FOURTH TEST, The Oval (day four):
South Africa 194 & 138-4 v England 316
England captured their second wicket of the fourth morning as Jacques Kallis fell for Dismal weather frustrates England ...
Live text - England v South Africa ...
England toil as South Africa dominate ...
Twenty20 winners to face England ...
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McCullum urges NZ to press ahead ... nine in the final Test.
The first breakthrough came in the third full over when Tim Ambrose held a painful low catch with his broken finger to dismiss Hashim Amla for 76.
That was off Steve Harmison, who then had Kallis dropped by Kevin Pietersen, who fumbled an easy chance at mid-off.
But next ball Kallis was well caught low at third slip, leaving South Africa 16 ahead with only six wickets intact.
LATEST ACTION (all times BST)
By Mark Mitchener
e-mail tms@bbc.co.uk (with 'For Mark Mitchener' in the subject), text 81111 (with "CRICKET" as the first word) or use 606. (Not all contributions can be used)
1203 - SA 138-4 (41 overs)
New batsman is AB de Villiers, but with nearly an hour played, the players take a drinks interval. Stuart Broad replaces Anderson, and has Prince shouldering arms as he sends down a maiden over.
1157 - WICKET - Kallis c Collingwood b Harmison 9 - SA 138-4 (40 overs)
Harmison has Kallis pinned down - when Kallis plays forward and takes a step out of his ground, Harmy follows through and hurls the ball at the stumps, Andre Nel-style. Kallis then gets a let-off when he drives to short mid-off but Captain KP (on one knee) puts the catch down. But the very next delivery, Harmy finds the edge and Colly takes a good low catch at third slip! KP, I think you owe Colly a pint!
"I was just wondering why Steve Harmison did not reach his 50, when he crossed with Monty?
Katie, St Andrews, in the TMS inbox [It only counts as a completed run if both batsmen make their ground! MM]
1152 - SA 138-3 (39 overs)
Kallis finally tries to get after Anderson, but plays and misses - he has taken 50 balls to score eight. Anderson pauses to carve some mud off the bottom of his boot, then Kallis guides a single to fine leg. (The fine leg being Monty, who has to make a long trip to the other side of The Oval because of the left-hand/right-hand combo). Prince is very, very fortunate when he gets an inside edge to a ball outside off stump and it runs just past the stumps and down for four. Anderson's face is a picture of frustration.
"Anderson is swinging the ball both ways, but Harmison is bowling back-of-a-length, so it's testing for the batters"
Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock on TMS
1148 - SA 133-3 (38 overs)
Prince cuts Harmy over gully for four - Cap'n KP dashes all the way up from leg gully to speak to his pace bowler, and they agree to shift Paul Collingwood from third slip to second gully. So we have two slips, two gullies, a short leg and a leg gully. Prince jabs one off his hips, safely, to leg gully. KP calls for a second fielding helmet, which is brought on by Essex youngster Jahid Ahmed (today's 12th man).
1142 - SA 129-3 (37 overs)
Prince flicks Jimmy off his legs and it beats Monty to the fine leg boundary for four. Harmy isn't happy with Monty. Prince works a three to deep midwicket, so SA lead by seven. Effectively, they're "net" 7-3 in a one-innings match. And the TMS inbox has produced some contrasting opinions on Tim Ambrose... the keepers' union are out in force!
"I can't believe the hassle Ambrose is getting about that inside edge drop yesterday, as a wicketkeeper myself I know that he would have done fantastically well to take that catch, as he would have already been moving in the other direction. Four runs stopped rather than a dropped catch. Leave the man alone" (Mark Collier)
"Great wicketkeepers take half chances Mr Moores... and score runs occasionally. Our guy does neither" (Ste Pritchard, Warrington)
1137 - SA 122-3 (36 overs)
Kallis beats out a yorker from Harmy, and Bell is quickly round at square leg to prevent a single. Harmy looks very sweaty already as he trudges back to his mark, while Kallis has hardly broken sweat at all (and he's wearing a sleeveless sweater too). Three successive maidens from Harmy, and just three runs from the last six overs. I hope you're not all flicking over to watch the judo.
"Is it just me or does anyone else hate the Olympics with a passion? Stick with cricket guys!"
Salif Beg in the TMS inbox
1133 - SA 122-3 (35 overs)
Kallis's obduracy is frustrating my colleague Oliver Brett, but he finally rotates the strike with a single to bring the scores level. Prince is up on his toes as Anderson finally gets some swing.
"Worrying grey clouds over the ground at the moment and quite a few empty seats still"
BBC Sport's Ian Westbrook at The Oval
[How fortunate of Ian to have the day off. Now remind me, who does our department's rota? MM]
1129 - SA 121-3 (34 overs)
The skies are cloudy but it's still quite bright as Prince sees off a maiden from Harmy. Meanwhile, in Colombo, India are two down in their second innings and still trail Sri Lanka.
