England ascend as South Africa decline

Just before tea on day three at Durban, there was a moment that seemed to sum up the contrasting fortunes of these two teams.

As Dale Steyn departed for hospital and a scan on his sore shoulder, James Anderson returned to the nets and his preparation for the second Test in Cape Town.

The message? As one team declines, so another ascends. Anderson, who hopes to return to bowling at full pace on Tuesday, is confident he will play in the second Test; Steyn is described as "hopeful." But fast bowlers in three-man seam attacks don't go into Test matches "hopeful" of getting through it.

On its own, perhaps, that would not be such a significant sign. But it was not the only contrast.

While South Africa's star batsman, AB de Villiers, unempathically denied talk of his impending retirement - it seems likely he will reduce his workload rather than retire - England's star batsman, Joe Root, equalled Virender Sehwag's Test record by achieving his 13th score of 50 or more in the calendar year. Nobody has ever made more.

While South Africa dropped three chances, England held a couple of sharp catches. While South Africa's spinner conceded nearly four runs an over, England's conceded under three and bowled his best spell for a year. While JP Duminy's dismissal suggested South Africa are no nearer finding a solution to their issues against spin, Nick Compton's resilience suggested England have found a solution to their top-order fragility While Temba Bavuma, in his sixth Test, continues to struggle to adjust to this level, James Taylor, in his fourth, continues to field and bat as if made for it. Had hyenas started to gather round the South Africa dressing room door, the signs at Durban could not have been clearer.

It would be premature for England to start celebrating. They have lost three of their last four Tests, after all, and there is a great deal of cricket left to be played in this match and in this series. Whatever their current problems, South Africa sides rarely go down without a fight.

But England do have an opportunity. Here and over the next few years. As several other Test nations reel from retirements and financial constraints, England are putting together a nicely balanced team which looks as if it could serve them for much of the next decade. There will be, no doubt, some setbacks on the way, and it remains hard to see how Anderson can be replaced in the longer-term, but these are exciting times.

For much of the day, there was something oddly familiar about this day's play: a sense that we've seen this film; read this book; know this ending. A sense of déjà vu.

But then the reality hit: South Africa were living England's past. The injuries, the dropped catches, the batting collapses: this could have been England in Adelaide in 2013. It could even have been England in Adelaide in 2006. In both games, England reached a tipping point from which there was no way back.

South Africa are not at that stage. Not quite. These things can always be turned around. But with key players ageing and few obvious reserves, there is an unavoidable sense that we are coming to the end of South Africa's era as the world's best Test side. It is already six Tests since South Africa have enjoyed a win, if they lose this one it will be the first time they have lost three in a row since March 2009. The fact that it is 10 completed innings since they reached 250 does not bode well for them.

If England are to clinch this game - and they will rarely have a better opportunity to improve their wretched record in opening Tests of away series - they will require Moeen Ali to make full use of helpful conditions in the fourth innings.

Moeen would be the first to admit he endured a disappointing tour of the UAE. He failed as a batsman and, as a bowler, was unable to contain a Pakistan battling line-up that he rates the best players of spin - or his spin, anyway - that he has yet faced. They hit him off his lengths and left him doubting his game.

But, for the second day in a row, an England bowler credited the bowling coach - Ottis Gibson - for an improvement in their game. Moeen's strength has always been the amount of revs he imparts on the ball - revs that not only create the turn, but the dip and drift that have fooled a fair few quality batsmen - but that skill has been compromised by the fairly regular loose ball he has delivered.

With Gibson, however, Moeen has been working on gaining greater consistency with a simplified action. He has been working on maintaining control, not searching for wickets. He has been working on becoming the bowler this side need him to become.

The evidence so far is that the changes are working nicely. It was not just that Moeen claimed four wickets - his best figures since the Old Trafford Test against India in 2014 - it was that he conceded only 2.76 runs an over and, at one stage, went 14 overs without conceding a boundary and 17 overs without conceding a four. It was that he showed that he is learning to do the holding role that this team will often require.

It's true he had conditions in his favour. He has a dry pitch and a strong breeze with which to work. He has a batting line-up that seems scarred by their experienced against spin in England. And two of his wickets were tailenders.

But this was an encouraging spell of bowling. He used the breeze to complement his drift away from the right-hander and turned the ball quite sharply at times off the surface. The dismissal of Duminy, drawn forward by a ball drifting in, pitching on middle and turning to take the outside edge, was a classic off-spinner to left-hander wicket. A thing of beauty in its own way.

"The Pakistanis were the best players I've ever bowled against," Moeen told Sky Sports. "They never really let me settle. I tried everything out there and nothing really worked.

"I've had to change my action quite a few times compared to when I first started. Even when I've bowled well in the past and felt like my action has been quite good, I've had to change that as well. It's mainly being patient and learning about the art of bowling spin.

"There's a long way to go. I'm not going to stand here and say I'm a world-class bowler or anything like that. Today was a good step in the right direction. It's tough but I feel like I'm learning quite a lot. I feel that because of that I'll become a better bowler."

The bigger test of his progress will come in South Africa's second innings. Put bluntly, it will be his job to clinch this game for England. Against some quality batsmen, intent on defence and fresh from a tour of India, he will be required to bowl England to victory.

It will not be easy. But the third day showed us that Moeen, like this side, is progressing nicely.