OWN CORRESPONDENT, Port Elizabeth | Tuesday 11.00am.
CAPTAIN Hansie Cronje paid tribute to the quality of England’s fightback in the second Test which ended in a draw at St George’s Park on Monday.
”The way their middle and lower order batted slowed us up a lot and we weren’t able to knock them over and start building on our lead,” Cronje said.
”When we did bat again, I thought they bowled unbelievably well, especially on the fourth evening when we wanted to score quickly.
”The plan was to declare before the end of the fourth day and have another go at them with the new ball but they just didn’t allow us to do it.”
England captain Nasser Hussain was understandably delighted with the improvement in his team’s performance after they lost the first Test by an innings and 21 runs in Johannesburg, which compounded the low expectations many people had of the England side.
”People said we’d lose 5-0 — well, we can’t do that any more,” Hussain said.
Hussain guided his team to a draw, ending the home-side’s 10-match home victory streak.
Hussain, who made 82 in the first innings, batted for just over five hours, scoring an unbeaten 70 as England struggled to 153 for six after being set a target of 302 runs in 79 overs.
The crisis seemed to have passed when Hussain and Michael Vaughan (29) batted for almost two-and-a-half hours in a third wicket stand of 75 to take the sting out of South Africas all-pace attack on an easy-paced pitch in hot, sunny weather.
”There were a lot of good things to come out of the match. Mike Atherton back to his best, the bowling of Phil Tufnell and Andy Caddick and the all-round determination of the side.”
Lance Klusener was named man of the match after making 174 in the home side’s first innings. — Reuters, AFP