Live scorecard: Sri Lanka v India (day 3)
1125 - SA 121-3 (33 overs)
Aggers takes the microphone on TMS - he feels either side could still win this game, and reveals that today (10 August) is the only day of the year on which a one-day international has never been played. Prince's first ball sees him rapped on the pad by Anderson - but it pitched outside leg and was probably going down leg anyway. Prince is off the mark with a single - then off the last ball, Monty throws the ball in from mid-off and nearly takes Bell's head off at cover!
1121 - SA 120-3 (32 overs)
Ambrose adjusts a pile of sawdust next to his left foot as Kallis ducks under a bouncer from Harmy, and carefully negotiates the rest of the over.
"Morning - thanks for all your work, could you tell me what happened to the video scorecard please, I miss it"
Mark Bull in the TMS inbox
[As I've had to explain on previous days, unfortunately all the interactive video streams have been nabbed by the Olympics, so we can't offer a video scorecard for this Test. Apologies - MM]
1117 - SA 120-3 (31 overs)
As new batsman Ashwell Prince watches from the non-striker's end, Kallis is on the defensive against Anderson. He finally flicks the last ball to Cook at deep square leg for a single, so Prince is still yet to face a ball.
"Hi Mark. I always like to read your first sentence in the mornings. So very 'Richie Benaud'!"
Doug in Suburbiton (sic), via text on 81111
1112 - WICKET - Amla c Ambrose b Harmison 76 - SA 119-3 (30 overs)
Amla flicks Harmy for a couple down to Monty Panesar (wearing a sunhat on top of his patka today) at long leg. The Proteas now trail by just five. He then picks up another two with a slightly unconvincing prod to leg. But it's all over for Amla when he gets an edge, Ambrose thrusts out his right hand and - just - manages to hang on to it.
1109 - SA 115-2 (29 overs)
Broad takes a rest after that taxing spell of exactly one delivery, and Anderson takes over - his radar was a bit off yesterday. CMJ and Tuffers on TMS query England's use of a fielder on the cover boundary (considering they're still eight runs ahead) and the lack of one at third man (where so many runs appear to leak these days). Just a single from the over.
"Watching the Olympic archery at the moment, it made me realise how skilled Robin Hood was. He didn't need carbon fibre bow with stabilizers, oh no. He'd just tie a piece of string to a stray branch and then would proceed to take out a wood pigeon from half a mile... blindfolded too"
Cen in the TMS inbox
1103 - SA 114-2 (28 overs)
Kallis edges Steve Harmison's first ball past gully, and it shoots straight down to third man for four. Harmy then gets some fierce bounce and Kallis has to fend one off just in front of his face. As the over ends, England physio Kirk Russell is straight out onto the pitch to apply some more strapping to Tiny Tim's damaged finger. "Couldn't he have sorted it out before he came on the field?" asks CMJ on TMS.
1059 - SA 110-2 (27 overs)
We've started a minute or two early, and Stuart Broad has one ball left to complete his over from before lunch yesterday. Amla uncharacteristically flashes outside off stump but it's straight through to Ambrose.
"Working on a Sunday, with the worst hangover I've had in months. But, at least I have the BBC to keep me up to date on the cricket. Speaking of which, can SA win this? I reckon, if they can bat for as long as possible, and put up a nice total, they could deny England a decent amount of time to put some runs down. So I think SA will win if they play it safe. The question is - can they play it safe?"
Darryn, Bristol, in the TMS inbox
1057: England's fielders are already out there, and they're joined by the not-out batsmen - the bearded Hashim Amla and the burly Jacques Kallis.
"I don't believe anyone who says they don't read the papers"
Former England captain Graham Gooch on TMS
[Well said, Goochie! MM]
"I always think England chasing is a recipe for disaster, our batsmen don't fill me with confidence. That's why we need early wickets"
Englandmad666 on 606
Join the debate on 606
"Hopefully the ball will swing around a bit this morning - if we can bowl well and get it in the right areas, we'll put them under pressure"
England coach Peter Moores on TMS
1050: A couple of other items of note - while the rain was chucking it down yesterday, England coach Peter Moores revealed that keeper Tim Ambrose is playing on despite a suspected broken finger, while Moores has also leapt to the defence of his fellow member of the Former Sussex Keepers' Union by insisting that yesterday's dropped catch (when Ambrose dived really well to get a hand to an inside edge from Amla, but couldn't hold on to the catch) was no more than a half or a "third" chance. That's told us, then.
Meanwhile, TMS producer Adam Mountford has revealed that today's lunch interval on TMS will contain a special look back at Michael Vaughan's era as captain - when we'll hear from Duncan Fletcher, Alec Stewart and Ashley Giles amongst others.
TMS Blog: Ainsley's bacon butties, and Vaughan's era examined
1042: And GB have struck gold at the Olympics, with Nicole Cooke winning the women's road race. Caroline Cheese is once more your guide on the live text with all the news and views from Beijing, while Tom Fordyce is battling to avoid an apocalyptic storm while watching the archery.
1035: Morning, everyone. We're all ready for day four of the fourth and final Test - after just 17.5 overs were possible yesterday because of persistent rain.
The match situation is that South Africa are 110-2 in their second innings, just 12 runs behind England, and Hashim Amla is going great guns - he's 71 not out, and 56 of those runs have come in boundaries...
(BBC)
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