England captain Michael Vaughan led a remarkable comeback after tea on the second day of the fourth Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test against South Africa on Friday. At close of play, England had 411 for the loss of eight wickets, and appeared to have taken total control of the match again.
Fortunes swung both ways on a rain-interrupted day. Play started more than two hours late because of persistent rain in the morning, and there were two more interruptions — the first for bad light and the second for a heavy downpour. England resumed play on 263 for four, having lost two quick wickets late on Thursday.
Makhaya Ntini, who grabbed the valuable wickets of Robert Key and Graham Thorpe on Thursday, struck in the sixth over of the morning, when he had night watchman Matthew Hoggard caught in the slips by AB de Villiers for five.
Soon after that, the players left the field because of bad light. When they returned, Ntini struck again with his second ball, when Graeme Smith caught all-rounder Andrew Flintoff at first slip for two.
Eight balls later, Smith took another catch off Shaun Pollock to send Geraint Jones back to the change room, also for two. England had lost three wickets for the addition of just 15 runs, and things were looking good for South Africa.
When the players left the field because of a heavy downpour, England had 293 for seven, and appeared to be struggling. But after an early tea, the sun came out and England’s outlook brightened with the weather.
Vaughan, who has been sadly out of touch throughout the series, not getting more than 20 in any of his previous innings, showed his class and ended the day not out on 82. He had the South Africans running ragged as they chased after the balls he sent to all corners of the field.
He and Ashley Giles put on a sparkling half-century partnership, contributing equally, before Giles fell to the first delivery of the day from pace bowler Dale Steyn, who had Giles caught by Gibbs for 26 runs.
His departure brought Vaughan together with Steve Harmison, who was the surprising top scorer in England’s second innings in the third Test in Cape Town.
Although Vaughan started off by trying to protect Harmison, he soon gave him his head, and when the umpires called play off for the day because of bad light, they had put on 82 runs together off 91 deliveries, for a record ninth-wicket partnership against South Africa at the Wanderers. Harmison was not out on 30.
Vaughan said at the media conference after close of play that he felt the umpires had shown a lack of consistency regarding the light.
”We don’t feel the decisions were consistent today. For example, when we went off for 23 minutes because of bad light, we didn’t think the conditions were any different when we came back on. We felt we were in a pretty good position at the end of the day, and we thought we could have stayed out there.
”But we’re delighted to be in the position we’re in, and we have just to try and capitalise on that tomorrow. We think we have the upper hand.”
Umpire Steve Bucknor said the umpires had taken the decision about the light because they thought the conditions were not acceptable for either the batting side or the fielding side.
”At no stage did we offer the light to the fielding side, nor did Graeme Smith ask about the light.”
As happened in the second Test in Durban, South Africa appear to have allowed the game to slip away from them, after having had England on the ropes at 278 for seven. Smith will need to use all his resources to prevent England from taking an unassailable two-one lead in the five-Test series.
Shaun Pollock conceded that England had wrested the initiative away from South Africa.
”Towards the close yesterday [Thursday], we were really on the back foot, but then we got two wickets just before the close to get us back into the game, and we were really in the pound seats when we got those wickets in the first session.
”England played well towards the end but that’s how you’d expect them to play on that kind of wicket. We let ourselves down a bit.”
He said it would be a very big ask to win the Test from the present position.
”We will have to bat really well, and try to bat only once. It will be tough, especially as we don’t know what the weather will do. We’ll just have to see.” — Sapa