England v South Africa day 5

The English weather was the only winner at Edgbaston today as showers and bad light sent the teams hurrying for the dressing rooms for the second time early in the final session. After a brief delay, the game was finally abandoned as a draw.

England started the final day on 374-7, still requiring a further 21 runs to make South Africa bat again. The weather was breezy but sunny, although the local meteorological office did not hold out great hopes of an uninterrupted day's play.

Ashley Giles set about reducing the arrears immediately, and nine balls and five sparkling boundaries later, England had achieved their first objective, that of avoiding the follow-on, and in so doing went a long way towards saving the game.

Half an hour into the day's play, Makhaya Ntini grabbed his third wicket of the game when Darren Gough was enticed into playing a hook shot and the batsman, cramped by the rising ball, could only help it into the waiting hands of Jacques Rudolph at square leg.

Harmison lasted just two balls before Ntini produced the perfect delivery which just flicked the off bail. Giles took England beyond 400 with a cracking cover drive off Pollock and seemed set for a half-century before the former South African captain uprooted his off stump with a classic yorker. Giles's 41 had been vital in carrying England to 408, a first innings deficit of 186 runs.

Graeme Smith lost no time in displaying his intentions, blasting ten runs off Steve Harmison's first over as South Africa pressed for quick runs. James Anderson was bowling a much tighter line than in the first innings, Nasser Hussain having moved him to the City End and away from the watchful eyes of umpire Venkat.

First innings centurion Herschelle Gibbs demonstrated that the wicket was still playing tricks as a length ball from Anderson reared alarmingly and smacked him on the elbow, only to rebound on to the stumps with the total on 30. An over later Harmison, bowling round the wicket, slammed one into the gloves of Gary Kirsten for Anthony McGrath to take a simple catch.

Smith, continuing to press, struck three successive boundaries off Harmison as the South Africans rattled along at better than four runs per over. The introduction of Giles into the attack shortly before lunch meant a repeat of one of the more fascinating contests of the first innings with Smith trying to get after the off-spinner and Giles, using all his skills of flight and guile, preventing the South African skipper from doing so to great effect.

The Warwickshire man should have picked up the big prize too, drawing him out of his ground with an extravagantly flighted ball only for Alec Stewart to fluff the regulation stumping.

Boeta Dippenaar survived a belated appeal for caught behind, the English fielders seemingly thinking that for so obvious the edge an answer in the affirmative would have to be forthcoming, and they looked positively bemused when they were turned down. Smith finally latched on to a quicker Giles delivery, striking a majestic flat six over mid on. The next ball, a short ball was turned to fine leg to bring up his fifty at a run a ball.

Smith, by now, was looking to hit everything out of sight. An Anderson over was plundered for a remarkable 19 which prompted Hussain to bring on Andrew Flintoff but he fared little better as Smith cracked him first through and then over the midwicket boundary.

If ever a man deserved a wicket it was Giles, once again drawing Smith forward and this time bowling him through the gate to end another exhilarating innings, this one a mere 85 from 70 deliveries. Jacques Rudolph too fell to a supremely confident Giles, his recent one-day experiences seemingly long behind him as on this occasion Stewart looked far more assured with the stumping chance.

Without waiting for the third umpire's decision, Smith called the batsmen in with the total on 134-4, a lead of 320 with a maximum of 65 overs remaining in the day's play. Not exactly a generous declaration, but one which still left all results possible.

When England started their second innings, the early morning sunshine had been transformed into a uniformly iron-grey afternoon sky. Pollock commenced with a maiden to Trescothick and Ntini also kept things tight as the England openers regarded every ball with suspicion.

Trescothick warmed up by smashing a short ball from Ntini behind point for the first boundary before an extraordinary assault by the same batsman off the hapless Ntini realised five successive boundaries all around the ground. Vaughan, too, got in on the act, smacking Ntini for six then four as England briefly toyed with the unlikely run chase.

A wild delivery by Peterson which went for four leg side byes brought up the fifty partnership but gradually the charge subsided. Just before tea, Vaughan was deceived by a flighted Peterson delivery and Pollock took a sharp chance at slip to leave England relatively secure on 72-1.

Nasser Hussain came to the wicket and played with a seemingly reckless abandon, as though the decision he revealed to the world's media immediately after the game had already released an enormous weight from his shoulders. Hussain smashed Pretorius for three boundaries in rapid succession before the umpires, eyeing the skies nervously, went for their light-meters.

A vicious lifter from Pretorius flew over Nasser Hussain and Mark Boucher alike and the light was duly offered to the batsmen. The formality accepted, everyone trooped off and the covers rolled out as the heavens opened. With England on 100-1 and with another fifty safely tucked under Marcus Trescothick's belt, that seemed to be that.

Miraculously, the clouds lifted a little and the light improved sufficiently for play to resume after a half hour delay. Hussain had time to hit another couple of sizzling boundaries, Pollock dropped a dolly off Trescothick but the gloom and murk descended once more, this time for good.

Graeme Smith deservedly won the Man of the Match award, Nasser Hussain handed over the reins of the England captaincy to Michael Vaughan and all eyes turned to Lord's.

South Africa 594-5 dcl (Smith 277, Gibbs 179)
and 134-4 dcl (Smith 85, Giles 2-45)
drew with
England 408 (Vaughan 156, Ntini 4-114, Pretorius 4-115)
and 110-1 (Trescothick 52*)

Posted by Eddie