Cape Town: England have done it again! Ian Bell played what may just be the innings of his life so far, while Paul Collingwood played another match-saving innings, staying at the crease for four and a half hours. But once again, England’s hero was No. 11 Graham Onions, who repeated his heroics of the first test at Centurion by playing out 11 deliveries to save the match for England and retain their 1-0 lead in the series.

England finished on 296 for nine after losing four wickets in the final hour of play. Earlier, they had also lost nine wickets in the first Test in Centurion but had managed to save the game. The result meant that England will go into the fourth and final Test in Johannesburg next Thursday with an unbeatable 1-0 lead.

The match was heading towards a comfortable draw with Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell batting solidly for almost four hours in sixth wicket partnership before Collingwood was caught at slip off the part-time off-spinner JP Duminy, with 13.3 overs remaining in the game.

In a dramatic turn of events, Duminy’s next over saw Matt Prior giving a catch to AB de Villiers at short leg. South Africa immediately went on the attack and with up to seven fielders clustered around the bat, Stuart Broad survived without scoring a run for 22 balls before a ball from left-arm spinner Paul Harris bounced and popped off his glove for De Villiers to make another catch at short leg.

In an inspired bowling change, fast bowler Morne Morkel was brought back into the attack and with his very first ball, the lanky pacer had Bell caught at first slip by Graeme Smith after a 286-minute vigil in which he scored 78.

There were 17 balls left with England 9 wickets down but Onions and Graeme Swann survived against Dale Steyn and Morkel, with Onions playing out the last over from Morkel with unbelievable composure.

This is the third time in the last year that England has managed to salvage a draw. Earlier, in the Ashes series last year, England were nine down but Paul Collingwood and James Anderson defied the Aussies a win. In the first test of this series at Centurion, again, England were nine down and saved the match with a heroic knock by Paul Collingwood, with Graham Onions playing out the final over.

And here at Newlands, England completed the trilogy of great escapes!

Match Summary:

England 273 (Prior 76, Morkel 5-75) and 296 for 9 (Bell 78, Collingwood 40) drew with South Africa 291 (Kallis 108, Anderson 5-63) and 447 for 7 declared (Smith 180, Amla 95)

Man of the Match: Graeme Smith

Tagged with: Cape Town, Dale Steyn, England, Graeme Smith, Graham Onions, Ian Bell, JP Duminy, Morne Morkel, Paul Collingwood, South Africa

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