Trescothick and Strauss give England chance of victory
DURBAN, Dec 28: England opening batsmen Marcus Trescothick and Andrew Strauss batted for most of the third day of the second Test against South Africa at Kingsmead Tuesday to give their team a chance of pulling off a sensational victory.
Trescothick and Strauss both hit centuries as they put on 273 for the first wicket. England finished the day on 281 for one, a lead of 88, after trailing by 193 on the first innings.
South Africa's lone success came late in the day when Shaun Pollock, with the second new ball, had Trescothick caught behind for 132. When bad light ended play four overs later Strauss was unbeaten on 132, with Mark Butcher on one.
The only missed chance given by either batsman came immediately after Trescothick's dismissal when Strauss, on 125, edged Makhaya Ntini towards third slip but Martin van Jaarsveld, diving forward and to his right, could not hold the ball.
For the rest it was a display of outstanding batting by the two left-handers, who shared the fifth-highest opening partnership in England's Test history. The performance was in dramatic contrast to England's effort in the first innings when they were bowled out for 139 after being sent in.
England, 1-0 up in the five-Test series, started the day facing an early defeat but finished it with a chance of achieving a come-from-behind win. After a quiet start on an overcast morning, Trescothick and Strauss picked up the scoring rate when left-arm spinner Nicky Boje and inexperienced fast bowler Dale Steyn came into the attack.
With Trescothick sweeping Boje for six and then hammering Steyn for three successive boundaries, at one stage 52 runs were added in five overs. The burst of scoring forced South African captain Graeme Smith to bring back the steady Shaun Pollock.
Steyn conceded 31 runs in his first three overs Tuesday while Boje, whose first over of the day was a maiden, went for 39 runs off his next five overs. He was never able to settle and finished with none for 90 off 24 overs.
There were no signs of the uneven and sometimes steep bounce that made batting more difficult in the first innings, while the South African bowlers did not achieve the accuracy and control which put England under pressure on the opening day.
Only Pollock posed a consistent challenge to the batsmen, with the other bowlers all sending down loose deliveries at times. Pollock took one for 42 off 22 overs. Trescothick pipped Strauss to the century mark, reaching his ninth Test hundred off 199 balls with 17 fours and a six. Strauss joined him in the next over after facing 195 deliveries and hitting 13 boundaries.
Strauss continued in a streak of good form. He made 126 and 94 not out during England's win in the first Test in Port Elizabeth and 25 in the first innings of the current Test.
It was the first time two England opening batsmen both made centuries in the same innings since Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton did it against India in Manchester in 1990. Trescothick was eventually out after batting for 346 minutes and facing 261 balls. He hit 20 fours and two sixes. Strauss faced 272 deliveries and hit 16 fours.
England's strong performance in the third innings was similar to that by South Africa when the teams last met at Kingsmead five years ago. South Africa followed on 210 runs behind and batted for the rest of the match, scoring 572 for seven.
On that occasion, however, South Africa's second innings only started towards the end of the third day and a draw was the only result they could hope to achieve. Now, though, England have enough time to set South Africa a challenging target.
SCOREBOARD
England (1st innings) 139
South Africa (1st innings) 332 (J.Kallis 162)
England (2nd innings) (overnight 30-0)
M.Trescothick c de Villiers b Pollock 132
A.Strauss not out 132
M.Butcher not out 1
Extras (b-1 lb-5 nb-9 w-1) 16
Total (for one wicket, 90 overs) 281
Fall of wkt: 1-273.
To bat: M.Vaughan, G.Thorpe, A.Flintoff, G.Jones, A.Giles, M.Hoggard, S.Jones.
Bowling (to date): Pollock 22-10-42-1 (nb-3), Ntini 21-4-51-0 (nb-2 w-1),
Steyn 9-1-46-0 (nb-4), Boje 24-3-90-0, Kallis 12-1-31-0, Smith 2-0-15-0. -Reuters
