South Africa vs England: Jofra Archer fortunate to escape with a warning after brace of beamers

Archer’s attempts at bowling successive slower balls came out unintentionally as full tosses in the penultimate over

Jofra Archer with Joe Root after the conclusion of day two of the Boxing Day Test (Getty Images)

A demoralising day for England, in which they were skittled for 181 and trail South Africa by 175, almost got a lot worse in the penultimate over.

Jofra Archer’s attempts at bowling successive slower balls came out unintentionally as full tosses. The first, an easy enough call, was no balled. The second, too, had Anrich Nortje ducking. But while it seemed the square leg umpire Paul Reiffel suggested to the standing umpire Chris Gaffaney that it was a second beamer – only the standing umpire can officially call a no ball – the delivery was allowed to stand with Gaffaney adjudging the ball to have just passed at stump level.

Had it been given, Archer, who had taken the wickets of Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis in the afternoon session, would have been banned from bowling for the rest of the innings. Instead, he will begin day three with a warning for his first, as confirmed by match referee Andy Pycroft to England captain Joe Root.

South Africa were baffled by the events, believing the second no-ball call had been overturned on the field, even though it had not been made in the first place. Both batsmen conferred with the umpires as they left the field and those in the home dressing room also had queries for the umpires.

Speaking at the end of play, Vernon Philander, who had earlier taken four for 16, was particularly forthright, believing a call had been made and then reneged. In his view, the umpires had to stand firm and make the right call, not just for this incident but to set a precedent going forward.

“I suppose if you’re at square leg and you call a no ball you’ve got to stand your ground,” said Philander of Reiffel, who had the best angle of the second delivery. “At no time did they actually cancel it.

“For me it's plain and simple, we're playing a game and we're setting an example for the rest of the people coming into this game. You've got to make the right call.

“Are we going to tolerate it at another game or are we going to put a stop to it right here? It's in the hands of the umpires. I don't mind, I've got no say in it at all.”

Joe Denly was around the corner in a catching position on the leg side during the incident and admitted his surprise at not just the extension of Reiffel’s arm but also what preceded it.

“I was at leg slip and I wasn’t expecting two beamers, two slower balls,” said Denly, who top-scored in England’s first innings with 50. “The first one fair enough. The second one… it just missed the stumps.

“I saw him [Reiffel] put his arm out and I think he tucked it in quite quickly.”

In other news, Philander confirmed the rumours and reports that he will be taking up a Kolpak contract with Somerset after he retires from international cricket at the end of this series.

The 34-year old, who has played at the county before as an overseas player in 2012 and has also featured for Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and Somerset in English domestic cricket, revealed he will be on contract at Taunton on a “year-by-year” basis. It was previously thought he would sign a three-year deal outright.