If there was always a slight feel of “live by the sword, die by the sword” to England’s much-vaunted “Bazball” approach to Test cricket, then you could say that South Africa came along with a full armoury of rapiers, cutlasses and katanas to cut it to shreds.
It would be unnecessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater but England’s display during this first Test at Lord’s, especially on what was billed as the third day but turned out to be the final day, ruthlessly exposed its flaws.
