{"id":13663,"date":"2012-08-19T14:59:30","date_gmt":"2012-08-19T12:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/08\/cricket-englands-hopes-of-levelling-series-fade\/"},"modified":"2012-08-19T14:59:30","modified_gmt":"2012-08-19T12:59:30","slug":"cricket-englands-hopes-of-levelling-series-fade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/cricket-englands-hopes-of-levelling-series-fade\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket-England’s hopes of levelling series fade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Richard Sydenham<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

LONDON<\/span> Aug 19 (Reuters) – England’s hopes of clinching a
\nseries-levelling win in the third test were receding on the
\nfourth morning as South Africa extended their lead to 210 runs
\nat lunch on Sunday, with AB de Villiers crucially dropped before
\nhe had reached double figures.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Proteas were 216 for four at Lord’s with the
\never-reliable Hashim Amla 94 not out, approaching a 16th test
\ncentury, and de Villiers on 24.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

With just five sessions remaining in the game, time is
\nrunning out for England to dismiss South Africa and leave a
\nmanageable target they can attain to draw the series 1-1.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Only one wicket fell in the morning session as
\nnight-watchman Dale Steyn departed for nine after courageously
\nbattling for 44 minutes in the day against a short-pitched
\nbarrage. He eventually lobbed a catch up to James Taylor at
\nshort leg off the bowling of Stuart Broad.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa might have been reduced to 177 for five had
\nJames Anderson not dropped a straightforward chance from the
\ndangerous de Villiers at midwicket off Graeme Swann’s off-spin.
\nAnderson, until recently, fielded at slip to Swann.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It was the second costly miss of the innings after Matt
\nPrior floored a catch down the leg side when Amla was on two the
\nprevious evening. Prior later revealed that it was his first
\ndrop in two years, standing back.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Batting conditions were perfect under bright sunshine when
\nplay resumed, though for the hour before lunch dark clouds
\nhovered overhead, causing the floodlights to be switched on.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The umpires took the players off five minutes before the
\nscheduled lunch interval because of rain.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The second new ball will be due just after the interval,
\nwhich is likely to be England’s last chance of redemption in the
\nseries.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

England must win to level the series after losing the first
\ntest by an innings and 12 runs and drawing the second match.
\nSouth Africa will leapfrog England to the top of the world
\nrankings if they can avoid defeat.<\/p>\n

(richard@bigstarcreations.com)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Richard Sydenham LONDON Aug 19 (Reuters) – England’s hopes of clinching a series-levelling win in the third test were receding on the fourth morning as South Africa extended their lead to 210 runs at lunch on Sunday, with AB de Villiers crucially dropped before he had reached double figures. The Proteas were 216 for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-13663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}