South Africa fast bowlers Makhaya Ntini and Charl Langeveldt claimed nine wickets between them as England collapsed to 163 all out before lunch on the third day of the third Test yesterday.
England lost six wickets for 68 runs in the morning to concede a 278-run first-innings deficit before the home side opted to bat again rather than enforce the follow-on.
PHOTO: EPA
Debutant Langeveldt, who bowled with his fractured left hand in a compression bandage, took five for 46 from 16 overs.
PHOTO: AFP
Langeveldt sustained his injury while batting on Monday and is expected to miss the remaining two matches in the series.
Ntini took four for 50 from 19 overs.
England had resumed on 95 for four, and lost their fifth wicket in the seventh over of the day when nightwatchman Matthew Hoggard, who scored one, edged Ntini to Graeme Smith at first slip.
In his next over all-rounder Andrew Flintoff lazily cut straight to Herschelle Gibbs at backward point to go for 12.
England were soon 128 for seven when wicketkeeper Geraint Jones steered a ball from Langeveldt to Smith at first slip.
Graham Thorpe, who was six not overnight, labored to 12 off 65 balls before flicking a Langeveldt delivery straight to Jacques Rudolph at square leg.
Simon Jones was bowled off the toe of his bat by Langeveldt for nought and the innings ended when Stephen Harmison edged a ball from Langeveldt to Smith at slip without scoring.
The South African bowlers found bounce to trouble the batsmen throughout the session although the pitch was blameless.
Fast bowler Shaun Pollock did not take a wicket, but bowled tightly to concede eight runs from six overs.
Jacques Kallis scored his 19th Test century to inspire South Africa's bowlers on Monday.
Kallis scored 149 in South Africa's 441, their highest first-innings total of the series so far.
Kallis batted for more than eight hours, faced 334 balls and hitting 11 fours. Fast bowler Andrew Flintoff took four for 79 for England.
Andrew Strauss scored 45 in England's reply to reach the 1,000-run milestone in only his 10th Test match.
South Africa resumed on 247 for four, and were immediately put under pressure by accurate, probing spells from fast bowlers Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard.
The fifth wicket fell in the sixth over of the day when umpire Daryl Harper harshly gave Hashim Amla out lbw to Hoggard for 25.
Television replays showed the ball would have passed over the stumps.
Kallis went to his century in the 13th over when he took three runs to mid-wicket off fast bowler Simon Jones.
But England struck back seven overs later when AB de Villiers took a swipe at a full, leg-side delivery from left-arm spinner Ashley Giles and was bowled for 21.
Eleven balls after that Shaun Pollock was caught behind for four by wicketkeeper Geraint Jones off fast bowler Andrew Flintoff as South Africa slumped to 337 for seven.
England failed to take another wicket until four overs before tea as Kallis and Nicky Boje set about building their eighth-wicket partnership of 104.
It was ended when Kallis hung his bat out to a delivery from Flintoff and was caught behind by Jones.
Marcus Trescothick and Strauss shared 52 for England's first wicket before Trescothick, who scored 28, attempted to cut a ball from fast bowler Ntini and was caught by Herschelle Gibbs at backward point.
Four overs later Robert Key hooked wildly at a bouncer from fast bowler Shaun Pollock and was caught behind by wicketkeeper De Villiers for nought.
England were 70 for three when out-of-form captain Michael Vaughan was caught behind by De Villiers off debutant fast bowler Charl Langeveldt for 11.
Australia vs Pakistan
Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist launched a brutal assault on Pakistan's bowlers to put Australia on course for a comprehensive victory in the third and final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday.
Ponting belted 207 and Gilchrist piled on 113 on the third day to help the world champions amass a first innings total of 568 in reply to Pakistan's 304, a lead of 264. Wrist spinner Danish Kaneria took seven wickets.
Pakistan then reduced the deficit to 197 by stumps, reaching 67 for one in their second innings, but lost the wicket of first-innings century maker Salman Butt for 21, caught at slip by Shane Warne off leg-spinner Stuart MacGill.
