ENG vs SA 2022 | Did not wake up this morning thinking that I’d talk to press so early, chuckles Dean Elgar

There was a lot of expectations from England in their first of the three-match Test series in England that took place at Lord's. However, the Ben Stokes-led side failed to live up to the expectations. In fact, they were humiliated with a hammering an-innings-and-12-run defeat, that too inside three days.

Batting first, England managed 165 in the first innings, courtesy of of South Africa's relentless pace attack, led by Kagiso Rabada. Then, the Proteas posted 326 in reply, with Sarel Erwee (73), Dean Elgar (47), Marco Jansen (48), and Keshav Maharaj (41) making substantial impacts. Many had expected England might stage a fightback in the second innings, but all they scored in total was 149. All five South African bowlers took at least a wicket in their second attempt.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, South Africa's skipper Elgar hailed his team for pulling off an outstanding performance against a side who have been buzzling with 'Bazzball' for sometime. At the same time, Elgar took a dig on English batters, saying he would never expect that game could be finished so early.

"I did not wake up this morning thinking that I’d be doing a press conference before five o’clock,"  Elgar joked referring to the early finish of the Test match in just more than six sessions.

"It was a pretty special squad performance. We haven't left any stone unturned so far and hopefully we don't go into a comfort zone … no, well - I'm definitely not going to let us go into a comfort zone, because I know what complacency can do in international sport. But we need to enjoy these moments, we did it at a really unique place and it's special for a lot of guys that haven't experienced Lord’s before."

England will be keen to level the series by winning the second Test match at Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, starting from August 25.