SA 'A' strike at Potchefstroom

In a day interrupted by both a heavy downpour and an electrical storm, South Africa 'A' completed the job they had threatened for the past two and brought England back to earth with a seven-wicket victory over the "underdone" tourists.

Resuming on 154-7, it only took ten overs for the hosts' left-arm Charl pace pair of Willougby and Langeveldt to dismiss England for 190. Captain Michael Vaughan followed up his man-of-the-series efforts in the Zimbabwe ODIs by converting his overnight 82* to a round 100, before slashing Willoughby to Mark Boucher behind the stumps.

Matthew Hoggard had already fallen, unable to add to his three runs when he deflected Langeveldt to Ashwell Prince in the slips, and the innings was wound up courtesy of the same bowler/fielder combination when Simon Jones miscued to cover. Steve Harmison remained unbeaten on 13* as England set the hosts a significantly less than imposing 135 to win.

Hoggard struck in the very first over to give the tourists hope, Martin van Jaarsveld edging behind to Geraint Jones, but Andrew Puttick and Justin Ontong added 69 as the English seamers strayed in length and line before play was bizarrely brought to a halt - Sedgars Park resonating to the sound of a thunderclap as lightning struck barely 100 yards from the ground.

The fifteen-minute break for "dangerous weather", as the scoreboard unassumingly remarked, seemed to re-energise England and Jones and Harmison both struck to remove the settled men and reduce South Africa 'A' to 76-3. This was as good as it got, however, as despite an hour-long rain break the home side finished things off without further loss with skipper Ashwell Prince and ODI discard Jean-Paul Duminy at the crease, Simon Jones haemorrhaging four boundaries in one particularly wayward over.

England now have four days to prepare for the First Test of five at Port Elizabeth, with the reality check from the last three days' cricket clear in their minds. Twelve months unbeaten will count for nothing if the lessons aren't learnt from this game - all will be told come Friday in what promises to be another nail-biting series for players, backroom staff and fans of both sides.

England 225
AJ Strauss 50, GO Jones 41
CK Langeveldt 5-48

South Africa 'A' 281
M van Jaarsveld 71, JL Ontong 56
SP Jones 3-49, A Flintoff 3-50

England 190
MP Vaughan 100
CM Willoughby 4-63

South Africa 'A' 135-3
AG Puttick 45

CricketWeb Player of the Match
Charl Langeveldt - 5-48 & 2-25

South Africa 'A' won by 7 wickets

Posted by Neil