South Africa snatched three wickets in the first hour and a half of the fourth day of the second Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test at Kinsgmead to make some inroads into the English batting order on Wednesday.
England went to lunch on 366 for four, with a lead of 173 runs.
Makhaya Ntini made the first breakthrough in the sixth over of the morning, when centurion Andrew Strauss pushed the ball to Martin van Jaarsveld at third slip. He was just one run short of his highest score of 137, and had been at the crease for nearly six and a half hours.
Ntini struck again eight overs later when Michael Vaughan fended off a shortish delivery, which brushed his glove on its way to keeper AB de Villiers for 10.
Jacques Kallis claimed the wicket of an out of form Mark Butcher, who gently pushed the ball to Van Jaarsveld. Butcher had been in the middle for nearly two hours and faced 70 balls for his 13 runs.
The South African bowlers looked much better in the morning session than they had on Tuesday, and they kept the run rate down to three an over on a very hot day. But Graham Thorpe (35) and Andrew Flintoff (21) added on 52 runs together in just over an hour, and their partnership was beginning to look ominous for South Africa. – Sapa