CAPE TOWN: England lost opener Zak Crawley early and Dom Sibley just before lunch as they reached 67 for two wickets on the opening day of the second test against South Africa at Newlands on Friday.
The 21-year-old Crawley, playing only his second test, came in at the top of the order for Rory Burns, who was ruled out of the rest of the tour on Thursday after injuring his ankle in a soccer kick-about.
Crawley, however, was out in the third over of the day, edging a Vernon Philander delivery behind to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock for four runs.
Opening partner Sibley was also caught behind off Kagiso Rabada, getting a healthy nick to a rising delivery, to depart for 34.
Joe Denly on 21 and captain Joe Root (4) were not out at lunch.
Burns’ injury was yet another blow for England, who have had to deal with considerable adversity on the tour, starting with a flu bug which spread through their camp on their arrival in South Africa in the middle of last month.
That was followed by injuries to Burns and pace bowler Jofra Archer, who was left out on Friday.
Archer has a recurring elbow injury and did not bowl in practice over the last two days, with England opting to rest him in the hope that he can be fit for the remainder of the four-match series.
Officials said on Friday that he would go for a second scan to better diagnose the injury.
England also brought Ollie Pope and Dominic Bess into the team after the first-test defeat as they won the toss and elected to bat on a hot first day at Newlands.
Off-spinner Bess was not originally selected for the tour squad but flew to South Africa as cover ahead of the first test when several players were bed-ridden.
South Africa handed opener Pieter Malan a test debut at the age of 30 in place of the injured Aiden Markram, who underwent surgery this week on a broken finger and will play no further part in the series.
South Africa won the first test in Pretoria by 107 runs.
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Written by Mausam
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