Watch the first Test on Sky Sports Cricket from 7am on Boxing Day
Tuesday 24 December 2019 09:50, UK
England arrived in South Africa in the winter of 2015 with the euphoria of their summer 3-2 success over Australia rather punctured by a 2-0 defeat to Pakistan in October in the UAE.
What followed was a stunning series of record-breaking batting, superb spells and incredible catching. Here's the pick of the action…
First Test scorecard | Report | How it happened
England's series didn't get off to the best of starts when captain Alastair Cook was roasted for an 11-ball duck but by day five it was South Africa who were skewered to lose by 241 runs in Durban. Moeen Ali took the man-of-the-match award for his match figures of 7-112 after Nick Compton (85) and James Taylor (70) impressed in the first innings, with Steven Finn (4-42) and Ali sealing the Proteas' fate. David Lloyd and Mike Atherton played the starring roles off the pitch, moonlighting in the merchandise area. Sadly, neither the Nasser Hussain key-rings nor Bumble's chicken tikka proved very popular…
Second Test scorecard | Report | How it happened
It was anything but a bore draw in Cape Town. Ben Stokes was in box-office form as he smashed 258 off 198 balls, utterly dominating proceedings on day two as he scored the second fastest double century in history. Stokes and Jonny Bairstow (150no) ran amok as they scored 196 in the morning session alone before England declared on 629-6.
But shell-shocked South Africa had their own rock in Hashim Amla (201) and a record-maker of their own in Temba Bavuma (102no), who struck the first hundred by a black African for the Proteas. Even then England flirted with an improbable defeat on the final day, slipping to 116-6 before Bairstow and Ali shut the door. What a match!
Third Test scorecard | Report | How it happened
Stuart Broad turned on the style to claim 6-17 as England rolled South Africa over for 83 in their second dig in the third Test and put the tourists on track for a series-clinching, seven-wicket win. Blistering Broad bagged five wickets for one run in a 31-ball salvo, evoking memories of his 8-15 against Australia the summer before, to put the skids further under the Proteas after Joe Root's hard-fought 110 - a century he described as his best yet - had earned England first-innings parity.
England's blitz in Johannesburg owed much to the brilliance of Taylor at a deeper short leg - the diminutive fielder taking not one, but two belting catches. Taylor's reaction time was a staggering 0.417 seconds as he pouched the ball just above the ground when Hashim Amla clipped in his direction off a rampaging Broad. Taylor then outdid himself by picking up a stonking one-handed catch to dismiss Dane Vilas, this time off the bowling of Steven Finn.
Taylor picked up where he left off in the fourth Test by adding to his collection of stunning short-leg catches with an unconventional grab to remove Dean Elgar. The opener advanced down the track to Moeen Ali's fourth ball only for Taylor to track him so he was in perfect position to trap a deflection between his legs.
Fourth Test scorecard | Report | How it happened
Centurion saw three South Africa centuries in the first innings - Stephen Cook on debut, Amla and Quinton de Kock laying the foundations - before seamer Kagiso Rabada took Test-best figures of 7-112, and match figures of 13-144, to complete a 280-run victory.
There was a tussle equally tenacious off the field, where Michael Atherton and Bob Willis battled to demonstrate Sky Cricket's real 'mastermind' in 'Bumble Bumbleson's brainteasers'. Athers laid an early marker by answering questions on his specialist subject, Ernest Hemingway, before our Bob displayed his knowledge of Bob Dylan.
Watch the first Test between South Africa and England live on Sky Sports Cricket from 7am on Boxing Day.
