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Day1: Go slow England in restraining exercise

Durban - It is 61summers since South Africa and England were forced to abandon the timeless Test at Kingsmead, which thankfully put an end to subjecting an unsuspecting public to such meaningless exercises.

England were at it again yesterday as the Millennium Test series went to sleep, with their skipper, Nasser Hussain, at the forefront of the sort of go-slow which was about as entertaining as watching a tortoise trying to race a snail the length of Kingsmead oval.

Either way, England at 135 for two at the close with Hussain scoring a half-century which was the ultimate in boredom, had some how surrendered the advantage of Hussain winning the toss and deciding it would be a good idea to bat first for a change.

He then proceeded to bat as though in a soporific trance with about the most unimaginative innings we are likely to see this series. His 51 not out in 295 minutes is not the sort innings to pull crowds, so badly needed at Test level through the gates in this game.

Even the great opening batsman Barry Richards was prepared to admit he would prefer to head for the beach as the crowd was nicely broiled in 31 degrees C temperatures and a humidity level which was far from comfortable.

As you gained the impression England were more interested in a draw than trying to win from this point, Hussain must now take the brunt of the criticism for a tardy batting performance against a bowling attack which was tight, accurate and tidy, but not so dominating that half-volleys were patted back.

With Hussain was Darren Maddy, the 25-year-old Leicestershire batsman who survived two catches as he scraped together 24 in a little more than two hours.

It was the sort of day too, when there was a continual checking of the slowest Test batting records. Although five overs were carved off the day's play due to bad light, the score after 85 overs was three runs less than the 138 for five England scored against South Africa at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth in 1956/57.

So whether this one counts for inclusion in the slowest in a full day's play in a Test in South Africa is another matter. At no stage did England go out to dominate. Certainly not the way Hussain did at St George's Park in the second Test where he scored 82 off only 153 balls and hit 10 boundaries and two sixes.

On Sunday we had 12 boundaries in 85 overs and one, a pulled four off Mornantau Hayward, saw Hussain reach his half-century off 213 balls in 281 minutes. No doubt he will have the excuse that England need to occupy the crease for as long as possible. Just why that was so important is likely to emerge over the next four days. Certainly it cannot get any worse than what we had today.

South Africa's selectors finally decided to do what they had been threatening in the first two matches when they scrapped their top six batting option, axed Jonty Rhodes ("No questions please") and promoted Lance Klusener to six in the order. It gives South Africa the longest tail they have had in a Test since last year's tour of England.

It meant South Africa decided to go into the game with Hayward and Paul Adams in the attack. With Allan Donald, out for most of the day at nine in the order and Paul Adams and Hayward below him, it is decidedly short on batting in the lower spine, which has been the team's strong point in recent Tests.

Whether Donald's upset tummy, which kept him out of the attack for all but seven overs, made any difference to White Lightning's initial spell of four overs is uncertain. He may have had Mark Butcher's wicket second ball of the day. But left-arm spinner Adams, who ultimately claimed his prize when Lance Klusener scooped up a brilliant catch at backward point, did not quite seem to take the ball cleanly.

Daryll Cullinan also did not have the easiest of days. He missed Maddy twice, both off the spinner, Adams, and the way he played and missed so often, the argument of playing Maddy ahead of Mark Ramprakash seemed to give the impression England first want to play for a draw and then see what South Africa come up with.

Shaun Pollock bowled tidily, and so did Hayward, although he strayed off line enough to give away two wides. His early wicket of Mike Atherton was almost a repeat of the St George's Park dismissal, excepting he had scored a century and yesterday it was a single.

As for the rest is was regulation stuff as England went through the motions. Yet, had the chances been taken the picture of yesterday's England performance might have been different.

Day2: Hussain and England plod on while Stewart grabs the kudos

Not even your one-eyed Barmy Army supporter would agree with Nasser Hussain's batting tribute to bad taste at Kingsmead as he worked his way into the Test record books as all but England's slowest of the slow.

