Proteas seal draw in Cape Town
The Proteas made a gallant attempt to force a series-levelling victory over England on the final day of the second Sunfoil Test match at Newlands on Wednesday.
The hosts at least took the satisfaction out of the game of knowing that they now have their batting and bowling units firing together.
It all augurs well for the third Test starting at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium tomorrow week which is a must win game for the Proteas to give them a chance of winning the series.
In the end England finished on 159/6 for an overall lead of 161 when bad light and rain forced almost the entire final session to be lost.
The Proteas had looked to have an excellent chance of winning the match when they reduced England to 116/6 with more than 50 overs left for play and England’s last two specialist batsmen at the crease. But Jonny Bairstow, who survived a close call for a stumping off Dean Elgar, and Moen Ali then combined to keep the England bowlers at bay.
The situation became more difficult for the Proteas after the tea interval when bad light forced them to use their spin bowlers only and eventually conditions became too difficult for play to continue with light rain also threatening to put in an appearance.
Just how much the Proteas largely inexperienced attack has grown over the last few days became evident throughout the day with Chris Morris benefiting from the confidence gained from his batting performance to put in an impressive display. He bowled England batting kingpin, Joe Root, with his first delivery of the day and had a return of 1/24 in 12 overs.
The one thing the Proteas will have to work on is the number of no balls delivered and one of these from Morne Morkel cost them the chance to get Root out earlier on a day when time was important.
Dane Piedt had the best return of the day of 3/38 and has now taken 21 wickets in his 4 matches.
Most of the England batsmen got starts but none could improve on Bairstow’s unbeaten 30 which gave him a match aggregate of 180 runs without being dismissed.
Ben Stokes was named Sunfoil Man of the Match for his spectacular first innings double century.
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