Fourth Test Betting: South Africa v England, Day Four

England Cricket / Ed Hawkins / 17 January 2010 / Leave a comment

South Africa have levelled the series by wrapping things up in Jo'burg before lunch. Ed Hawkins analyses where both sides go from here and takes you through how the action unfolded

10.50 Series drawn
So what have we learned about England? Well, nothing I guess. We knew they were a limited but gutsy side. We knew they struggled to take 20 wickets. We knew their batsmen often flattered to deceive. So not much then. If anything, they perhaps have even more courage that one imagined because no sane individual could have anticipated that they twice would have defied the odds in Centurion and Cape Town.
But if we haven't learned anything new, nor have England themselves and surely that must be a disappointment as they look to grow and evolve as a team. We don't know whether Jonathan Trott is an international player, let alone a No 3. We don't know whether Kevin Pietersen can come back from his injury woes. We don't know whether Matt Prior is really up to the task. We don't know about players on the periphery, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett for example.

We might not know for some time. England are in Bangladesh next month and that will prove nothing. With Pakistan the visitors in England next summer an easy Test series victory appears to be a given so there may still be blank faces when the above are posed. Not our problem, though. We know them inside out and that makes things easier to predict if nothing changes.

10.39 Series drawn 1-1
South Africa will be buoyant after this victory but there will be few bettors celebrating with them. They were as short as [1.70] to win this series. Yet again they have failed to deliver when expectations have been high. Other negatives include, well, negativity. South Africa would have won in Centurion and Durban had skipper Graeme Smith not batted on too long and too slowly respectively. Perhaps they learned their lesson in time for Jo'burg, although when they go to India for two Tests next month I wouldn't wager that they don't return to their soporific worst. They will need to find a frontline spinner for that series,too with Paul Harris out of favour and out of confidence.

Their strengths are a strong and varied batting line-up, which has the potential to defend and attack in equal measure with Smith likely to be able to claim to be one of the most admirable openers of all time when his time is up. What is most impressive, however, is their pace attack. In Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel they have two fearsome bowlers who compliment each other perfectly and make one hark back to the good old days when pacemen stalked the cricket world, striking fright into the hearts of batsmen.

10.31 South Africa win by an innings and 74 runs, series drawn 1-1
A destructive, dominant and fully-deserved win for South Africa. Finally, their revered pace attack of Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn were fit enough to deliver and England could not live with them. Graeme Smith (427) and Paul Collingwood (344) were the two teams' top bats and Morkel (19) and Swann (21) the top bowlers.

WICKET 10.30 Eng 169
R SIdebottom b JP Duminy 15.

10.17 Eng 154-9
A shame for Collingwood that he couldn't blast a few more for a ton. "An innings of minor heroism," says Mike Atherton. On the subject of Atherton, who was the architect of England's great escape in 1995 (see 10.08), he batted for an incredible 643 minutes in that fourth innings. In that same amount of time, Usain Bolt could run 250 miles and Virender Sehwag would have made 400.

WICKET 10.14 Eng 154-9
P COllingwood c Morkel b Duminy 71.

10.08 Eng 146-8
The last rites now. Paul Collingwood is going down fighting, whacking Steyn over his head for four. Colly will continue to throw caution to the wind in the hope of something extraordinary. This venue, of course, has produced the remarkable before. This Test sticks in the mind.

WICKET 09.53 Eng 134-7
G Swann c de Villiers b Steyn 20

09.51 Eng 130-7
Paul Collingwood has gone to 50. What a terrific player he is these days. Is there anything he can't do? Crease occupation under pressure, fast runs under pressure. The Brigadier Block nickname he has is grossly unfair given that he can blast it with the best of them.

09.34 Eng 111-7
Morkel has three wickets for zero runs in six balls after Stuart Broad gloved behind. It went to review and feel free to jot a note in your diary titled 'I was there' for when Daryl Harper got a decision right sat in the third umpire's chair. It was a pretty obvious deflection.

WICKET 09.30 Eng 104-7
S Broad c Boucher b Morkel 1.

09.24 Eng 103-6
At the start of the day, England were going to have to bat for a minimum of another 100 overs in this innings to save the Test. However, they might not make it to the next session of the day at this rate. The axis of Collingwood and Ian Bell was their best hope after their heroics in Cape Town. Matt Prior was a further safety net, albeit one with frayed edges. But in the space of three Morne Morkel balls, England have been floored. Bell got a good one to edge to slip and Prior threw his wicket away by trying to hook Morkel out of the ground off only his second ball.

WICKET 09.18 Eng 103-6
M Prior c Smith b Morkel 0. South Africa [1.01], England [160.00] and the draw [65.00]

WICKET 09.15 Eng 103-5
I Bell c Kallis b Morkel 5. South Africa [1.05], England [110.00] and the draw [22.00].

09.05 Eng 97-4
Is it Pietersen's form or his mindset which is the problem? The little excerpt I've borrowed below from the excellent Simon Wilde - the best cricket writer out there by the way - in the Sunday Times sport section the other week would suggest it is the former which is the problem. Mistake after mistake. You can add two more errors in this Test, too.

KEVIN PIETERSEN'S DISMISSALS

Third Test v South Africa, Cape Town
1st inns - c and b Steyn 0. Carelessly chips full length ball - Pietersen's second of the innings - back to bowler
2nd inns - lbw b Steyn 6. Another full length ball to which Pietersen plays across the line. A big shot so early in an innings

08.50 Eng 92-4
Oh dear, Kevin. The young thruster Wayne Parnell, on his Test debut, has out-thought you. Pietersen's series return of 177 runs at 25 is a poor one. He looks a shadow of his former self. It took him 11 balls to get off the mark this morning and last night it was similarly grim stuff. Ian Bell is the new man at the crease. He is [2.50] to score a fifty.

WICKET Eng 84-4
K Pietersen c Boucher b Parnell 12. South Africa [1.13], the draw [9.40] and England [90.00]

08.22 Eng 60-3
Already we have a point knocked off the draw price, [7.20]. Any semblance of a partnership today and that will be a consistent trend. In Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood, England have one of their most successful pairings at the crease although it must be said that the two are at different ends of the form spectrum. KP is averaging 29 in the series and Collingwood nearly twice that.

08.11 Eng 56-3
You don't need to be a rocket surgeon to decipher that the key for England forcing the draw price down and South Africa out will be to see off this opening salvo from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. The pair were a heady combination last night, a Diamond White cider starter with a tequila chaser: guaranteed to knock you over. Jonathan Trott is probably nursing a sore head this morning after being pinned by Morkel and Andrew Strauss ended up on his backside, too. So far, Steyn and Morkel appear to be as lethal, Collingwood shouting "oh no!" as one squirted off his edge.

07.48 Eng 48-3
'Tis a gloomy morn if you are an England backer. Their brave fight in this series looks almost certain to be for nothing with South Africa poised to claim a series-levelling victory. "We wanted iot more," cried Mark Boucher. No, you're just a better side Mark. Two great escapes allowed England to dream, they now need a gargantuan one. South Africa [1.14], England [85.00] and the draw [8.20]

Tags: England, Live Test Blogging, South Africa