SA edge ahead as England falter.

South Africa 337 (Dippenaar 110, Hoggard 3 for 56) and 99 for 2
England 425 (Strauss 126, Butcher 79, Ntini 3 for 75)


A fluctuating day's play saw South Africa finish 11 runs ahead with eight second-innings wickets in hand. Whilst that does not look like a dominant position, both sides know that it is far better than might have been expected at various stages of the day and, with England's batting still looking far from secure, the hosts will now fancy their chances of taking an early lead in the series. From England's viewpoint, things should have been so much better. Twice they had established positions of strength in their innings, and twice they were removed by a combination of tight bowling and awful shot selection.


Starting the day at 227 for 1, England's stated intention was to bat long enough to avoid having to put their pads on for a second time in the match. That prospect started to look unlikely in the first half hour when Andrew Strauss' fine innings was ended by Shaun Pollock, who had him caught by De Villiers for 126. He was replaced by Michael Vaughan who, perhaps unsettled after being hit by a Pollock bouncer, never looked comfortable and no one was surprised when he departed for 10, caught by Smith off some much improved bowling from Andrew Hall. If Vaughan had not looked great, he had been Bradmanesque in comparison with Thorpe, who was horribly out of touch. This, remember, is the man who has scored big runs against Saqlain and Murali, but today he was seen off by Graeme Smith's occasional off-spin, bowled attempting some sort of sweep. By now, England had lost three wickets for 29 and, still 60 runs short of SA's total, runs had virtually dried up.


All the while, Mark Butcher had stood firm, if less than fluent. Having not spent any serious time at the crease since June, he could be forgiven for taking his time. The departure of Thorpe brought Andrew Flintoff to the crease, which in turn led to an improvement in the run rate, albeit rather sketchily at times. Still, they survived until lunch and, thereafter, visibly gained confidence and fluency. An hour into the afternoon session they took England past SA's total and, with neither looking in any danger, a huge lead seemed inevitable. By now, they had added 79, the bowling was looking ordinary, the pitch docile and, showing increasing confidence, they were taking turns to find the boundary. All they had to do was keep it going and bat SA out of the game. Instead, they both threw their wickets away and, in the process, may have cost England the match. That may sound harsh, as today they had been responsible for England's healthy position, but it was disappointing, once again, to see them gift their wickets when the job was only half done.


Butcher was the first to depart. He had reached 79 and was now seeing the ball like a football. Having just dispatched Pollock for consecutive fours, he must have thought he could do no wrong and decided to send a good length ball from Ntini somewhere over mid-wicket. Instead, he only edged it to Tsolekile, and the collapse was on. Clearly inspired, in Ntini's next over, Flintoff decided to take the aerial route to the fine leg boundary. Unfortunately Rudolph was placed on the fence and, as you might expect, made no mistake with the seasonal gift. Geraint Jones had clearly decided not to follow the trend of giving it away with huge swipes to leg. Instead, he unerringly directed Ntini's next delivery to the tumbling Dippenaar in the covers, and England were in trouble. Hoggard managed to avoid the hat trick, but swiftly fell to Hall. England had lost four wickets for 12 runs and were only 21 runs ahead with only two wickets left. Giles, Simon Jones and Harmison all made handy contributions to stretch that lead to 88, but both sides knew that was a much, much less than it should have been.


Smith and De Villiers started confidently and it came as a surprise when the debutant was dismissed, albeit courtesy of a fine catch off his own bowling by the admirable Hoggard. With Harmison again out of sorts, Vaughan soon turned to his spinner and was rewarded when Giles, who was finding some appreciable turn, had Rudolph smartly taken by Trescothick at first slip for 28. At this stage, SA were still 22 behind, but Smith and Kallis saw them through to the close, by when they had established a small lead. The rest of the match should be fascinating. If England's bowlers find their form, they will probably set up a last day run chase in the region of 200 to 250. If not, it will be a question of how brave Smith is feeling in terms of a possible declaration. From an English viewpoint, they know they should never have found themselves in this position, and that nagging feeling of missed opportunity may just be what counts against them over the next two days.


Posted by David