South Africa will wonder how a well played day turned in England's favour. The credit for that must go to the two men who held their bat bravely and did not let go until the pressure on England eased.
graeme swann james anderson
South Africa should have felt like they had the near perfect day. From having England seven down for 237, and a sizable lead to build upon, South Africa were left ruing where they lost the intensity to allow England within sixty-two runs of a first innings deficit.
England lost their key men, but apparently not all. It took the coming together of Graeme Swann and James Anderson, two unlikely saviours with the bat, to bail England out of a potential match conceding situation on the third day of the first Test at Centurion between South Africa and England.
Paul Harris' five-for included the key wickets of Jonathan Trott, who lost his cool under pressure coming down the wicket against his friend, and losing his leg stump in the process. Before that Makhaya Ntini gave South Africa the early breakthrough by removing Andrew Strauss' off stump as the ball kept low and foxed the England captain.
The forty-nine partnership between Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood seemed England's only hope which Morne Morkel put an end to as KP was bowled for forty. The most shocking dismissal though was of Ian Bell watching the ball's trajectory as it left Harris' hand only to spin towards him and knock off the bails. It all seemed stitched up for England at that point and Collingwood's half century the only grace in disgrace.
But the post tea session saw a completely different turnaround as South Africa struggled with what they did against Australia, polishing off the tail. Swann frustrated the hosts with his shot making as he peeled away the runs while Anderson held fort with some grit in a 100 run stand that changed the match perspective. Together they even had Graeme Smith corner his men and wake them up the realization that the lead was frittering away into double digits.
Swann's eighty-five runs was a relaunch of England's mission on this tour and eventually England were bowled with a much more respectable 356, behind by sixty-two runs.
To make matters worse for the hosts, South Africa had to bat out four overs at the end of the day and lost Ashwell Prince for a duck on the final ball of the first over from James Anderson, leaving Harris to play his role of the nightwatchman with the South African captain have more than a few things to ponder about with two days to go.
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