About all he has achieved in this third Test against South Africa is a shame-faced performance of dubious quality with a draw looming and which will at least enable the tourists to move into the next century with Millennium Series still alive with two games to play.

When bad light, followed by rain brought the curtain down on day of your average display of cut and thrust, England at 366 for nine Hussain had batted through almost six sessions and 10 hours and 35 minutes batting. It is the fifth slowest of all time and not too far off Michael Atherton's Wanderers epic masterpiece which saved a Test.

To get this far though South Africa have so far use up three new balls. Not that the day was without drama. Alec Stewart's breezy batting: the hare jogging along with the tortoise, and which did much to alleviate the Hussain "play for a draw" act, and then robbing himself of a 13th Test century when trapped in front by Mornantau Hayward.

And rival skipper Hansie Cronje sitting on a hat-trick shortly after the tea break when he trapped two batsmen lbw, and Mark Boucher appeared the drop a catch off Paul Adams when Darren Gough had six. There was also the regulation catch at square leg which Shaun Pollock put down when Chris Adams was on six, off Allan Donald. Just as well he tried to bury his head in the turf. It was an inexcusable lapse by the South Africa vice-captain.

All this bypassed Hussain. Anyone who manages to bat for this length of time merely to add his name in the column marked slowest hundreds in a Test, and has only an unbeaten 145 to show for his efforts, should have mixed feelings. It is not a statistic to look on with pride in years to come.

Hussain, though, has not brushed it off as being an unimportant three-figure score. "All the hard work has been done and it really depends on how well we bowl at South Africa (today)," just about underlined his thoughts of his innings and its worth to England in the context of this match and series.

While it showed again there is at least some players with backbone in the side, the man who stole most of his thunder yesterday as Mr Plod trudged along was Stewart, whom he replaced as England's captain in June after this year's World Cup fiasco.

From the moment he arrived Stewart was set on injecting much needed life into what had been a fairly desultory outing with paltry response on slow surface. If day one had resembled a stumbling, lethargic waltz in terms of entertainment, then day two was at least the lively polka day one should have been.

On Sunday there had been that decidedly uncomfortable bloated, after-Christmas-dinner feeling about the whole sorry episode and Hussain's doleful display was tasteless desert.

Then we had Darren Maddy departing 15 balls into the morning session without adding to what had been an unmemorable performance. It allowed Stewart, who had no doubt sat much of the first day agonising over the run-making negligence and scoring rate of his captain, a chance to come in, take the innings by its bootstraps and give it a good shake.

It was positive, it was competitive and lured Mr Plod into activity. For a time he attempted to match the strokeplay of the man he replaced as captain. They posted the 50 partnership off 74 balls with Stewart employing the pull and the hook twice to Pollock off successive balls.

Nice touches to the short ball; giving it the sort of short shrift you would expect on a surface as flat as a catwalk model's chest. Just the sort of pitch on which to cash in and which show's the significance of Stewart's input. He went to his 34th Test half-century with a cracking square cut off Pollock's bowling; a sort of "take that, if you please" and was given a good hand by the crowd for his effort to put some punch in the England middle-order.

There were some nice touches from Hussain as well: an on-drive off Paul Adams, which beat Gary Kirsten, was one to remember; a couple of pulls as well. The 100-partnership came and went in the rattling good time of 114 minutes with Stewart's contribution 68. And so it went: the 150 partnership followed and so did Hussain's century. He went to lunch on 96 with Donald delivering a cunningly delivered bouncer. After lunch it was Pollock's turn to test the England captain.

Twice Pollock had him playing and ducking and weaving: one ball almost falling on to the stumps. Then a squirt off a thick outside edge skipped between Boucher and Daryll Cullinan and the century recorded in 343 balls which was 130 balls faster than the first 50 from Mr Plod.

