England in disarray

A second terrible performance in a row means England are on the verge of defeat against South Africa A.

They go into the final day just 98 runs ahead with 3 wickets in hand after the good work with the ball was undone by a shocking effort from the top order batsmen.

England had taken a hammering on the first day, but a fine tight opening spell from Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison saw the run rate slow early on as England sought a way back into the game.

As so often has happened in the past, it fell to Andrew Flintoff to make the breakthrough and he didn't stop at one wicket either, as in the space of 22 balls he removed both overnight batsmen and also Jean-Paul Duminy to send the South Africa A side from 169-2 to 187-5 and give England a sniff of a lead.

That was snubbed out by an impressive aggressive innings from all-rounder Albie Morkel, who clattered Ashley Giles for 2 sixes in an over, as well as 6 other boundaries in his 47 from 48 balls.

At the other end, out-of-favour wicket-keeper Mark Boucher was typically obdurate in batting more than 2 hours for his unbeaten 26 as the pair added 74 runs to force their side in front.

This England side has made a habit of fighting back with the ball though, and today was no exception as in just 40 minutes the tail was wrapped up for the addition of only 20 more runs, Simon Jones picking up 3 of the last 5 wickets, to finish with 3-49, 1 run better than Flintoff's figures, although Flintoff did cause some concern with the bowling of 11 no balls in only 13 overs.

This left England 56 behind with more than 4 sessions left in the game, so plenty of time for the out-of-practice batsmen to get some crucial time in the middle. Alas it wasn't to be so, as in the space of the first 5 overs, 3 men fell for just 3 runs, both Andrew Strauss and Mark Butcher registering ducks, and when Graham Thorpe fell with the score at 29, the alarm bells really started to ring.

Flintoff joined his captain Michael Vaughan, and set about the bowling in his usual style, hitting 5 fours in his run-a-ball 21, but in the match situation, his was a reckless innings, and his dismissal left England just 8 runs ahead with 5 wickets left.

Geraint Jones hung around for an hour in scoring his 26, but only Vaughan was able to put a decent score on the board (making the drop off him the ball after Thorpe's dismissal seem all the more important, that would have made it 29-5)

The skipper lead from the front, as from 109-6 he has overseen the addition of 45 more runs of which his partners have contributed a mere 5, and it will need at least the same again tomorrow if the bowlers are going to get a chance of bowling for a much needed morale-boosting win.

ENGLAND XI 225
Strauss 50, G Jones 41, Langeveldt 5-48
SOUTH AFRICA A 281
van Jaarsveld 71, Ontong 56, Morkel 47, S Jones 3-49, Flintoff 3-50
ENGLAND XI 154-7
Vaughan 82*, Willoughby 3-47

Posted by Marc