South Africa vs England 2019: Why England Team Players Are Wearing Black Armband?

The England Cricket Team led by Joe Root wore Black Armbands in the ongoing Centurion Test against South Africa as a mark of respect to the ”late” Bob Willis. Willis captained his country between 1982 and 1984 and went on to play in 90 Test matches before taking up the commentary role for international matches. He passed away last week following an illness at the age of 70 years.

Bob Willis, who has died aged 70, was one of the heroes of England’s Ashes win over Australia in 1981. He took 8-43 to guide England to a famous victory. Bob Willis finished his Test career with 325 wickets, which puts him fourth on the all-time list of England wicket-takers behind James Anderson, Ian Botham and Stuart Broad.

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England are on the driver seat at Centurion:

Getting into the details of the match, it was Joe Root, who won the toss, asked South Africa to bat first on a nice grassy wicket. James Anderson, who returned to the playing XI after a lengthy period of time, delivered right in the first ball of the match to knock down Dean Elgar for a golden duck.

Elgar was followed by Aiden Markram when Sam Curran managed to get better off the batsman. Markram looked solid in the middle with four boundaries to his name. However, he couldn’t convert his start into a big score. Then came the masterstroke from Stuart Broad when Ben Stokes grabbed a nice catch at the second slip.

Following the collapse of the top-order, the skipper Faf du Plessis and Rassie Van der Dussen looked rock-solid in the middle with their defence. But, the debutant Dussen couldn’t hold on to his temptation, as he edged Sam Curran to Joe Root at first slip. He was followed by the skipper Faf du Plessis.

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The right-handed batsman poked at the leg-cutter of Stuart Broad, which landed straight in the hands of Joe Root at the first slip. The wicket helped England to stay on the driver seat before Quinton de Kock taking the attack back to England. He counter-attacked England bowlers to get those quick runs for the team. At the end of 45 overs, South Africa are with 150/5 on the board.