Toby Roland-Jones saw his dream debut continue as he completed a five-wicket haul to end South Africa’s belated resistance and ensure England maintained their domination of the third Test at The Oval on Saturday.
Yet the home side’s push for victory to move 2-1 ahead in the four-Test series was threatened by the south London weather as afternoon rain ended up wiping out half the day’s play with England on 74 for one in their second innings, 252 runs ahead.
Roland-Jones had spearheaded the dismissal of South Africa for 175 on the third morning of the 100th Oval Test to give England a 178-run first innings lead before another newcomer Tom Westley then helped hammer home the advantage.
The Essex new boy Westley, just as in his first innings 25, looked perfectly at home on 28 not out as he and Keaton Jennings, who rode his luck to reach 34, both fought impressively to secure their England futures before the rain came.
Earlier, Temba Bavuma's fine half-century had led a spirited rearguard action from the South African tail, but Roland-Jones eventually dismissed him for 52 to finish off the innings and boast remarkable debut figures of 5-57 off 16.4 overs.
Roland-Jones, the 29-year-old Middlesex seamer who had ripped through the Proteas' top four on Friday in his first 33 balls, became the first England bowler since Graham Onions against West Indies at Lord's in 2009 to take a five-wicket haul in a test debut first innings.
score board
ENGAND (I Innings): 353
SOUTH AFRICA (I Innings, O/n: 126/8)
Elgar c Bairstow b Roland-Jones 8
Kuhn lbw Roland-Jones 15
Amla c Bairstow b Roland-Jones 6
de Kock c Stokes b Roland-Jones 17
Du Plessis lbw Anderson 1
Bavuma c B’stow b Roland-Jones 52
Morris c&b Anderson 2
Maharaj c Cook b Stokes 5
Rabada b Broad 30
Morkel c Cook b Anderson 17
Philander (not out) 10
Extras (B-4, LB-5, NB-3) 12
Total (all out, 58.4 overs) 175
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-23, 3-30, 4-47, 5-47, 6-51, 7- 61, 8-114, 9-161.
Bowling: Anderson 13-6-25-3; Broad 15-5-44-1; Roland- Jones 16.4-57-5; Stokes 7-1-26-1; Root 2-0-5-0; Ali 5-1-9-0.
ENGLAND (II Innings):
Cook b Morkel 7
Jennings (batting) 34
Westley (batting) 28
Extras (LB-5) 5
Total (for 1 wkt, 21.2 overs) 74
Fall of wickets: 1-30
Bowling: Morkel 9-3-20-1; Philander 6-0-30-0; Rabada 4.2 -3-9-0; Morris 2-0-10-0.
