The England captain admitted that his side were ‘just outperformed’ in the innings and 12 runs defeat inside three days in the first Test at Lord’s
Ben Stokes promised he was “not going to throw my toys out of the pram” after the resurgence of England’s Test side under his leadership was emphatically derailed by South Africa at Lord’s.
Stokes admitted his side had been comprehensively outplayed, but was optimistic that they could level the series at Old Trafford next week. “They were just relentless,” he said. “When you’re playing international sport, some days they’re going to be better than you. Over the three days, whenever they were batting or bowling, whatever we threw at them, they seemed to counteract that. It was an off game for us, and that’s absolutely fine.
After bowling South Africa out for 326 on the third morning England’s attempt to recover from a 161-run first-innings deficit looked forlorn once Keshav Maharaj dismissed Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope before lunch. Thereafter they crumbled before the pace and variety of South Africa’s seam attack. “Trent Boult and Tim Southee were [also] pretty relentless,” Stokes said of the key bowlers in the New Zealand team beaten 3-0 earlier in the summer.
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