Balance of power goes South Africa’s way as pace out-Bazballs England

The Lord’s clock had already ticked past 1pm by the time Anrich Nortje turned to bowl the final ball of the morning, scowling his game-face scowl as he glanced up at Ben Stokes: a genuinely terrifying expression, the face of a man with a deep and irresolvable sense of injustice, who can also – did we mention this? – bowl 97mph chest-thudding in-duckers.

Nortje really is a wonderful fast bowler. Here, his morning was split between two short spells, one from each end. He isn’t tall, but has a fearsome whippy strength, skips off his back foot into a thrilling catapult motion, chest on but still smooth and easy in his movements.

It has been a steady journey to this point, a career that has gone multi-franchise, all-format supernova as he approaches his prime. He made his debut for Eastern Province against Namibia eight years ago. His first two wickets in professional cricket both belonged to an opener called Wayne Raw, who himself sounds like the main character in a Martin Amis novel about Afrikaner fast bowlers of the 1980s. Anrich Nortje to Wayne Raw at Windhoek. Imagine how hot it was. Imagine how much meat they ate for lunch.

Nortje, now 28, played through university, was always quick, and has matured now into a hugely skilful bowler. Forty minutes earlier he had produced a beautiful little miniature, clanking Jonny Bairstow’s middle stump out of the ground with a 93mph in-ducker, the perfect execution of the perfect delivery, perfectly tailored to his opponent’s weakness, with the perfect cinematic endpoint. Nortje even produced the perfect celebration, falling to his knees and pumping his right arm like a man very carefully puncturing a water bed with a bread knife.

And how he had Stokes in his sights; and not just