Close South Africa 291 (Kallis 108, Anderson 5-63) and 312 for 2 (Smith 162*, Kallis 20*) lead England 273 (Prior 76, Morkel 5-75) by 330 runs
Graeme Smith loves nothing better than to grind England into the dust, and on the hottest day of the tour so far, he produced an innings of intensity and drive to set up the prospect of a series-squaring victory in the third Test at Newlands. By the close he was still powering along, unbeaten on 162 from 243 balls, as South Africa amassed a hefty second-innings total of 312 for 2, and an overall lead of 330. With two days remaining and the weather set fair, England will require a similar show of mental and technical strength to avoid slumping to their fourth defeat in four post-Apartheid visits to Cape Town.
In the course of his epic innings, and as a measure of his importance to his country, Smith became only the second Test captain after Allan Border to amass 6000 Test runs. Famously, more than 600 of those came in his first two appearances against England back in 2003, while his unbeaten 154 at Edgbaston five years later almost singlehandedly secured South Africa their first series win in the country since readmission. The message for England is clear: without mastering Smith, they cannot expect to master South Africa, and given the humiliation his team suffered in Durban last week, his resolve in this contest has been heightened all the more.
Following the now-habitual early loss of Ashwell Prince, whom Graeme Swann dismissed for the third time in five balls this series, the bulk of Smith's work came in a 54-over stand with Hashim Amla that spanned the entire afternoon session and realised 230 runs, a record for the second wicket at Newlands. Unusually it was Amla who set the initial pace, as he carved 12 fours before tea, most of them through point and third man as England's seamers served up too much width, but after the break Smith really began to cut loose, as he sensed the flagging morale of his opponents, and recognised an opportunity to cash in.
Up until that point, he had saved his most aggressive tendencies for Swann, whom he looked to work against the spin and through midwicket at every opportunity, but in the final session he hurtled from 65 to 162 in a matter of 117 balls. James Anderson was pulled off a good length before being driven straight in a classic double-whammy, and he added another cut through backward point in his next over before drilling a low full-toss from Graham Onions through midwicket to bring up his 19th Test century from 170 balls, and his fifth in 17 Tests against England.
With that milestone under his belt, there was no looking back. Andrew Strauss moved entirely onto the defensive, packing the offside field and urging his bowlers to aim two feet outside the stumps, but Smith carried on chasing every hint of width, picking the gap in the covers and extending his mastery over the match situation. Jonathan Trott's exploratory swingers were rifled out of the attack to the tune of six fours in three overs, including four in five balls to end his work for the day, while Stuart Broad, who cut a grumpy figure all day, was slapped with impunity through point time and again, as Smith hurtled past 150 for the fourth time against England.
As if England's problems weren't already mounting, Broad also attracted the scrutiny of the umpires when he was seen in one incident to tread on the ball with his spikes as it rolled back along the pitch towards him. If it was an attempt to scuff up one side of the ball, it was spectacularly unsuccessful. Though England did locate some reverse swing as the afternoon wore on, they were unable to utilise it to any sort of advantage. "All he did was stand on the ball," said a terse England coach, Andy Flower, after the close.
Only one bowler could be relied upon to cause Smith any problems, and even then he wasn't able to cut the flow of runs. Swann might have dismissed Smith three times in his first over alone, via an lbw appeal, an edge short of slip, and a top-edged sweep that looped into no-man's land, but his biggest and most significant let-off was to come. On 51, Swann straightened a delivery on middle stump that was initially adjudged lbw, but Smith rightly suspected that the ball was bouncing too much. Sure enough, the replays showed it would have skimmed over the top of off stump, and so his vigil went on.
Instead, Swann had to make do with the scalps of Prince, who survived a bizarre referral for caught-behind on 5 but then wasted one 10 runs later after being pinned plumb lbw, and Amla, who would have richly deserved his second century of the series, but was never quite able to restart his innings after reaching tea on 73 not out. He was becalmed on 91 for 13 deliveries before drilling a drive through the covers to move to 95, but in the same Swann over, he propped half-forward, and bobbled a low bat-pad chance to Alastair Cook at short leg.