Day3: Caddick's cut and thrust has England back in the swing

Durban - South Africa's selectors sat grim-faced, their after-dinner mints left untouched, as they watched their new era batting formula blown apart by the canny intuition of an England captain with the support of an inspired fast bowler.

The result was South Africa being forced to follow on for the first time in 74 Tests and 33 summers as the New Zealand-born Andrew Caddick collected a career best seven for 46 after Nasser Hussain opted to declare England's first innings closed at the overnight 366 for nine.

At the close South Africa were 24 without loss in their second innings still trailing England by 186 runs when they were wrenched out in the most remarkable manner in their first innings by the near two meter tall Caddick for 156. They failed by 11 runs to avoid the follow on after Shaun Pollock's act of bravado almost rescued South Africa from the most embarrassing moment since isolation ended in April 1992.

After last summer's 5-0 white wash of the unimpressive West Indies and England's 2-1 defeat by New Zealand earlier this year, South Africa were favoured to be at least in with a chance of 2-0 lead by the end of this Kingsmead Test.

Now they may head for the new century level at 1-1 with the series very much alive, after Caddick repaid the faith of his captain in giving him the new ball and bowling from the Umgeni end of the ground.

As he ripped through the middle and lower-order in a riveting 32nd over of the South African innings with three wickets in the space of five balls, the total slipped from 84 for five to 84 for eight. The clever mix of pace, bounce and swing found the soft underbelly exposed as being ineffective. Pollock and Adams apart the innings crumbled in the most alarming fashion and first Cronje, followed by Mark Boucher two balls later and Allan Donald after sparring wildly at the first and then hitting a simple catch to Michael Atherton.

While this carnage went on Jonty Rhodes, axed from the side before this third Test of the Millennium Series, sat and watched. No doubt he had some private thoughts after Rushdi Magiet's panel had departed from the top six batting order adopted thoughout the recent series with West Indies, New Zealand and Zimbabwe plus the first two Tests of the current England tour. Rhodes was dropped to include the extra bowler.

"It must be seen as a positive step," said Magiet. "We have done it for all the right reasons."

When they went into lunch hind sight must have told them that had they consulted the captain, Cronje, there is little doubt that Rhodes would have remained.

The Pollock-Adams assault came at a time when South Africa were edging towards their lowest innings at Kingsmead, 99 against Lindsay Hassett's side in 1949-50.

But they rattled on 70 in 72 minutes to carry the side towards saving the dreaded follow on. Pollock, whose form in the first two Tests had not been particularly impressive, launched himself into Caddick and figures of 7-2-12-3 were soon disfigured enough to have him switched to the City end. The defining moment of the innings came, however, when Lance Klusener, after taking 14 runs off Chris Silverwood's bowling fell victim to the third ball of Phil Tufnell's first over and at 74 for five the South African dream had been blown away.

Hussain knows a thing or two about humid conditions and on Monday night had already shown his hand when he felt the way the "third new ball came through, there might be something in it for the tall bowlers who can get a little lift".

Conditions were ideal, too. The overnight rain, the sweating surface under the covers freshened up the hardening surface. For a change it was South Africa's turn to suffer the folly of losing the toss and making the wrong choices.

In fact they were fortunate not to have lost Herschelle Gibbs lbw to Chris Silverwood 10 balls into the second innings when he looked in front by umpire Dave Orchard may have had other ideas. Perhaps too high, perhaps drifting towards leg. Whatever the reason he did not send Gibbs packing.

The opener was four at the time and the total five and the already shaky confidence about to totter. They managed to negotiate the 6.1 overs before the daily bad light appeal was upheld and the players trooped off.

England most happy with their position for a change and South Africa reflecting on the fallacy they are the stronger batting side of the two.

Day4: Kirsten's great knock rescues South Africa

Durban - Gary Kirsten is far from being your average Johnny come lately, but he cut it fine enough at Kingsmead yesterday to set up more than a century which rescued his Test career.

