While South Africa’s fast bowling quartet of Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Anrich Nortje impressed, Ollie Pope was outstanding in putting together an unbeaten 61 off 87 balls. “He was fantastic,” Collingwood said. Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “I thought he was calm, he looked busy with the crease, and on a wicket that was obviously giving them a lot of help, hopefully he could put us in a position where we can see where we’re at and I guess we’ll win.” Don’t know that until we bowl on the same surface.” South Africa are at the top of the World Test Championship rankings, thanks in large part to the excellence of their bowlers – even if this particular team has not played together before. Rabada said: “I think we’ve got some pace, we’ve got bounce, we’ve got guys who can swing it, guys who can put quick bumpers. So in terms of the pace attack, I think we have all the ingredients to be formidable.” Although conditions are expected to be more bat-friendly for the rest of the week, there was enough on the wicket to encourage England. “There were some good balls in there and when you have skilful bowlers at high pace, they will play wicket-taking balls,” said Collingwood, England’s assistant coach. “We’re not going to worry too much about what happens today. The exciting thing is to see what our world-class bowlers themselves can do on this pitch. Kagiso Rabada celebrates Zak Crawley’s win. Photo: Ashley Western/Colorsport/Shutterstock “We’re not always going to get it right. I guess when you’re playing shots and trying to put the opposition under pressure, you’re going to lose wickets at times. But there’s certainly a lot on that wicket and if he plays exactly the same tomorrow, I’m looking forward to our bowlers coming in.” Collingwood insisted there is no pressure from the dressing room on Zak Crawley, who was caught in the slips for nine and has averaged 16.77 in his nine innings this summer. “The messages are very clear with Zach,” he said. “We’re not necessarily looking for consistency with Zach, it’s about putting in match-winning performances and being able to do special things. “He’s got huge talent, we know that and we’re sure he can turn things around and make those winning contributions.”
