CENTURION, South Africa: Last man Graham Onions played out a tense final over from Makhaya Ntini as England escaped with a draw on the fifth and final day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Sunday.
The match seemed to be heading for a routine draw when Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen batted together for more than three hours but South African new cap Friedel de Wet produced an inspired spell with the second new ball to leave England hanging on.
De Wet dismissed Trott in the second over with the new ball and had a spell of three for three in five overs. Five wickets fell in the final 15 overs but Paul Collingwood and Onions survived the last 20 balls.
It was a tense finish reminiscent of the first Ashes Test against Australia in Cardiff earlier this year when England were also nine down at the end.
England, set 364 to win, finished on 228 for nine on Sunday.
Trott, who came to the wicket after the dismissal of nightwatchman James Anderson in the third over of the day, defied the South African bowlers for 317 minutes and faced w212 balls in making 69.
Pietersen was more aggressive in making 81 off 143 deliveries as the pair put on 145 for the fourth wicket.
The partnership was only broken two overs after tea when Pietersen pushed the ball into the covers and set off for a suicidal run. Trott did not respond and bowler De Wet had plenty of time to pick up the ball and trot to the batsman’s end to break the wicket.
Trott batted through until the second new ball, taken when just over an hour’s play remained.
Until then, remarkably few deliveries had behaved unusually off the pitch, in contrast to the previous two days.
But De Wet made the hard new ball fly off a length and it ripped into Trott’s right glove and deflected to third slip where AB de Villiers made a diving catch.
De Wet had Ian Bell caught behind four overs later and England were six down with a maximum of 10.4 overs remaining.
Matt Prior also fell to a catch behind off De Wet before Stuart Broad was caught behind off left-arm spinner Paul Harris and Graeme Swann was leg before to Morne Morkel.
South African hopes were raised early in the day when Anderson gloved De Wet down the legside to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.
Alastair Cook defended resolutely for 79 minutes and 56 balls, scoring 12 runs, before he too was caught off a glove, when a ball from left-arm spinner Paul Harris went to Graeme Smith at leg gully off his glove and pad.
But Trott and Pietersen dug in on a pitch, which did not provide as much unpredictable bounce as it had on the previous two days.
Only one delivery truly misbehaved before the dramatic closing stages, a ball from De Wet, which shot through low and trapped Pietersen, on 39, plumb in front of his stumps. But umpire Steve Davis no-balled De Wet for overstepping.
WI fall short by 35 runs
Meanwhile in Perth, Australia took the last wicket of Kemar Roach(17) on the fifth day to win the third Test by 35 runs and clinch the series 2-0 at the WACA. Set a victory target of 359, the tourists closed the fourth day on 308-9. Needing 51 runs for a win, the last pair of Roach and Gavin Tonge gave the home side a scare before Doug Bollinger had Roach caught behind. Roach asked for a referral and even though there was no clear evidence of an edge, the original decision stood.
Roach and Tonge added 44 runs for the last wicket.
SCOREBOARD:
South Africa (first innings): 418
England (first innings): 356
South Africa (second innings) 301-7 decl.
England (second innings):
A. Strauss c Boucher b Morkel 1
A. Cook c Smith b Harris 12
J. Anderson c Boucher b De Wet 10
J. Trott c De Villiers b De Wet 69
K. Pietersen run out (De Wet) 81
P. Collingwood not out 26
I. Bell c Boucher b De Wet 2
M. Prior c Boucher b De Wet 0
S. Broad c Boucher b Harris 0
G. Swann lbw b Morkel 2
G. Onions not out 1
Extras: 24
Total: (for 9 wkts) 228
Fall of wkes: 1-5, 2-16, 3-27, 4-172, 5-205,
6-207, 7-208, 8-209, 9-218 (Swann)
Bowling: Ntini 18-7-41-0 (nb1), Morkel 18-3-46-2 (nb7), Harris 26-11-51-2, De Wet 23-8-55-4 (nb3), Duminy 8-2-7-0, Kallis 3-1-5-0
