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England finally see the light as inspired Atherton leads way

There was high drama last night at Springbok Park as, amidst the failing floodlights and a computerised scoreboard that lost its marbles - both courtesy of a blow-out at the local power station England won a pulsating five-wicket victory with nine balls to spare and levelled the series.

There was a 44-minute delay, beginning at 8.25pm, while engineers worked frantically to solve the acutely embarrassing problem and various near-naked bodies kept the full house of 15,000 enter- tained with their fruitless sprints across the square, which results, unsurprisingly, in police custody.

The power cut had interrupted England's own sprint for gold, which was anything but fruitless until those old mid-innings blues began to afflict them. Thanks to two dominant and, in their different ways, stylish partnerships that featured Michael Ather- ton as both anchor and aggressor, England put the ghost of Cape Town's indiscipline behind them and make the march to Johannes- burg in good heart.

Man of the match Atherton had amazed just about everyone by walk- ing out to bat with Phillip DeFreitas, who did well enough with a couple of typical thumps over the infield before rendering the experiment of opening with an attacker inconclusive when he mis- timed to cover.

This, though, brought Graeme Hick to the wicket and gave the crowd a real treat. Hick at his very best is a delight and he reeled off gorgeous drives and murderous cuts that left even South Africa's impressive fielders flat-footed. In the first fif- ty of his partnership with his captain he scored 43 and in his own brilliant half-century, which came from just 33 balls, he hit nine fours and one pick-up six over square leg.

Atherton's fifty was a gentler affair but he was never off the pace and, when Graham Thorpe joined him, he expanded his strokeplay, hitting over cover and wide mid-on, and ran like a terrier, matching Thorpe single for single and two for two. Thorpe was in his form of Cape Town and though he lost his leader to a wonderful catch by South Africa's captain, the luckless, seemingly voodooed Mark Ramprakash to a characteristically thril- ling Rhodes run out and Neil Fairbrother to a brute of a lifter, the cool head of Alec Stewart accompanied his rampant Surrey col- league as he finished the match with consecutive boundaries.

Hudson began the fun, pulling Dominic Cork over midwicket and flicking him through square-leg with absolute authority

Earlier Springbok Park had looked a picture under the afternoon smoky blue sky and it became a dramatic amphitheatre as the night took over and the excellent, easy-paced pitch encouraged a game of high quality.

Both teams, keen to inspect the troops before the World Cup kicks off in India in February, announced surprising changes. Eng- land brought in DeFreitas for Darren Gough and Ramprakash for Dermot Reeve, which confined Robin Smith to the bench yet again. South Africa swapped Paul Adams for Nicky Boje, Darryl Cullinan, who was complaining of a calf strain, for Andrew Hudson and gave Richard Snell, the pitch-hitting fast bowler who is rated a de- cent ``pinch-hitting'' batsman by his pro- vince, Transvaal, the chance to win a place for the trip to the subcontinent instead of Craig Matthews.

With Bob Woolmer at their helm, South Africa do not lack for innovation and in order to make full use of the fielding restric- tions which allow only two fielders outside the inner ring during the first 50 overs of the innings, Hudson and Snell opened the innings and did so with a real flourish.

Hudson began the fun, pulling Dominic Cork over midwicket and flicking him through square-leg with absolute authority before Snell drove Peter Martin high over mid-on for six and laid into Craig White with contempt. So powerfully did this experimental pair strike the ball that South Africa had 82 on the board by the end of the 15th over and, against a now tatty looking opposition, had scored 116 in just 23 overs before they were parted by Fairbrother's superb low catch on the long-on boundary.

All credit to Hick, whose bowling in limited-over cricket is undervalued and whose control and variations in pace and flight, in harness with a more comfortable looking Neil Smith - the poor fellow had a miserable start at Newlands - put the brakes on South Africa's early adventure.

All of which meant that South Africa, from the relative riches of the first half of their innings, found relative rags in the second half

It was good to see Atherton chop and change his bowlers - the two spinners, who out-bowled Boje and gave their team important op- tions on a pitch offering little to the faster bowlers -were in tandem by the 19th over of the South African innings and as the captain whipped his key men in and out of the attack so England worked their way back into the game.

Mind you, South Africa helped them on their way as the speedy and impressive foundations of 164 for one in 34 overs subsided to England's seamers, who recovered their accuracy, pitched well up to the bat and reaped a tidy harvest for their intelligence.

First with the extravagance was Brian McMillan, whose 54-ball innings was packed with the unorthodox. The big all-rounder made outrageous room to hit over cover and lost his middle stump. Then Jacques Kallis, whose class is emerging by the match, Cronje, Rhodes and Kirsten followed the extravagance suit with wild one- day strokes that failed in their aim to put the game way out of England's reach.

The main benefactor of the South African indiscretion was Cork, who captured three wickets for three runs in nine balls during his final two overs, the 45th and 47th of the innings.

All of which meant that South Africa, from the relative riches of the first half of their innings, found relative rags in the second half and made just 98 from their final 16 overs. Though the required total of 263 was more than anyone has made in a run-chase against them, it appeared perfectly manageable because England left the field happy in the knowledge that their fight- back and South Africa's over-indulgence had at least given them hope.