What happened to South African cricket?

Indeed. Silverwood is a lot better than Bayliss in Tests. His focus on playing Test cricket in the traditionally way has worked wonders, the top order is able to blunt the new ball, and make way for middle order to play the strokes, while cashing in on the fun themselves if they survive. It is so laughable when you read how Bayliss wanted to play slam-bang cricket, in his tenure, with limited-overs folks playing their 'natural game' and 'setting the tone early'.

"It is easy to play shots. When you start playing shots [during a testing spell], that means your game is not capable enough to play the Test format. You are trying to survive rather than understand the situation and play accordingly. When you start playing shots, it means you are under pressure as a batsman and you are not able to handle that situation. When you defend confidently you know you are in command, you are on top of the bowler, and he doesn't have a chance to get you out. You will ultimately score runs when he bowls a loose ball." - Cheteshwar Pujara

Frankly, only three things didn't work in England's way, Denly wasn't able to score runs after facing the new ball, Root's struggle with his conversion rate continues, and Buttler looks like he's getting dropped.

/r/Cricket Thread Parent