JOHANNESBURG:Morne Morkel routed England’s lower-order in a spell of 3 for 0 in six deliveries, before JP Duminy extracted the battling Paul Collingwood for a brave but futile 71, as South Africa levelled the series – and retained the Basil D’Oliveira Trophy – with a crushing innings-and-74-run victory at the Wanderers.
The victory was delivered on the stroke of the lunch-break when Ryan Sidebottom missed a slog-sweep to give Duminy his second wicket in an 11-ball spell.
England had resumed the fourth day in deep trouble on 48 for 3, still trailing by 195 with two full days remaining in the contest. Collingwood responded with a gutsy and well-judged 71 from 88 balls, as he shed the outright obduracy that had carried England to safety at Centurion and Cape Town, and climbed into his cross-batted repertoire whenever South Africa strayed in line or length.
But he alone located the correct balance between watchfulness and aggression, as he picked 12 fours and a six in total, comprising an even mixture of cuts, pulls, drives and genuine edges. But all too few of his colleagues were capable of emulating his efforts. His overnight partner, Kevin Pietersen, hung around for 10 overs in the first hour and seemed to be finding his range once again as he contributed an improbably meagre three runs to a fourth-wicket stand of 36. But the debutant Wayne Parnell tempted him with an outswinger that drew a rash snick to the keeper, and that was the end of that.
Collingwood kept up the intensity, lacing Ryan McLaren through the slips before hoisting Steyn up and over long-off for the first and only six of England’s innings. But with just two wickets still standing and a deficit of 89 still to be surmounted, he was eventually extracted by JP Duminy’s first delivery of the day – a top-edged hoick off an ignominious long-hop, that flew at a comfortable height straight to Morkel at deep square leg.
Sidebottom and James Anderson played their shots for 16 deliveries, efore Sidebottom sized up one slog too many, and the rattle of timbers signalled a richly deserved South African win.
was first posted on January 17, 2010 at 5:34 pm.
