Two quick wickets before lunch from Nicky Boje had England all but down and out on the fifth and final day of the third Castle Lager/MTN Test at Newlands on Thursday.
England went to lunch on 225 for eight — still needing 276 runs to win, but also needing to face two more sessions to survive.
England resumed on their overnight score of 151 for five, and Shaun Pollock grabbed the important wicket of Graham Thorpe in the sixth over of the morning, when Thorpe got an outside edge to a ball that cut back, to go out for 26.
The South Africans may have thought that with the most-experienced member of the team gone, it was just a matter of time, but Ashley Giles and Geraint Jones put on 62 runs for the seventh wicket to frustrate the home side.
But Boje struck twice just before lunch, with Jacques Kallis taking the catch in the slips both times, to have Giles out for 25 and Jones for 38.
The two men at the wicket are Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones. Neither had scored any runs before lunch, and it seems just a matter of time before South Africa record their first Test win since they beat New Zealand in Wellington in March 2004.
Fourth day
South African spinner Nicky Boje captured the wicket of England’s most in-form batsman Andrew Strauss and paceman Makhaya Ntini snapped up the wicket of English captain Michael Vaughan to ramp up the pressure on the tourists on the fourth day of the third Test at Newlands.
England, who are struggling to save the match, were on 151/5 at the close of play. The tourists need an impossible 350 runs to win the game. The best they can hope for is a draw — but even that is looking highly unlikely with a strong, revitalised South Africa looming large.
A South African win will square the series and set the contest up for an exciting finish with two more matches to go.
South Africa are hoping to recapture the glory days that saw the country occupy the second spot in the world Test table for years. The country even moved up to the number-one spot briefly, pipping the in-form Australians.
England’s much vaunted unbeaten streak — achieved mostly by playing their games at home, against weaker or out-of-form teams — is under threat in the face of tougher opposition provided by a resurgent South Africa.
The country’s leading strike bowler, Shaun Pollock, said he believes the momentum has moved in South Africa’s favour. Pollock said at a media conference after the fourth day’s play that the way South Africa had hung on for a draw in the second Test in Durban had been a major factor.
”To have come here two-nil down would have been a big ask,” he said. ”We’ve come a long way from St George’s Park [where South Africa lost the first Test by seven wickets]. We weren’t very good in PE [Port Elizabeth]. We were nowhere near where you want to be if you want to win a Test series. But we’ve had a long look at ourselves and the tactics, and the way we’ve been bowling, and those kinds of things, and I think we’ve responded well.
”With tours and long five-Test series, there are often momentum shifts. You’ve got to identify the moment, and try and hang on. If you do, and you can shift it, obviously it helps you with confidence. If we can win this one, going to the Wanderers we’re going to feel pretty confident.”
Pollock praised skipper Graeme Smith’s decision not to enforce the follow-on when England were out cheaply in their first innings.
”They had a long bowling session – we had a short bowl — and then they were back in the field. I’ve been in that situation — it works on your body and it plays on your mind too. I think it was a good decision to do it the way we’ve done it. It will probably bear fruit.”
He also had words of praise for debutant Charl Langeveldt.
”To break your hand — that’s not nice. But then to respond with a ‘five-for’, with a broken hand, that’s superb. I just hope he can get fit for the next Test and take the momentum he’s picked up in his Test career and move it forward.”
During Wednesday’s match South Africa bagged five wickets. Strauss was probably unlucky when he was given out lbw to Boje for 39, because he appeared to have got a bit of bat to the ball. Robert Key was stumped by AB De Villiers, who is now showing his mettle as a world-class keeper. Boje’s figures were 20/2 after 12 overs.
Soon after Boje’s second wicket, Ntini nabbed the wicket of Vaughan who attempted a pull shot that fell safely in the hands of Jacques Rudolph. The ever-clinical Shaun Pollock struck for South Africa’s fifth wicket that saw dangerman Andrew Flintoff caught behind.
At the close of play the English players at the crease were Geraint Jones who is on 2 off 9 balls and Graeme Thorpe who is on 22 from 77 deliveries.
Tickets for the fourth Test avilable
Tickets for the fourth Castle Lager/MTN test match at the Wanderers Stadium from January 13 to 17 can now be purchased at branches of Computicket nationwide.
Tickets range in price from R15 to R21 per day for scholars and R21 to R57 for adults.
Langeveldt still a hopeful
A hand surgeon confirmed on Wednesday that South African swing bowler Charl Langeveldt had an uncomplicated fracture of the fifth metacarpal on his left hand.
Langeveldt sustained the injury on Monday, when a delivery from England’s Andrew Flintoff struck him on the hand on the second day of the third Castle Lager/MTN Test match.
Cricket South Africa’s media manager Gerald de Kock said Langeveldt would undergo aggressive treatment of the injury, and the situation would be reassessed in seven days time — the day before the start of the fourth Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
”He is definitely not out of the equation,” said De Kock. ”We have every hope that he will be able to play in the fourth Test.”
A special splint has been made to protect his left hand while batting, and Langeveldt will try this out in the nets over the next few days.