At 261 for 2, however, damage limitation was the only thing on England's mind, and Jacques Kallis, the first-innings centurion, was in no mood to allow any further wickets to fall. He accompanied Smith for 14.2 overs in a half-century stand before the close, to reach stumps on 20 not out.
Still, if England could take any vague cause for optimism from the day's events, it came courtesy of Matt Prior, who carried the attack back to South Africa with a hard-hitting 76 in the morning session, after Morne Morkel had claimed back-to-back breakthroughs in his first over of the day, as England added 32 runs to their overnight 241 for 7 to finish their first innings on 273.
Prior, who resumed on his overnight 52, was powerless to react at first as Morkel ripped through England's lower-order, dismissing Swann without addition to his overnight 5 courtesy of a fourth-ball lifter that took the glove and flew to Smith at first slip, before Anderson was handed the second duck of his Test career as Smith again claimed a regulation edge. But with the No. 11 Onions for company, he demonstrated the reliability of the pace and bounce to whittle to overnight deficit down from 50 to 18. By the end of the day, such feats were small beer, but nevertheless, the rewards for confident batting are there to be had. And England will need to play with plenty confidence in the coming two days.
Thilan Samaraweera cracked a classy century as Sri Lanka defeated India by five wickets in the second match of the triangular one-day series in Dhaka.
Samaraweera scored an undefeated 105 at nearly a run-a-ball and shared a century partnership with Kumar Sangakkara (60) as Sri Lanka easily chased India's score of 279 for nine.
Virender Sehwag weighed in with a brutal 47 to give India a decent platform, while Yuvraj Singh hit 74, but Chanaka Welegedera claimed five for 66 to peg India to a below-par total.
Samarweera and a lively cameo from Thissara Perera (36 from 15 deliveries) at the end then ensured victory with two overs to spare.
Sangakkara won his second toss in a row, invited India to bat first and found instant success with the wicket of Gautam Gambhir.
Welegedera claimed his first victim when he cleverly slipped in a yorker and hit the base of leg stump to send the aggressive left-hand opener back to the pavilion.
Sehwag, dealing primarily in boundaries, got India back on course for a big total as he added 47 in just under four overs with Virat Kohli for the second wicket.
But Welegedera struck twice in quick succession, first removing Kohli and then Sehwag to leave India stuttering.
Yuvraj and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (37) rebuilt the innings with a 99-run stand for the fourth wicket but, just when they were beginning to open up, Sri Lanka pulled things back again.
Medium pacer Perera struck in his first over to remove Dhoni, caught behind by Sangakkara and Perera found more success with the wicket of Yuvraj.
India again rebuilt through Suresh Raina (35) and Ravindra Jadeja (39), but Welegedera returned to send back Raina and Zaheer Khan and India faltered at the death.
Although Ashish Nehra, who shared the new ball with Zaheer Khan, bowled superbly for no reward at the start, Upul Tharanga (30) and debutant Lahiru Thirimanne (22) had blazed away, the two adding 22 for the opening stand.
First change bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, who was hammered for three boundaries in four deliveries in his first over, then broke through, snaring Thirimanne who miscued a pull and skied to Gambhir at square leg.
Harbhajan Singh then removed Tharanga - caught and bowled and the pressure mounted on Sri Lanka as the run-rate mounted.
The experienced pair of Sangakkara and Samaraweera then came together and hauled Sri Lanka back into contention with a 122-run - off only 126 deliveries - stand for the third wicket.
Sangakkara then threw his wicket away and Thilina Kandamy was Harbhajan's third scalp as India clawed their way back into contention.
Sri Lanka needed 81 from 82 deliveries at the fall of Sangakkara's wicket and although Sri Lanka lost Suraj Randib cheaply they still had the edge.
Samaraweera raised his century off 104 deliveries - only his second century and his best against India in an ODI - and Perera landed some lusty blows to take the game away from India.
Pakistan 9 for 331 (Butt 71, Farhat 53, Bollinger 3-70) lead Australia 127 by 204 runs
An attritional first two sessions gave way to an explosive finale as first Mohammad Yousuf and later Umar Akmal helped propel Pakistan to an imposing 204-run first innings lead. Their frenetic efforts capitalised on the 109-run opening stand of Imran Farhat and Salman Butt as Pakistan advanced to 9 for 331 at stumps, having displayed greater discipline and match-awareness than their Australian counterparts the previous day.
