South Africa rocked England with three quick wickets to leave the tourists 157-6 at tea on day two of the Boxing Day Test at Centurion.

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Dwaine Pretorius claimed his first Test wicket by having Joe Denly (50) caught behind to end a fourth-wicket stand of 72 with Ben Stokes (35), before Anrich Nortje castled the recalled Jonny Bairstow (1) and forced Stokes to edge to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.

England slipped from 142-3 to 150-6 in 17 balls and headed into the break trailing South Africa’s first-innings 284 by 127 runs at SuperSport Park.

Denly, dropped on nought by Rassie van der Dussen, put on 55 with skipper Joe Root (29) from 15-2 after openers Rory Burns (9) and Dom Sibley (4) were out cheaply to Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada respectively.

Root was unable to press on, tamely feathering Vernon Philander behind, but would have been happy with the position his side were in before the three breakthroughs in the final hour of the second session.

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