DURBAN: England moved swiftly to a big win over the top-ranked team in Test cricket on Wednesday, sweeping aside South Africa’s last six batsmen in a 241-run victory in the first Test.

Spinner Moeen Ali trapped A.B. de Villiers lbw for 37 in the first over of the last day, and England accounted for South Africa’s struggling batting line-up for 174 in their second innings. England took six wickets for only 38 runs in 24 overs on the fifth day to be completely dominant at the end at Kingsmead.

Chasing a first series win over South Africa in more than a decade, England took a morale-boosting lead in the four-match series, with the second Test in Cape Town to follow on Saturday.

“Pretty good Test match,” England captain Alastair Cook said. “The lads played pretty well to be honest with you ... a pretty pleasing five days. It’s always nice to start well.”

England set the Proteas an almost unreachable target of 416 to win, or four-and-a-half sessions to survive for a draw. South Africa never came close.

“Not a good Christmas, that’s for sure,” South Africa coach Russell Domingo said. “We didn’t play half as well as we can.”

Quick bowler Steven Finn finished with 4-42 and Moeen 3-47 in the second innings to complete England’s dominance in Durban. Moeen, who was named man-of-the-match, had seven wickets in the opening Test.

England’s batting was also far superior, making 303 and 326 compared to South Africa’s two poor totals of 214 and 174.

England’s significant victory was only their second win in their last 16 Tests away from home, and place them perfectly for a strong showing in the second match of a four-Test series in just three days.

“Let’s not get too carried away, but it would be great if we could get our noses ahead in that game and continue to put pressure on South Africa,” Cook said.

The speed with which England dispensed with the Proteas on Wednesday morning was astonishing, and underlined the doubts hanging over the world’s No 1 team, which has struggled through most of 2015 and will lose their top ranking if they lose this series.

England’s big win in Durban had repercussions beyond just this match, with South Africa likely to lose top fast bowler Dale Steyn to injury for the Cape Town Test and the makeup of the rest of the team generally unwell.

De Villiers, South Africa’s best player, said this week that he is struggling with fatigue, the Proteas’ batsmen are badly out of form and were exposed again by England, and there are murmurs of unrest in the squad because of selection policies.

South Africa captain Hashim Amla hinted Steyn would likely miss out in Cape Town because of his right shoulder problem, but said any other possible changes to the misfiring line-up he would ‘leave to the selectors’.

England had been ahead for most of the game after making 303 in their first innings and bowling South Africa out for 214, but the tourists stamped a big early mark on the series in a ruthless spell on Wednesday morning.

Under bright blue skies, and with no possibility of rain saving South Africa, Moeen got one to straighten to de Villiers with the third ball of the day. De Villiers tried and failed with a TV referral, and after that early boost, England went on to roll out three batsmen for two runs at the start of the fifth day.

Counting Faf du Plessis’ dismissal late on Tuesday, the England bowlers went on a rampant run to take seven South African wickets in the space of 38 runs.

Moeen had Temba Bavuma stumped by Jonny Bairstow for a duck and Finn bowled Steyn, smashing a full-pitched ball into his stumps. Stuart Broad removed Morne Morkel lbw for 8 to end the game, sealing England’s first win in the opening Test of an away series against a major Test team since they won the first match of the 2004-05 series in South Africa. England went on to win that series.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings) 303 (N.R.D. Compton 85, J.W.A. Taylor 70, J.M. Bairstow 41; D.W. Steyn 4-70, M. Morkel 4-76).

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings) 214 (D. Elgar 118 not out, A.B. de Villiers 49; S.C.J. Broad 4-25, Moeen Ali 4-69).

ENGLAND (2nd Innings) 326 (J.M. Bairstow 79, J.E. Root 73, N.R.D. Compton 49, J.W.A. Taylor 42; D.L. Piedt 5-153, S. Van Zyl 3-20).

SOUTH AFRICA (2nd Innings, overnight 136-4):

D. Elgar c Root b Finn 40 S. van Zyl b Stokes 33 H.M. Amla c Bairstow b Finn 12 A.B. de Villiers lbw b Moeen 37 F. du Plessis c Cook b Finn 9 D.W. Steyn b Finn 2 T. Bavuma st Bairstow b Moeen 0 J.P. Duminy not out 26 K.J. Abbott lbw b Moeen 2 D.L. Piedt c Taylor b Woakes 0 M. Morkel lbw b Broad 8

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-3) 5

TOTAL (all out, 71 overs) 174

FALL OF WKTS: 1-53, 2-85, 3-88, 4-136, 5-136, 6-136, 7-138, 8-143, 9-155.

BOWLING: Broad 13-5-29-1; Woakes 10-5-25-1; Finn 15-6-42-4; Stokes 7-1-26-1; Moeen Ali 26-9-47-3.

RESULT: England won by 241 runs.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and R.J. Tucker (Australia).

TV UMPIRE: B.N.J. Oxenford (Australia).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Moeen Ali.

SECOND TEST: Cape Town, Jan 2-6.

THIRD TEST: Johannesburg, Jan 14-18.

FOURTH TEST: Centurion, Jan 22-26.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2015