England were on the verge of a heavy defeat in the fourth and final Test against South Africa on Saturday as the row over the umpire referral system rumbled on.
The tourists, still angered by the third umpire’s decision on Friday not to give South Africa captain Graeme Smith out early in his innings before he went on to make 105, collapsed to 48 for three in their second innings when bad light forced an early close.
That left them still 195 runs behind South Africa, who bowled England out for 180 on day one and finally declared their first innings on 423 for seven, with Mark Boucher cutting loose to notch up a stylish 95.
England are 1-0 up in the series and barely clinging on in a Test that has been blighted by thunderstorms and a series of controversial calls.
Alastair Cook (1) edged a fizzing delivery to first slip, Jonathan Trott (8) misjudged an away-swinger and lifted the ball to AB de Villiers at third slip and captain Andrew Strauss (22) soon departed after being trapped lbw by debutant Wayne Parnell.
“We’re quietly confident [of winning], we believe we have the attack, on this sort of pitch, to take seven wickets, but we can’t rest on our laurels because England have saved two Tests already,” Boucher told reporters.
While the South Africans were frustrated by the bad weather, which curtailed play by around two hours, England were still ruing their bad luck and called for the reinstatement of the referral they lost in the appeal against Smith.
On Friday, Smith appeared to edge a ball to the wicketkeeper but was not given out by the umpire — a decision upheld after a referral.
England claimed that third umpire Daryl Harper had not had the volume turned up on his replay monitor, so missing what they claimed was an audible nick. The ICC rejected the suggestion.
The South Africans kept their eyes on the ball despite a number of delays after they began the third day with Hashim Amla on 73 and Jacques Kallis on seven.
Kallis was out without adding to his overnight score and Amla added just two more runs as both were dismissed in the first two full overs of the day.
Boucher and De Villiers put South Africa in command with a concerted push for runs.
De Villiers twice referred successful appeals by Graeme Swann to the third umpire. Harper overturned both decisions, and Boucher survived a referral by the same bowler.
Boucher celebrated becoming only the second specialist wicketkeeper to score 5 000 test runs — Australian Adam Gilchrist was the first — when he reached 66.
Stuart Broad ended De Villiers’s innings on 58 and Boucher’s knock was ended when he top-edged a sweep at off-spinner Swann and was caught at deep backward square-leg. – Reuters