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SA take control

Sunday, August 24 2003

South Africa are in pole position to take a 2-1 lead in the series following today's play at Headingley.

On a pitch that is favouring the bowlers more and more as time progresses, they took control with the very first ball of the day and never relinquished it to end up 199 runs ahead with 5 wickets still to fall.

Ed Smith was the unfortunate recipient of a Jacques Kallis beauty first thing this morning as the Proteas continued their fightback of the second evening with an exceptional spell of bowling throughout the first hour.

It was Test Cricket at its best, as the veterans Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart left anything outside off stump and punished anything that wasn't, but such was the accuracy of Kallis and Andrew Hall that the runs came at a crawl.

The introduction of Dewald Pretorius eased the pressure somewhat, but still it was difficult to score, and finally Stewart cracked, as he completely mistimed a pull against Pretorius and was easily caught. He'd scored just 15 in almost an hour and a hour and the partnership was 42 in 21 overs.

This brought Andrew Flintoff in, and he proceeded to succumb to his natural urges almost immediately - fortunately the ball fell agonisingly inches away from Neil McKenzie and England escaped to lunch at 260-5.

At this point Graeme Smith pulled a masterstroke, turning to the very occasional leg-spin of Jacques Rudolph to bowl for the first time in his brief Test career. The first spin in the match proved critical as Hussain gave up a return catch and the key wicket fell.

The former captain had scored an invaluable 42 in 111 balls, but his wicket precipitated a collapse that saw the last 4 wickets go down in rapid succession, the top score of the 4 being Martin Bicknell with 4.

Fortunately for England, Flintoff reassessed the situation and hit out with good effect before being last out for a spirited 55 from 64 balls that included 4 fours and 3 sixes.

Still, 307 all out was a major disappointment after being 169-1 on the previous evening when the now infamous decision to take the light was taken.

England needed early wickets with a 35 runs deficit and the prospect of batting last, and James Kirtley yet again obliged, as he trapped Herschelle Gibbs leg before for 2 in the 3rd over.

9-1 became 31-2 half an hour later as Bicknell trapped the in-form Smith for 14, and the game was back in the balance.

At this point Kallis joined the first inning rock Gary Kirsten, and the pair proceeded to add a potentially match-winning 97 before the break-through finally came with Kirtley getting Kallis caught behind for a crucial 41.

This sparked a complete stranglehold on the runs, as Kirsten and McKenzie added just 11 runs in half an hour before Kabir Ali was called back to the attack and in his first over trapped Kirsten in front for a superb 60. The veteran batted for more than 11 hours in total in the match, and his runs will almost certainly be the difference between the sides come Monday.

The fightback continued when Jame Anderson got Rudolph caught by Ed Smith, but Mark Boucher stood firm to the end, and unless they can rip the tail out in an hour tomorrow morning, England will need a Botham-esque effort from someone or other to even get close to the target.

Posted by Marc