UPDATE 2-Cricket-Crawley leads the way as England make positive start

Zak Crawley scored a maiden test 50 as England made a confident start to the fourth and final test against South Africa and were 100 runs without loss at tea on the opening day after winning the toss and electing to bat. Crawley took only 80 balls to reach the milestone as he took advantage of a pedestrian home attack, sorely missing the suspended Kagiso Rabada, with the South African bowlers failing to get anything out of what was expected to be a seamer-friendly pitch.

Rain delayed the start of play on Friday until after lunch, but Crawley and Dom Sibley wasted little time laying a platform as England look for a third successive win over their hosts and a convincing 3-1 series victory. Crawley was 57 not out and Dom Sibley on 39 off the first 30 overs of the contest in an extended afternoon session.

Crawley suffered a blow to the head from an Anrich Nortje bouncer and needed a lengthy delay before being able to continue. Sibley was given out caught behind off debutant left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks when he was on 10 but reviewed immediately and successfully, as TV replays showed the ball had not touched his bat.

He was then caught on 12 when he steered Vernon Philander’s delivery to Temba Bavuma in the gully but the bowler overstepped the mark and was no-balled. South Africa used all five seamers inside their first 20 overs as they searched fruitlessly for a breakthrough.

They had left out spinner Keshav Maharaj, instead handing Hendricks his first cap and bringing back all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius. England had hoped to bring Jofra Archer back into their lineup but the elbow injury that had kept him out of the last two tests flared up again in the warmup on Friday, meaning Mark Wood kept his place in the attack.

England also went with an all-seam attack as Chris Woakes replaced off-spinner Dom Bess. (Editing by David Holmes and Toby Davis)