Sunday, Aug 17, 2003
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Cricket
By Ted Corbett
England's attack showed how much it was missing Darren Gough's incisive fast bowling as the pair reached 251 for five by tea when, although they were still 194 behind. But South Africa had not lost a wicket for 42 overs and could claim to be on top. England should have been on its way towards a win that would level the series on a pitch that began as if exploding mines were a possibility. Under a warm sun it gradually eased and after four hours there were even signs that it was at its best and without Steve Harmison, who had pulled a calf muscle, England was powerless and South Africa enjoying the fight. James Kirtley bowled the first over of the day under just the right amount of cloud cover and with only four runs scored had the promising Jacques Rudolph caught behind from a thin edge off the fifth ball. Boeta Dippenaar must have been aware of the heightened tension but he had little time to appreciate any atmosphere for the sixth ball of the over crashed into his pads and umpire Hair gave him out lbw. Sadly for Dippenaar, the replays suggested the ball might have missed the leg stump. Kirtley is a loose-limbed, wiry, knees-pumping fast bowler whose action has been observed and cleared by the England and Wales Cricket Board under the ICC guidelines and he is the outstanding English-qualified bowler of the summer with 49 wickets for Sussex which is chasing Surrey for the championship. In his next over Alec Stewart missed a catch off Jacques Kallis' groping bat that had him stretching towards first slip. Remember his flying catch to dismiss Brian Lara at Lord's in 1995? This chance was simpler and he got a full glove to the ball before it dropped from his grip. If Stewart had held the chance it might have given Kirtley an even greater injection of adrenaline but England had to wait another 44 runs for Kallis to play inside a curving ball from James Anderson and see his off stump fly out of the ground. At 132 for five, in reply to 445, it looked as if the game was in England's control, that South Africa was on its way to a Test defeat and that by Monday we would, in the words of Louis Armstrong, hang a sign upon the door that said `Gone Fishing.' Neil McKenzie and Mark Boucher did not even consider this option. Against a naive attack they simply dug in. They were frequently beaten outside the off stump, several balls were edged into the slips just out of reach and umpire Hair, who had been so generous with the decision against Dippenaar, could not see his way to giving another decision although all that TV technology showed each batsman was lucky to escape once. At lunch the pair had taken their score to 167, by the drinks interval they had 225, just 21 short of the follow-on target, and when the new ball was handed to Harmison 230 was on the board. The pitch was nothing like the brute that allowed several balls to threaten the ankles of the batsmen in the morning, the sun shone brightly and, for all the five England bowlers were neat and tidy and patient, they lacked the penetration that would have given Walsh and Ambrose five wickets each for precious few runs on this pitch.
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