Australia, already 2-0 up in the series, started at 340 for four with Ponting on 155 and Gilchrist 17 and finished the day eyeing off the prospect of another lopsided victory inside four days.
"I think if we bowl really well in the morning we'll win the game tomorrow [today]," Ponting said at a news conference.
Yesterday's first session was washed out by rain but the Australians quickly made up for lost time, smashing 169 for the loss of just one wicket between lunch and tea then adding another 59 in the final session.
Gilchrist was particularly savage, pounding 14 fours and five sixes to post his 13th test hundred in a spectacular display of hitting to pass 4,000 career runs.
He reached his half-century off 62 balls in 73 minutes and was even more ruthless with his second 50 which took just 56 minutes.
He spanked two sixes in a row off debutant paceman Mohammad Asif to go from 82 to 94 then dispatched Shahid Afridi over the fence twice in four balls to go past three figures.
"He's a once in a lifetime player," Ponting said of Gilchrist.
Gilchrist's aggressive instincts ultimately cost him his wicket, dismissed with the total on 471 when he danced down the pitch to Pakistan's fiery young spinner Kaneria only to be beaten by the turn and stumped by Kamran Akmal.
"I am still learning and playing against this side has taught me a lot," Kaneria said.
"I have gained more confidence in myself and I will become a better bowler. When I finish my cricket, I want to make my name as the world's greatest leg spinner, that's my aim," he said.
Ponting had been content to let Gilchrist take center stage during their fifth-wicket partnership of 153 in just 139 minutes but resumed the lead role once his deputy departed, driving Naved to the boundary rope to reach his double-century after tea off 311 deliveries in 461 minutes.
Ponting's double-hundred was his fourth in Test cricket, joining an exclusive club of 13 players worldwide to achieve the feat. The only other Australians to have made at least four double centuries were Don Bradman and Greg Chappell.
His innings, which spanned 491 minutes and 332 balls and featured 30 fours in all, ended when he dragged a ball from Naved back on to his stumps, triggering a late collapse that saw the last five wickets fall for 39.
Naved also trapped Jason Gillespie lbw for a duck to collect his third wicket but Kaneria, fined by the match referee for swearing at Michael Clarke the previous day, mopped up the rest to finish with seven for 188, passing 100 wickets in his 23rd test.
"If we bat well and score some runs, they will have to bat last on this track," Kaneria said. "It will be hard for them to score runs on the last day especially if they're chasing around 200 or 250."
World players stage benefit matches
Indian batsman Sourav Ganguly will lead an Asian XI against a World XI in the first of two benefit cricket matches for tsunami victims at Melbourne in Australia next week.
Star Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar was also named in a 14-member squad on Monday despite being advised to rest his left elbow.
Tendulkar had been included in the team on his personal request, Asian Cricket Council president Jagmohan Dalmiya said here.
Six Indians, five Sri Lankans, two Pakistanis and one Bangladeshi figured in the squad that would take on a Ricky Ponting-led World XI at Melbourne on Jan. 10.
The second match will be played in February in either India or Sri Lanka, the two cricket nations to have suffered the worst from the Dec. 26 tsunami which was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province.
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the disaster, with the toll mounting.
Other prominent cricketers in the Asian XI are Pakistani paceman Shoaib Akhtar, ace Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan and Indian middle-order batsman Rahul Dravid.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's national cricket team toured the Indian Ocean island's tsunami-hit areas on Monday after cutting short a tour of New Zealand.
The players have joined forces with the cricket board, which has set up a Disaster Relief Fund to help hundreds of thousands of people left homeless.
The board will establish and run three emergency relief centers in Matara, Dambulla and Badulla to provide temporary shelter, food and medicine to survivors.
"I don't have the words to describe what I saw," Sri Lanka cap-tain Marvan Atapattu said.
"As national players, we wanted to let the people know we are with them. After all, they are our strength," he said.
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