the damage on a decidedly helpful surface, as Moeen (six for 53) finished with a 10-wicket match haul and Liam Dawson did his bit too.
It was Root himself, however, who laid the foundations for success on captaincy debut with his first-innings 190 - 103 more than any other batsman managed for either side - as England put behind them the four consecutive defeats in India last winter which ended Alastair Cook's record-breaking era in charge.
Bairstow, dropped on just seven by Vernon Philander at long-off, stood firm with a 74-ball 50 while England lost four wickets for 10 runs and then three for two in a total of 233 all out which nonetheless left the tourists with a taxing target of 331.
South Africa opener Heino Kuhn completed his unsuccessful maiden Test with a second single-figure score, caught by Bairstow off James Anderson; then Moeen held a head-high return catch to account for Dean Elgar, and JP Duminy mistimed a pull to give Mark Wood his first Test wicket on his long-awaited return from ankle surgery.
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