SA poised to press for victory

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Vernon Philander's twin strike left South Africa with real prospects of winning the third Test against England at Lord's

Philander rocked England early in their second innings, removing Alastair Cook and skipper Andrew Strauss in the space of a run.
That brought Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott to the crease, who saw off a hostile Proteas strike force to the end of the penultimate day. However, their task would be cut out on what should be an enthralling day of cricket Sunday, when the tourists come out all guns blazing to take the top spot in Test cricket.
England were set 346 to win and share the series, thanks to a fine century by Hashim Amla.

That alone will stop South Africa replacing Andrew Strauss' team at the top of the International Cricket Council Test table - and to achieve that end, England must record their own highest successful fourth-innings chase as well as the best too by anyone at the home of cricket.

Earlier, Steven Finn (four for 74) took two big wickets in successive overs on a searingly hot afternoon to help keep English hopes just about alive.

The 6ft 8in seamer twice found telling movement up the slope, on his home ground, to see off centurion  Amla and then AB de Villiers with the second new ball.

England had received scant reward for their efforts before lunch, and did not help their own cause by dropping another crucial catch.

Amla (121), South Africa's first Test triple centurion in their landslide win at The Oval, was yesterday dropped by Matt Prior on just two.

Then this morning De Villiers escaped on eight when James Anderson put down a straightforward low chance at midwicket off Graeme Swann - the eighth catch missed by England in this series.

Finn and Anderson tried to apply the pressure from the outset on another searingly hot but increasingly cloudy morning.

But it was not until Strauss made a double change that Stuart Broad made short work of nightwatchman Dale Steyn, trying to fend off the latest in a succession of short balls and offering a simple catch off the shoulder of the bat to short-leg.

De Villiers announced himself with successive boundaries from his first two balls, pulled fine off Broad and then down the wicket to hit Swann over mid-on.

It looked a hammer blow when Anderson then continued his uncharacteristic recent trend of dropped catches after Swann had deceived De Villiers in the air.

That impression was underlined as England began to settle into damage limitation before the second new ball, setting no slips to Anderson and apparently pinning all hope on reverse-swing or an improbable South African mistake.

After an unexpected lunchtime shower, Amla passed his 182-ball hundred with a skilful cut for his ninth four - and it was only when Finn began to gather momentum from his favoured pavilion end that England had a lifeline.

Finn had bowled Amla through the gate in the first innings, with one that nipped down the slope; this time he got one to go the other way, beat the defence and hit off-stump to end a stand of 85.

Twelve balls later, he had De Villiers too - edging a little extra bounce to slip where Strauss took his 121st catch, the most by any fielder in English Test history.

Finn was not finished either, and before tea had Jacques Rudolph edging behind to Prior.

It took another 17.2 overs in the evening session to end the innings, as JP Duminy and Vernon Philander held the hosts up longest in an eighth-wicket stand of 54.

It was an excruciating passage of play, for England supporters, before Philander slapped an Anderson long-hop straight to point.

An alert piece of stumping by Prior off Swann then did for Morne Morkel, and Anderson clean-bowled last man Imran Tahir to leave the stoic Duminy unbeaten after 93 balls of defiance.

He had contributed only 26 runs, but nonetheless done much to make England's mission improbable even more so.