Moeen hat-trick helps England surge to 239-run win
Moeen Ali became the first bowler in The Oval's 100 Test-history to take a hat-trick as England wrapped up a big 239-run win in the third Test against South Africa on Monday.
Moeen finished the landmark fixture when, after having Dean Elgar (136) and Kagiso Rabada caught at first slip by Ben Stokes with the last two balls of his 16th over, he trapped Morne Morkel lbw with the first ball of his next.
Umpire Joel Wilson declared Morkel not out at first, but England went for the review, which revealed the ball was going to crash on to the legstump. Moeen thus became only the 13th Englishman hat-trick in the longest format of the sport.
The win put England 2-1 up in this four-match series, with only the fourth Test at Old Trafford (starting Friday) remaining. England won the first Test at Lord's by 211 runs and South Africa levelled the series with a 340-run victory in the second Test at Trent Bridge.
Chasing a massive target of 492, South Africa was all out for 252 after lunch, with Moeen bagging 4 for 45.
The visiting side resumed the fifth and final day on 117 for 4, with Elgar (72 not out) and Temba Bavuma (16 not out) holding fort after South Africa were down to 52 for 4 at one stage on Sunday.
A chase to victory was unlikely for South Africa, with no side having ever made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test than Windies' 418 for 7 against Australia at St John's in 2003. A more realistic, if difficult, goal was to bat out the minimum 98 overs on Monday's last day to salvage a draw.
It was Stokes, who had picked up two wickets in two balls on the fourth day to dismiss Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis, after making 112 in England's first innings total of 353, started proceedings on Monday.
Elgar pulled and cut Stokes for two fours to break the shackles with Bavuma, who scored a gritty 52 in South Africa's small first innings tally of 175, offering support at the other end.
Toby Roland-Jones, who had followed up his stunning Test debut bowling innings return of 5 for 57 by dismissing Hashim Amla cheaply for the second time in the match on Sunday, went on to break the 108-run stand in the 51st over.
A full-length delivery from the medium pacer struck Bavuma on the pad as the batsman got only half-forward. Aleem Dar turned down England's appeal but when England reviewed, replays confirmed that the ball had hit pad first and indicated it would have hit middle stump. Bavuma, after batting for more than two hours, was out for 32.
South Africa went from 160 for 5 to 160 for 6 the very next ball with Vernon Philander, who spent much of this match on the sidelines with a stomach bug, padded up to a Roland-Jones delivery that nipped back and was adjudged lbw for a golden duck.
Elgar, batting with a bruised finger, did score his eighth century in 38 Tests, his knock studded with 20 boundaries but Chris Morris, who survived Roland-Jones's hat-trick delivery, fell for 24 to the last ball before lunch. Morris had edged Moeen to Stokes at slip, leaving South Africa on the verge of defeat at 205 for 7.
After more than five-and-half hours at the crease, Elgar prodded forward to Moeen and Stokes completed another catch in the 76th over. Two balls later, Moeen's heroics handed England the comprehensive win, and the much-needed lead in what has been an incredible see-sawing series so far.
