1st Test: Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada Down England As South Africa Prevail

Anrich Nortje starred as a disciplined South Africa attack snuffed out England's hopes of an improbable victory in the first Test at Centurion.

(Cricket News)

Nortje claimed the key wickets of England's top scorer Rory Burns for 84 and captain Joe Root two shy of a battling half-century as the Proteas won by 107 runs.

Bowling with pace and hostility to make the most of a pitch giving variable bounce to the pacemen, Nortje (3-56) was the standout performer as South Africa dispensed with the loose third-evening efforts that left England with a sense they might challenge a lofty victory target of 376.

Kagiso Rabada ensured Jos Buttler's blistering 22-run contribution was no more than a brief cameo to snuff out England's last realistic hopes, before bowling Stuart Broad and wrapping things up with figures of 4-103 - ending a run of five consecutive defeats in Tests for Faf du Plessis' men in the process.

No batsman other than Burns managed to pass 50 for England in the second innings as the tourists, whose camp was ravaged by illness before and during the match, collapsed from 204-3 to 268 all out.

However, the damage was truly done by a pitiful first-innings effort of 181 that meant a deficit of 103 after Root's eyebrow-raising decision to bowl after winning the toss.

The runs flowed for England towards the end of day three, but Burns was unable to relocate his rhythm against the miserly Vernon Philander first up on Sunday.

That seemingly played a part in an uncharacteristic dismissal for the Surrey opener, who top-edged a hook at Nortje's second ball of the day, giving Rabada a simple catch.

Either side of that dismissal, Joe Denly produced the same stroke for a pair of maximums off Rabada, although he fell for 31 – trapped lbw playing around his pad at Dwaine Pretorius.

That brought together Root and Ben Stokes, with the latter hitting a pair of fours from a Keshav Maharaj over that cost 13.

In his next set of six, however, Maharaj persuaded Stokes to drag on, from which point England's task always seemed beyond them.

Jonny Bairstow's injudicious approach to Rabada's second delivery with the second new ball got the deserved result, as Zubayr Hamza pouched a thick edge from a nonsensical drive at gully.

Nortje drew a nick behind to end Root's resistance and Jofra Archer steered the same bowler to slip after Sam Curran gave man of the match Quinton de Kock his eighth catch of the game, with Rabada the beneficiary.

The second Test begins in Cape Town on Friday, where England will hope to be over the debilitating effects of the virus that has swept through their camp.

Persistent batting collapses still appear a far more difficult problem for Root and head coach Chris Silverwood to cure.