Barely 24 hours before the national selectors had no doubt been wondering whether to give him the New Year off for the Newlands Test in this Millennium series against England.

Left-handed Gary though is a fairly big chip off the Kirsten block: stoic and solid, just the sort of street-fighter who can pull together a doughty performance when it is needed to rescue a lost cause. It is a fact though, he is the sort of batsman whose occasional flashing drives are better remembered than much of his innings.

Yet yesterday his 10th century, the most by a South African batsman, was an important statistic as it helped Hansie and the boys to at least go someway to perhaps saving the Test which had almost been wrenched from the side in a matter 50.5 overs on Tuesday.

Dismissed for 156 and trailing by 210 runs, Kirsten's undefeated 126 had helped South Africa reach 251 for four and a lead of 41 with six wickets remaining. It was back to the wall stuff, the sort of sandbag trench warfare needed to blunt the hungry bite of the British bulldog, who after their best day of the series on day three, were looking to further savage the South African cause.

At the close of an interrupted day's play Kirsten, after what has been an eight hour struggle, was a mere two runs away from surpassing the highest innings by a South African against England at Kingsmead, the127 held by Pieter van Bijl and which has stood since the timeless Test in 1938/39.

It is quite a tidy effort for someone who had battled to find his touch since returning to side after missing the two matches against Zimbabwe through a broken finger.

When he square cut Darren Gough into the covers to scamper through for two, his six hours and 20 minutes vigil had been in a worthwhile cause as he nursed the side through several tricky patches. England's bowlers, so dominant the previous afternoon, had to work for what rewards came their way. Along with Western Province teammate, Jacques Kallis, the balding Kirsten, who suffered cramps after the day's play, had done much to rebuild the side's confidence with their record 152 runs partnership for the second wicket.

However let it not be said it was easy for the batsmen or the bowlers on a day where temperatures were high and humidity levels again uncomfortable. Much patience was needed throughout the day with sun on the pitch flattening out the surface and marginalising bowlers such as Andy Caddick, Gough and Chris Silverwood.

Just as the leaking hull of captain's Cronje's craft seemed to have been plugged, along came the burly Lancastrian, Andy Flintoff to tip the scales in England's favour: two wickets in three balls to get rid of Daryll Cullinan and the Cronje.

A touch of panic perhaps as Cronje, so out of touch this series, gives the impression he needs to start moving his feet more if he is to end his run of low scores this summer. A top score of 44 is his best against England this series while against Zimbabwe is his highest 64.

It says little for the man who remains South Africa's top Test run-scorer. For South Africa to accomplish a first innings lead was through the efforts of a record partnership between Kirsten and Kallis. They had long overhauled the best of 117 by Bruce Mitchell and Eric Rowan, which was another timeless Test.

It was their ability to carefully rotate the strike and battle it out which was impressive as was their judicious employment of strokeplay. Much of it was cut and thrust and when Phil Tufnell was in action, there was always the danger that one or the other would lose their wicket.

If Nasser Hussain felt frustrated at the turn of events in the weather after Caddick had manage to get one to bounce enough to undo Herschelle Gibbs eight overs into the morning session, the ensuing duels involving Caddick and Kirsten and Caddick and Kallis provided rich, enticing fare.

Tufnell can also be included as he bowled well enough at times to have both South African batsmen struggling against the turning ball. But it was always going to be hard to break the partnership as luck favoured the South Africans. Kirsten could have departed on 33 before lunch, but Tufnell had delivered a no ball, saving the opener. Just as well as the game could have folded by tea with a jubilant England levelling the series 1-1.

Kallis also seemed to get an edge but umpire Dave Orchard turned it down and while there were some close lbw calls, the appealing was a tad too enthusiastic to be genuine.

In the end it was the new ball which undid Kallis. With it only 20 balls old, Gough lured the South African No 3 into driving and gifted Alec Stewart the first of his three catches.

