Test drawn despite Broad heroics
The second Test between England and South Africa at Headingley ended in a draw on Monday, despite a final day that saw runs, wickets, declarations and a magnificent spell of bowling by Stuart Broad.
The second Test between England and South Africa at Headingley ended in a draw on Monday, despite a final day that saw runs, wickets, declarations and a magnificent spell of bowling by Stuart Broad.
The Nottinghamshire paceman took five South African wickets, four in the afternoon session alone, as England rattled through the Proteas batsmen and forced a declaration just after tea, South Africa's score on 258 for nine. This left England a target of 253 to win in 40 overs.
England's chase started with Kevin Pietersen, who had already taken three wickets on a surprising day, opening the batting in an attempt to get the runs. His wicket was taken early though, and England ended on 130 for four, 123 runs short.
It was an exciting final day that seemed headed for a dull conclusion, especially after the Proteas batted out the rainy morning session for the loss of only Jacques Rudolph before lunch, out to Pietersen for the second time in the match.
The afternoon session saw England take six wickets and the Proteas score 116 runs, upping their lead over the 200 mark. This included four wickets in 20 deliveries for Broad, who finally looked like the bowler he is after a lacklustre series.
After tea, Broad secured his five-fer and the lead went over 250, so Smith decided to add some intrigue to the match and declared when Morne Morkel's wicket fell. This left England with an ODI-like task, which they took to with relish initially but could not sustain.
The sides head to Lord's for the third and final Test with South Africa still leading the series 1-0. A draw there will see the Proteas become the number on ranked Test side, so England will need to make sure they win.
South Africa started the day on 39 for no loss, and managed to survive the interrupted morning session relatively unscathed, with only Rudolph falling to Pietersen. KP became England's joint-highest wicket taker in the series after lunch, getting rid of arch rival Smith for his second scalp of the day.
Smith survived a review earlier in the spell, with KP and Prior convinced he'd nicked it when he hadn't, but he was not as fortunate the next over, when he was given out for nicking off the bottom edge/off the glove.
It was unclear which part of the bat the umpires decided on when reviewing it, but the ball seemed to brush his gloves on its way to James Taylor at short leg. The fact that Pietersen, a part-timer at best, got three South African wickets would have been galling to Graeme Swann, stuck in the dressing room.
AB de Villiers came in to join Amla and they showed far less respect toward Pietersen, with De Villiers in particular upping the run rate with a number of boundaries. The astonishing turn of events continued soon after though, with KP adding to his tally by getting rid of Amla.
Jacques Kallis and De Villiers continued to keep the runs flowing and reached the lead of 200 in the 56th over, both batsmen going at better than a run a ball and AB nearing his fifty after playing positive, attacking strokes.
The half century was not to be though as Broad came in to take two wickets in one over. De Villiers was sent packing via LBW, which would have missed leg stump but he had no review to call on. JP Duminy went next ball, getting his feet in a tangle and also trapped in front, this time legitimately so. The hat-trick did not materialise though, as Vernon Philander's forward defensive nullified the threat.
Broad's revival continued in his next over, adding a third LBW to his record for the day, this one the most convincing. Philander missed a straight delivery and it hit him on the back pad, going on to hit middle.
Kallis was next to go, again to Broad. Kallis tried to sway out the way of a short ball, but he didn't drop his hands enough and the ball skimmed them on the way through to Prior.
Steyn was the eighth wicket to fall, giving James Anderson his first wicket of the day. Ironically, Anderson took a stunning one-handed catch off his own bowling, when he'd dropped two easier chances earlier in the day.
Morne Morkel came in and took the lead over 250, smacking Broad for two boundaries in a row. At this point it looked as though South Africa would declare, and they did once Morkel fell to Broad, giving him five wickets in the innings. This prevented England from claiming all 10 Proteas wickets.
Pietersen opened the batting alongside Alastair Cook, the first time he had faced the new ball in a Test as they chased 253 to win in 41 overs. They got off the mark with a four to third man by KP, and he went on to get 12 off the over.
The Pietersen Experiment did not bare fruit though, as he was dismissed for 12 after trying to smash Vernon Philander over his head. He was caught by Imran Tahir at mid-on, which brought the more conservative Strauss to the middle to join regular opening partner Cook.
The spinners were soon on though, and Strauss was again bamboozled by Tahir, though it was JP Duminy, ala part-timer KP, to take the skipper's wicket. Strauss popped a full toss straight back to Duminy in the 14th over, with the score on 75.
Cook looked good on his way to 46, but couldn't convert his start and was sent packing by Steyn, caught by Rudolph at short extra cover thanks to a leading edge. England needed 163 at this stage, and sent out Matt Prior instead of Ian Bell, thus indicating they still wanted to chase the target.
Prior's innings was cut short in ridiculous fashion after making only five runs. He and Trott tried to go for a second run when there wasn't one, and Smith threw over the stumps to De Villiers, who ran the diving Prior out.
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