LEEDS (England), Aug 24: South Africa were scenting victory in the fourth Test against England on Sunday after totally outsmarting their hosts.

Resuming the fourth day on 165 for five, they raced to 365 in their second innings to set England a massive 401 to win before reducing them to 165 for five by the close.

Mark Butcher (57) and Andrew Flintoff (45) were at the crease, having put on a face-saving 70 after four of England’s top six failed to reach double figures.

The game had looked nicely poised in the morning but a South African success, and a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, already looked assured by lunch.

Their lower order, effectively choosing to ignore the unpredictable bounce and seam movement of a poor Headingley wicket, took England’s all-seam attack apart, adding 129 at five runs an over in the first session.

Andrew Hall then rubbed in England’s bowling problems with an all-or-nothing, test-best 99 not out off 87 balls.

The right-hander, who drove and pulled powerfully from the outset, became only the fifth man in Test history to be left stranded one short of a century, as number 11 Dewald Pretorius lost his middle stump to James Kirtley.

Only Butcher, who top-scored with 77 in the first innings, and Flintoff seemed mentally strong enough to deal with the challenge of an idiosyncratic strip.

The collapse, however, was prompted not by the wicket but by one moment of brilliance from Herschelle Gibbs.

He allowed an edge from Marcus Trescothick off Ntini to pop out of his fingers, soap-like, as he tumbled to his right at third slip but grasped the rebound with his left hand in a split-second reaction.

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings) 342 (G.Kirsten 130, M.Zondeki 59, J.Rudolph 55)

England (1st innings) 307 (M.Butcher 77, M.Trescothick 59, A.Flintoff 55)

South Africa (2nd innings) (overnight 164-5)

G.Smith lbw b Bicknell 14

H.Gibbs lbw b Kirtley 2

G.Kirsten lbw b Kabir Ali 60

J.Kallis c Stewart b Kirtley 41

N.McKenzie c Bicknell b Flintoff 38

J.Rudolph c Smith b Anderson 10

M.Boucher c Stewart b Flintoff 39

A.Hall not out 99

M.Zondeki b Bicknell 7

M.Ntini lbw b Ali 8

D.Pretorius b Kirtley 8

Extras (b-7 lb-24 nb-8) 39

Total (all out, 100.5 overs) 365

Fall of wkts: 1-9 2-31 3-128 4-139 5-160 6-219 7-232 8-281 9-311

Bowling: Kirtley 21.5-7-71-3 (nb-1), Bicknell 22-3-75-2 (nb-1), Flintoff 22-5-63-2 (nb-4), Anderson 16-4-56-1, Kabir Ali 14-2-56-2 (nb-1), Vaughan 5-1-13-0 (nb-1)

England (2nd innings)

M.Trescothick c Gibbs b Ntini 4

M.Vaughan c Gibbs b Kallis 21

M.Butcher not out 57

N.Hussain lbw b Kallis 6

E.Smith c Smith b Hall 7

A.Stewart c Boucher b Ntini 7

A.Flintoff not out 45

Extras (lb-9 w-2 nb-7) 18

Total (for five wickets, 50 overs) 165

Fall of wkts: 1-11 2-44 3-62 4-81 5-95

To bat: Kabir Ali, J.Kirtley, M.Bicknell, J.Anderson

Bowling (to date): Ntini 11-2-40-2 (nb-4), Hall 16-2-41-1 (w-1), Pretorius 9-3-27-0, Kallis 11-2-33-2, Zondeki 3-0-15-0 (nb-3 w-1)—Reuters