Day5: Kirsten sets a few records as South Africa and England draw

Durban - Having sorted out the tricky process of eliminating the "Y2K batting bugs" from his technique to the satisfaction of the national selectors, Gary Kirsten felt its was time to make a lasting statement for left-handed batsmen at Kingsmead yesterday.

In the process he became the third left-hander to score a double century in Tests at Kingsmead, the joint-South African record-holder with Daryll Cullinan on 275 and boosted his batting average as well.

It was the sort of endurance test which made his innings of 872 minutes the second longest in Test history. Although England's captain, Nasser Hussain, used nine bowlers, including himself, Kirsten's study in concentration and hard work was rewarded when he rewrote several records in a South Africa second innings total of 572 for seven wickets.

While Cullinan expressed some disappointment that the record he had set in Auckland on the Eden Park "gluepot" in February this year had not fallen to his teammate, Mark Butcher, an occasional bowler, could not believe his good fortune - or Kirsten his misfortune - when he bowled him around his legs after facing 641 balls.

Later the two had their picture taken on a sun-drenched field, shook hands, smiled and joked about the events of what had been, until the third new ball was roughed up, a tense affair.

Yet having played a major role in rescuing South Africa from possible defeat in this third Test of this Millennium Series, Kirsten will no doubt reflect on how his durability, under pressure, saved his side as well as his place in the Test side.

Just the sort of special role for a man who knows what it means to have to go through periods of worrying from where the next run is coming. When you reflect on the final outcome and the ensuring records, the precarious position at the start of day is often glossed over. It was far from comfortable with Hansie and the Boys were only 41 runs ahead and much rested on Kirsten and Mark Boucher to at least try and present a brave front and try and set England some sort of target.

As the partnership gathered in character and courage and luck favoured the impudent style of batting Boucher occasionally indulges, confidence began to flow as the milestones were picked off and records knocked over. Questions were also asked. How often did night watchmen score Test centuries? Was it possible what happened in Harare, where Boucher scored his second, was likely to happen again? It was all a matter of watch this space.

For England it was three days in the field, two of them a matter of hard labour after forcing South Africa to follow-on Tuesday afternoon. Members of the local branch of the Flat Earth Society speculated whether to hold their next annual meeting on the same soulless strip of turf. Kirsten's innings was marked down as the second longest in Test history.

Hussain admitted as much. He had to give his bowlers a chance. Dropped catches did not help their cause. Three went down on day four and a couple of critical ones on Thursday.

Boucher was on 66 and the score 369, only 159 ahead when Darren Maddy put down the sort of regulation caught and bowled chance that he went down on his haunches.

It may have been the turning point of the innings. Certainly not an offer Team England could have afforded to drop. After that we had the almost incongruous sight of Kirsten racing for his second Test double century as Boucher kept pace for his third. At one stage even a spread bet on who would reach their landmark first would have created a touch of photo finish.

In the end Kirsten reached the 200 first when he steered Adams to third man with the first ball of the over, jogging through for a single and congratulations from all; Boucher played a similar wristy steer in the same third man direction.

When they were parted their 192 partnership for the fifth wicket had eclipsed the 184 set by Jonty Rhodes and Hansie Cronje at Lord's last year against England. Considering its worth yesterday, it was a match-saving effort.

There had been plenty of needle, too, with Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick firing them in, Boucher collecting a couple and Kirsten forced to do a bit of ballet which his brother, Peter, would have admired.

Kirsten joined Englishman Eddie Paynter, Graeme Pollock and Bill Edrich to score double centuries at Kingsmead with Paynter and Pollock left-handers. His 275 also makes him the highest run-scorer at Test level.

The other record Kirsten added to his list was the time spent at the crease: 872 minutes second only to Pakistan's Hanif Mohammad, whose 331 in the Bridgetown Test against West Indies in 970 minutes in 1957/58 being the longest.

Not surprisingly, the South Africa selectors retained the same 12 for the New Year Test in Cape Town. How different it might have been had Kirsten failed and South Africa lost.