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Anyone who writes off James Anderson and Stuart Broad is “silly”, says England all-rounder Sam Curran.
England’s top two Test wicket-takers starred on day two of the second Test in Cape Town to help reduce South Africa to 215-8, a deficit of 54 runs.
There was speculation over Broad and Anderson’s place after the first-Test defeat, with captain Joe Root saying one of them could be dropped.
“They are the world’s best,” Curran told the Test Match Special podcast.
“Anyone who writes them off is silly – they are world-class bowlers and they showed that again.”
Anderson claimed 3-34 to take his tally to 580 Test wickets, while fellow seamer Broad now has 478 after taking 2-36.
Curran struggled early in the day, but returned to dismiss Quinton de Kock (20) and Rassie van der Dussen (68) as England took five wickets after tea.
“It’s great for me,” added Curran. “Jimmy came over when I was having a tough spell and said, ‘Keep coming because the rewards will come’.”
England have endured a difficult tour, with illness having affected most of the squad at some stage, a 107-run defeat in the first Test and opener Rory Burns ruled out after injuring his ankle playing football in training on Thursday.
Fast bowler Jofra Archer is also missing this Test because of an elbow injury, although England are hopeful he will be fit for the third Test after a scan showed no serious damage.
“We’ve spoken about sticking together as a group,” said Curran.
“It’s been a tricky tour but we have great morale in the team and hopefully we can pull off a win here.
“Any lead would be great because batting last will be tricky, but we don’t want to look too far ahead, we just want to put ourselves in a good position.”
‘Brain-fart’ costs Elgar
South Africa opener Dean Elgar was well set on 88, with his side on 157-3, when the left-hander miscued off-spinner Dom Bess to be caught by Root at mid-off.
His dismissal began a collapse that saw the Proteas lose five wickets for just 58 runs.
“I was trying to be as patient as possible and if he over-pitched it, hit him to the boundary,” said Elgar.
“I played him well until a brain-fart and then I had to sit back in the changing room.
“I might have just chosen the wrong ball to do what I wanted to do.
“There is disappointment because we grafted hard and fought to get ourselves into a reasonably good position but then let it slip in the final hour.”
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