England's Stuart Broad fired up by threat of losing Test spot against South Africa, says Mark Ramprakash

Stuart Broad was spurred on to raise his game by speculation that he might lose his Test place, according to former England batsman Mark Ramprakash.

SCORECARD | AS IT HAPPENED

Broad, along with fellow veteran seamer James Anderson, had been viewed as a likely candidate to miss out on the second Test against South Africa once the tourists opted to include a spinner in Cape Town.

Jofra Archer's elbow injury ensured that Broad remained in the side - and the bowler responded with two early wickets as England fought their way back into the game after being bowled out for 269.

Live Test Cricket

Ramprakash, who worked as England batting coach under Trevor Bayliss, said: "I think Stuart, throughout his career, has shown a real strength of character to come out fighting.

"He's a guy who's raised his performance when his position comes under scrutiny and his back is against the wall. You've got some people who are affected by that and as a result they won't perform well.

"Stuart was relentless in his accuracy. His knees were pumping, at times he sprinted in - I remember seeing a ball of 87 miles per hour, which is top end for him.

"I think England were jolted by what happened (in the first Test) last week and those two senior guys have come out and shown their experience and their determination to want to do well in England colours today."

Broad removed Pieter Malan and Zubayr Hamza cheaply as South Africa slumped to 40-3 in the morning - and would have added the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen had he not overstepped the bowler's mark.

However, Ramprakash felt the 33-year-old's experience was crucial as England applied pressure later in the day and reduced the Proteas to 215-8 - still 54 runs behind - at stumps.

He added: "I think Stuart's bowled a little fuller, although [in the first Test] at Centurion he was vexed when he got cover driven a couple of times.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

"But he used the crease very intelligently, coming wide - the batsman is having to play at those because he's wide of the crease and it's angled in.

"He got a little bit of uneven bounce but, because he was in that area often enough he created real issues for the batsmen, whether to go forward or back, whether to play or leave."

Broad, Anderson and Sam Curran shared the majority of the wickets - but the bulk of the workload on the second day was shouldered by spinner Dom Bess, who sent down 27 overs.

Ramprakash was also full of praise for the containing role filled by Bess, who is playing in only his third Test and also made the key breakthrough when he had Dean Elgar caught in the deep to end a fourth-wicket stand of 117.

"So often we look for Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson to provide the penetration and wicket-taking threat, but also when we've been overseas on dry surfaces, they've ended up doing a lot of the donkey work," he said.

"I think here England's bowling attack worked as a unit and backed each other up. You cannot understate how important Bess, his role and the way he bowled today was from an England point of view.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

"What it allowed the seamers to do was run in hard for four to five overs and give it everything and really hit the pitch with an intensity that you cannot do on English pitches.

"Credit must go to the young spinner. How many times has he bowled 27 overs in a day at county level? Probably not many times, so it was outstanding from him today."