07 January 2005	Friday	25 Ziqa'ad 1425

CAPE TOWN, Jan 6: Spinner Nicky Boje and seamer Shaun Pollock took four wickets each as South Africa crushed England by 196 runs on the final afternoon of the third Test to level the series.

England, unbeaten for more than a year but set an unlikely 501 to win in just over five sessions, were dismissed for 304. Left-arm spinner Boje, who missed the first test after having surgery on a cancerous thyroid gland, took four for 71 from 34 overs, while metronomic fast bowler Pollock picked up four for 65 from 31 overs.

England number 11 Steve Harmison showed up his team mates by top-scoring with a run-a-ball 42 and putting on 51 for the last wicket with Matthew Hoggard. The series now stands at 1-1. England won 11 of 13 Tests in 2004, drawing the other two. Their last defeat was against Sri Lanka in Colombo in December 2003.

They had resumed on 151 for five and soon lost their last specialist batsman when South Africa took the new ball in the fourth over. Pollock drifted a delivery into the left-handed Graham Thorpe which left after pitching and was edged to wicket keeper AB de Villiers. Thorpe made 26.

Wicket keeper Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles kept South Africa at bay for almost an hour and a half with a stand of 62 but they were parted 15 balls before lunch when Boje had Giles caught by Jacques Kallis at first slip for 25 with a classic delivery.

Two balls before lunch Kallis dived to his left to take a brilliant one-handed catch in the same position to dismiss Jones for 38. Hoggard and Simon Jones survived until the ninth over after lunch, when Jones, on 19, edged Pollock to Kallis at second slip.

Harmison, struggling to live up to his reputation as a bowler in the series, then produced his unlikely cameo over 12 overs, recording a career-best score. When Pollock sought to rough up Harmison he responded with a cut and pull for four as 18 came off the over, leaving Pollock grinning broadly.

The match ended 20 overs after lunch when Harmison was caught by Boje in the gully off Makhaya Ntini. He hit seven fours and a six. Meanwhile, Mark Boucher has made a shock return to the South Africa squad for the fourth Test. Boucher played the last 74 of his 76 Tests consecutively before he was dropped in favour of Thami Tsolekile for South Africa's tour to India in November.

SCOREBOARD



South Africa (1st innings) 441 
(J.Kallis 149, N.Boje 76, G.Smith 74; A.Flintoff 4-79)



England (1st innings) 163 (Charl Langeveldt 5-46, Makhaya Ntini 4-50)



South Africa (2nd innings) 222-8 declared (J.Kallis 66)



England (2nd innings) (overnight 151-5) 



M.Trescothick c Amla b Pollock             0 



A.Strauss lbw b Boje                       39 



R.Key st De Villiers b Boje                41 



M.Vaughan c Rudolph b Ntini                20 



G.Thorpe c De Villiers b Pollock           26 



A.Flintoff c De Villiers b Pollock         20 



G.Jones c Kallis b Boje                    38 



A.Giles c Kallis b Boje                    25 



M.Hoggard not out                          7 



S.Jones c Kallis b Pollock                 19 



S.Harmison c Boje b Ntini                  42 



Extras (b-6 lb-3 nb-12 w-6)                27 



Total (all out, 123.4 overs)               304



Fall of wkts: 1-0 2-68 3-103 4-105 5-146 6-158 7-220 8-225 9-253



Bowling: Pollock 31-11-65-4 (nb-9 w-1), Ntini 24.4-6-49-2 (nb-1 w-3), 
Langeveldt 17-3-50-0 (nb-2 w-1), Boje 34-13-71-4, 
Kallis 15-4-49-0 (w-1), Smith 2-0-11-0.



Fourth test: Johannesburg, Jan 13-17



Fifth test: Centurion, Jan 21-25. -Reuters