England vs South Africa 2017, 4th Test: Day 3, 5 talking points

The match continued to see-saw between England and South Africa at Manchester as the visiting bowlers fought back to reduce England to 134/6 at one stage before they recovered to a lead of 360 at stumps. A rampant Moeen Ali took away the game in the fading twilight at Old Trafford but the game continued to enthral fans around the globe.

Earlier, Stuart Broad cleaned up the South African tail to give his side a lead of 136 runs in the first innings. Morkel immediately struck in England's second innings, sending back Cook and Westley before Jennings failed yet again to put England in trouble. Root resurrected the innings before Olivier burst through with three wickets to put the game back in the balance.

Brief Scores: England 362 & 224/8 (Ali 67, Olivier 3/38) South Africa 226 (Bavuma 46, Anderson 4/38)

Don't miss the talking points from Old Trafford on day 3.

#5 Morkel finds some luck

Morkel got rid of Cook and Westley in a enticing morning spell

Morne Morkel was luckless yet terrific right through the series. He had gotten rid of Alastair Cook several times in the series and did it yet again at Old Trafford in the second innings, eking out an outside edge with a fuller ball.

Extra cover: Bring back the draws

Westley was next, edging another fullish delivery to gully to depart for 9. Criticised for bowling too short right through his career, Morkel seems to have found the right mix these days, switching between short and full lengths adeptly to effect crucial dismissals.

#4 Jennings fails yet another time

Jennings takes another long walk back or the pavilion

Keaton Jennings is having a long, long series. Success has eluded him ever since his debut hundred and this series has proved to rather tough on him, especially with a mountain of expectations in his head. First it was Vernon Philander who troubled him with his scrooge lines and seam movement but in this Test, he has no one to blame but himself.

With the West Indian series and the Ashes coming up, England will badly want to have an in-form guy partnering Alastair Cook at the top and going by current trends, Jennings isn't that man. He nicked a cut shot off Rabada to the slips to depart for 18 after hanging around for 63 balls.

#3 Olivier gets Root a second time

Despite not having the best of Tests, Olivier got rid of Root twice

Duanne Olivier was probably not in South Africa's scheme of things even when Vernon Philander was a doubtful starter for the Test. But with Morris sidelined, the Proteas went back to the hustling Knights seamer. A hit-the-deck seamer with relentless consistency in line and length, Olivier was below par at Trent Bridge, and seemed equally ineffective here until he trapped Joe Root in front in the first innings.

If that felt like a one-off incident, Olivier quickly disassembled that motion by cleaning up the England skipper with him one short of yet another half-century. Root chopped the seamer back onto his stumps to depart for 49. Olivier soon got rid of Ben Stokes and Johnny Bairstow as well to help South Africa in their bid to make a comeback.

#2 Moeen Ali counter-attacks his way to unbeaten half-century

Ali made use of a reprieve to slam an unbeaten half-century

Moeen Ali stuck it out for England once again as he guided them past a difficult phase and into a sizeable lead by stumps. He survived an early chance when Dean Elgar put down a simple catch off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj. Unperturbed, Ali carried on attacking and posted an aggressive half-century.

With England still ahead of the game but South Africa slowing clawing their way back in, there was uncertainty until Moeen Ali walked in and slammed around boundaries in a belligerent knock. He remained unbeaten on 67 off 59 balls at stumps on day 3.

#1 Can South Africa pull themselves out of this mess?

Faf du Plessis and Amla will play a key role if South Africa are to salvage the series

Granted, their bowlers did a tremendous job for most part of the day to reduce England's hold in the game. But much of the hard work done by Olivier and the others was undone by Moeen Ali late in the day and the visiting batsmen are left with a humungous task on day 4 and 5 if they are to pull off a win from here and level the series.

Much of South Africa's hopes would depend on their senior players, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis, both of whom haven't had the best of tours. The pitch is slowly deteriorating and this makes the task all the more difficult for this Proteas outfit.