Sun, Sep 07, 2003 page24

• Trescothick leads England in the final test with S Africa

  • AP
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  Opener Marcus Trescothick scored a 64 not out Thursday to lead England's battle to stay competitive in the fifth and final cricket test against South Africa at The Oval.

  Trescothick and Graham Thorpe, unbeaten on 28 runs, shared an undefeated 87 runs for the second wicket as England scored 165 for two before bad light stopped play four overs short.

  South Africa, which leads the series 2-1, was finally dismissed for 484 runs earlier on the second day.

  Trescothick's third half-century of the series overshadowed a fine all-around performance by South Africa's Shaun Pollock. Trescothick, who took 23 balls to score his first run, came up with a 144-ball innings in just over three hours to reduce the deficit to 319 runs.

  "It is evenly balanced," Trescothick said. "They bowled well up front and made us fight for every run.

  "Some days you go out and crush it from ball one, on other days you have to really fight hard to score runs. You must give credit to them."

  England needs another 120 runs to avoid the follow-on.

  Thorpe, playing in his first test in 15 months, replaced the injured Nasser Hussain [broken toe] in the England middle-order.

  Pollock, 30, rallied the innings with a 52-run stand with No. 11 Makhaya Ntini after the visitors slumped to 432 for nine at lunch. South Africa resumed on 362 for four.

  Pollock then made early inroads while bowling, taking his 300th test wicket by retiring Michael Vaughan.

  Pollock, playing in his 74th test, became the second South African -- behind Allan Donald -- and 19th player overall to reach the milestone. West Indian Courtney Walsh tops the list with 519 wickets in 132 tests.

  Pollock, whose dad and uncle both played test cricket before South Africa's international isolation in 1970, had Vaughan caught by third slip Herschelle Gibbs as the right hander drove at a ball that left him.

  "It is special," Pollock said of his achievement. "Milestones don't come around all that often, so when they do, you should enjoy them.

  "Reaching 300 was great and getting someone like Vaughan out made it even more special. He's one of the top-rated batsmen in the world."

  Pollock, South Africa's former captain, said bowling with discipline would be the key Saturday.

  "It is more a South African type of wicket, and on the slow side. We must bowl with discipline [Saturday] and try and break this partnership and make more inroads to their batting," he said.

  Vaughan managed 23 runs, including four fours. Since taking over the captaincy in the second test, he has 149 runs in eight innings, an average of 18.63. He has failed to reach a half century for eight straight innings.

  England, which hasn't lost a series at home to South Africa since 1991, also lost the wicket of Mark Butcher for 32 runs following a 50-run stand with Trescothick.

  Pollock, who missed the last test when he went home for the birth of his daughter, Gemma, hit a six and 10 fours. He hit fast bowler Steve Harmison's last over for 14 runs, including three fours, to add to the six he hit off leftarm spinner Ashley Giles.

  Swing bowler James Anderson ended England's frustration by bowling Ntini for 11 runs.

  Earlier Friday, England fought back through seamer Martin Bicknell (2-71) with a second new ball that was six overs old. Giles and Anderson took two wickets apiece.
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