ENG vs SA: Seamers, Bairstow put England on top in a gripping opening day

James Anderson went bang bang after Lunch [Image Credits- Twitter]

A dogged unbeaten 68-run stand between Zak Crawley (17* off 77) and Jonny Bairstow (38* off 45) has helped England finish the opening day of the Old Trafford Test on a high after their pace attack dismissed South Africa for 151.

On an overcast morning in Manchester, the Proteas skipper Dean Elgar made a couple of bold calls. First, he won the toss and decided to bat first despite what happened at Lord's.

We soon came to know the thought-process behind it when Elgar revealed that off-spinner Simon Harmer will replace Marco Jansen in the playing XI.

Going by cricketing logic, the decision made sense. Elgar wanted his batters to take pressure first up so that he could apply the scoreboard pressure on England with two spinners in the 4th innings.

The problem was, South Africa's batting wasn't up for the challenge that the English seamers --led by James Anderson (3-32 in 15) presented to them albeit in perfect bowling conditions.

The quartet of Anderson, Stuart Broad (3-37 in 14), Ollie Robinson (1-48 in 14) and Ben Stokes (2-17 in 7) got the Dukes to move both ways and by the time we moved towards lunch, the visitors had already lost half their side.

Anderson got things up and running with the dismissal of Sarel Erwee while Broad ended Elgar's torturous 42-ball stay at the crease following a brilliant set-up where he moved the ball both ways.

Keegan Petersen looked solid during his 29-ball 21 but eventually got squared up by a jaffa from Broad to give slip catching practice to Joe Root.

Markram and Rassie Van der Dussen survived a tricky passage of play but eventually fell at the stroke of Lunch to Stokes.

Markram top-edged an ill-fated pull while RVD was undone by a nip-backer.

South Africa's misery continued after Lunch but their pacers led their fightback after Tea

Anderson soon reduced South Africa to 7-92 as he knocked over Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj on consecutive deliveries after lunch before Broad removed Kyle Verreynne.

Kagiso Rabada (36 off 72) and Anrich Nortje took their side past the 150-mark before Robinson and Jack Leach finished off the proceedings.

Defending just 151, South Africa got off to a perfect start as Lungi Ngidi nicked off Alex Lees in his 1st over.

Ollie Pope looked fidgety and while he did score a few boundaries against Nortje, it was the Proteas pacer who had the last laugh as he ripped through the former's defence with a nip-backer.

Rabada then got the big fish in the form of Root, leaving England reeling at 3-43. However, Crawley's patience and the calculated counterattack from Bairstow ensured that the hosts finished at a respectable 111-3.