England exerted pressure on South Africa after lunch on the third day of the fourth Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test at the Wanderers on Saturday, capturing two wickets and slowing down the run rate.
South Africa went to tea on 162 for four, still needing 50 runs to avoid the follow-on.
Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs were playing fluently and scoring freely — their 50 partnership came off 95 deliveries in 67 minutes — until a brilliant delivery from Matthew Hoggard nipped back and removed Kallis’s middle and leg stumps to send him back to the change room with his score on 33.
Gibbs, in the meantime, reached his 18th Test half-century, and his first since January 2004, to cheers from the packed stands.
Boeta Dippenaar spent 37 uncomfortable minutes at the crease before he was caught low down in the slips by Marcus Trescothick off Andrew Flintoff for nought.
Television replays showed that the ball may have touched the ground, so Dippenaar, who waited for the umpire’s decision, may consider himself unlucky.
England strike bowler Steve Harmison left the field with an apparent calf injury during the session.
He went for a scan of his left calf, and England spokesperson David Clarke said Harmison had received treatment in the dressing room.
”He went on to the field for a while, but it wasn’t any better, so we decided it was best to have a scan and see what is wrong.”
Harmison’s absence leaves the England attack a bowler short.
When South Africa went to tea, Gibbs was not out on 78 and AB de Villiers had five. — Sapa