SA apply last rites at Cape Town

South Africa squared the five-match series against England at 1-1 with two games to play after Nicky Boje and Shaun Pollock accounted for the final five England wickets to fall on the final morning at Cape Town, despite a tail-end cameo from Steve Harmison.

With England resuming on 151-5, needing a hypothetical 350 for victory but more realistically to bat for three entire sessions to save the game, there was the slightest chink of light should Graham Thorpe and Geraint Jones, not out overnight, been able to survive the morning session. As it was, however, Shaun Pollock's second over with the new ball struck the crucial blow of the wicket of Thorpe - a perfect away-swinger guided through into the gloves of AB de Villiers.

Ashley Giles joined Jones for over an hour's resistance and the two men added 62 to the England total before the left-arm spinner Nicky Boje - hammered at Durban - accounted for both in the space of two overs. Both fell in a similar manner, edging to Jacques Kallis at slip, to send England to the tea interval at 225-8 and needing a miracle of either batting or meterological persuasion to save the game.

Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard hung around briefly, Jones clubbing three boundaries off the previously suffocating Boje, before Pollock's line around the wicket proved to give Kallis his third consecutive catch. It was little more than a matter of how long Steve Harmison and the limpet-like Hoggard would survive for the final wicket.

It finally proved light relief for the beleaguered tourists as the two tail-enders added 51 for the final wicket, Harmison bludgeoning his highest first-class score, 42, at a run a ball before edging Ntini to Boeta Dippenaar at gully - including seven fours and a six off Boje into the Railway Stand to become only the seventh number eleven in Test history to top-score in an innings, eclipsing Robert Key's 41. The previous instance of this feat came last month in Chittagong, when Bangladeshi Talha Jubair struck 31 at the bottom of the order after his side subsided to 84-9. Hoggard, stoic as ever, remained unbeaten on 7 after a 92-minute, 64-ball vigil.

Neither team ought to feel too hard done by to move on to Johannesburg and Centurion with the series tied at one apiece - both sides have dominated parts of the contest, and both have demonstrated the exact opposite at others, this Test being the first since the Dominic Cork-inspired Saturday evening run chase against the West Indies at Lord's in 2000.

Following three back-to-back matches, both sides take a well earned break before the series resumes next Thursday at the Wanderers ground in Johannesburg. For the first time this series, both sides are likely to be unchanged, so long as Charl Langeveldt (broken hand) and Andy Flintoff (intercostal) can prove their fitness in time. South Africa will maintain the question mark over Hashim Amla's place, whilst England will hope Steve Harmison can recover his form from last year and return to tormenting opposition batsmen, as opposed to tormenting their bowlers with the swinging of his bat - perhaps this innings will breed the confidence he so sorely lacks at present?

This series, as nearly every D'Oliveira Trophy since South Africa's return to Test cricket has been, is intriguingly poised with the potential to go either way over the remaining two games - it's not impossible that the whole series will come down to a final-day chase at Centurion Park. Nonetheless, South Africa will take the momentum into the final two Tests, and probably stand as slight favourites in a race that no-one can confidently forecast. Game on...

South Africa 441
JH Kallis 149, N Boje 76
A Flintoff 4-79, AF Giles 3-105
England 163
AJ Strauss 55, AF Giles 31*
CK Langeveldt 5-46, M Ntini 4-50
South Africa 222-8
JH Kallis 66, HH Dippenaar 44
SP Jones 2-15, A Flintoff 2-46
England 304
SJ Harmison 42, RWT Key 41
SM Pollock 4-65, N Boje 4-71

South Africa won by 196 runs

CricketWeb Player of the Match
Nicky Boje - 76 and 4-71

Posted by Neil