20 December 2004	Monday	07 Ziqa'ad 1425

PORT ELIZABETH, Dec 19: Makhaya Ntini took three wickets in four balls as South Africa fought their way back into contention in the first Test against England at St George's Park here on Sunday.

South Africa were 99 for two in their second innings at the close, a lead of 11, after bowling out England for 425. England still had a slight advantage but for South Africa it was a position far better than they might have expected at the start of play when England resumed at 227 for one, seemingly set to take a big lead.

England lost three wickets early in the day, then suffered a mid-afternoon collapse after a solid partnership between Mark Butcher and Andrew Flintoff took them into a first innings lead with only four wickets down.

South Africa made an early breakthrough when century-maker Andrew Strauss was out in the fourth over of the day. Strauss, after adding six runs to his overnight 120, square cut Shaun Pollock and AB de Villiers held a neat two-handed catch at point.

England captain Michael Vaughan opened his innings with a glanced four off Pollock, then slashed a short, wide ball from Hall over backward point for six. They were his only scoring shots, however, as two balls later he edged an away-swinger from Hall to Graeme Smith at first slip.

After restricting England to 38 runs for two wickets in the first hour, Smith surprisingly chose not to take the second new ball, keeping himself on bowling off-spinners in tandem with the medium-pace of Zander de Bruyn. His decision paid off when Graham Thorpe missed a sweep against Smith and was bowled for four.

Butcher and Flintoff put on 79 and took England to 346 for four before Butcher swung at a ball from Ntini down the leg-side and was caught by wicket-keeper Thami Tsolekile for a patient 79, made off 193 balls with 12 fours.

With the first ball of his next over Ntini struck again, with the cooperation of Flintoff who flicked a catch to Jacques Rudolph on the square leg boundary after making 35. English wicket-keeper Geraint Jones fended at the next ball, a lifting delivery, and pushed a catch to Boeta Dippenaar, diving forward at cover.

Matthew Hoggard followed in the next over, offering a routine catch to Tsolekile off Andrew Hall, and England had lost four wickets for 12 runs in 16 balls. Ashley Giles and Simon Jones had a useful ninth wicket stand of 36 before Jones and Steve Harmison put on another 31.

With only one added for the last wicket Ntini dropped Harmison on the boundary off Dale Steyn. The batsmen started walking off before they saw Ntini signal he had failed to take the catch.

Inexplicably Ntini left the ball lying on the ground and the batsmen took two runs before chancing their arms and enjoying some good fortune before Jones was caught and bowled by Steyn. Ntini took three for 75 to be the most successful South African bowler.

The South Africans sent down 35 no-balls in an extras tally of 57. South Africa batted aggressively in their second innings but lost opener AB de Villiers for 14 and Jacques Rudolph for 28 before Smith and Jacques Kallis, who both made ducks in the first innings, took the home side into a narrow lead.

South Africa will still have to bat well on Monday, however, to ensure they cannot be beaten in the opening encounter of a five-match series.

SCOREBOARD



South Africa (1st innings) 337 (B.Dippenaar 110, J.Rudolph 93)



England (1st innings) (overnight 227-1) 



M.Trescothick b Steyn                     47 



A.Strauss c De Villiers b Pollock         126 



M.Butcher c Tsolekile b Ntini             79 



M.Vaughan c Smith b Hall                  10 



G.Thorpe b Smith                          4 



A.Flintoff c Rudolph b Ntini              35 



G.Jones c Dippenaar b Ntini               2 



A.Giles c Hall b Pollock                  26 



M.Hoggard c Tsolekile b Hall              0 



S.Jones c and b Steyn                     24 



S.Harmison not out                        15 



Extras (lb-21 nb-35 w-1)                  57 



Total (all out, 126.5 overs)              425



Fall of wkts: 1-152 2-238 3-249 4-267 5-346 6-353 7-353 8-358 9-394.



Bowling: Pollock 32-14-61-2 (nb-6), Ntini 28-6-75-3 (nb-1 w-1), 
Steyn 25.5-2-117-2 (nb-16), Hall 22-1-95-2 (nb-7), 
De Bruyn 9-1-31-0 (nb-5), Smith 10-3-25-1.



South Africa (2nd innings)



A.de Villiers c & b Hoggard               14 



G.Smith not out                           33 



J.Rudolph c Trescothick b Giles           28 



J.Kallis not out                          10 



Extras (pen-5 b-4 lb-3 nb-2)              14 



Total (for two wkts, 23 overs)            99



Fall of wkts: 1-26 2-64.