The tourists endured a testing opening to the second day in gloomy, seaming conditions, but brightened in line with the weather over the course of the afternoon. Yousuf provided an immediate lift to procedings by adding 27 runs in the space of 28 deliveries in the period leading to tea, while Akmal made his skipper look relatively pedestrian by striking five boundaries from his first seven deliveries faced en route to a 48-ball innings of 49.
That Yousuf and Akmal fell short of half-centuries was due partly to Pakistan's penchant for attacking strokeplay in the final session and partly to the persistence of the Australian bowlers. Having been provided little to work with by their batsmen, Australia's attack stuck to their task admirably and were rewarded with seven final-session wickets, many caught in the deep as Pakistan sought quick runs.
Pakistan could be accused of taking their foot from the throats of the Australians in the lead-up to stumps, having at one stage thrust to 205 for the loss of two wickets on a surface drying by the hour. That may be so, but the tourists nonetheless outplayed their rivals in four of the five sessions through Monday, and are ideally positioned to break their ten-game losing streak to the Australians at the very venue where they last tasted victory.
The hosts made amends for an indifferent morning in the field with a series of excellent catches, none better than Haddin's spectacular diving effort to remove the dangerous Yousuf. The veteran batsman had, to that point, threatened to take the game completely away from the Australians, and Haddin's interception restored a semblance of competitive edge to the match. That notion was reinforced when the television umpire, Rudi Koertzen, overturned Billy Doctrove's decision to rule Akmal not out to a full, straight Doug Bollinger delivery, denying the Pakistanis further use of their potent middle-order weapon.
Pakistan's lower order failed to replicate the heroics of their more established batsmen, but still cobbled together enough cameos to take their lead beyond 200. Australia's batsmen will feel confident of a better showing amid drier pitch conditions when next they mark centre, however the hectares of ground they conceded on Sunday may yet prove irretrievable.
The hosts would do well to analyse the manner in which Farhat and Butt set about their respective innings on the second day. The Australian top-order, minus Watson, fell to forceful strokes on a seaming wicket in their ill-fated first innings; a direct contrast to the cautious and patient approach of the Pakistani openers. Content to accumulate rather than dominate, Farhat and Butt shelved their cross-bat strokes and successfully repelled threatening spells from Bollinger, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Johnson and Watson to post their third career century stand and first against Australia.
Farhat and Butt have emerged as a dependable solution to Pakistan's problematic opening slot. Their stand of 109, which took their first-wicket partnership average to a robust 47.43, built upon the foundation laid by Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami the preceding day to deliver the tourists to a position of dominance in the match. The union was not without its anxious moments, most notably when Farhat was dropped by Marcus North to a regulation slips chance off the bowling of Siddle on 11, but both stood firm on an improving pitch.
Farhat went on to raise his 13th half-century before skying an attempted sweep off the bowling of Nathan Hauritz shortly after the lunch break. Butt also fell in the second session, edging a full-length delivery from a deserving Johnson, however Faisal Iqbal and Yousuf ensured there were no further setbacks with an unbroken 46-run third-wicket partnership heading into tea. Iqbal was first to fall after the break to an athletic, back-pedalling catch from Watson at backward point off the bowling of Siddle. That prompted a mad flurry of runs and dismissals that saw Bollinger and Watson combine for five wickets and Pakistan attempt to blaze the second new ball to all corners of the SCG.
Tea England 133 for 4 (Cook 65*, Bell 24*) trail South Africa 291 (Kallis 108, Anderson 5-63) by 158 runs
Alastair Cook reproduced the calm obduracy of his Durban century to steady England with a vital unbeaten 65, and Ian Bell demonstrated a new-found resilience as he battled through 81 deliveries for an unbeaten 24, as South Africa were made to wait for further breakthroughs after a breathless start to the second day at Newlands. By tea, Cook and Bell were unbeaten in a stand of 60 for the fifth wicket, an invaluable alliance that spanned 25.3 overs of the afternoon session, and pulled England out of a tailspin at 73 for 4.
Cook and Bell had been England's most pressurised batsmen going into last week's Boxing Day Test, but having emerged from that contest with a hundred apiece, they were able to carry their confidence into a crazy scenario in Cape Town. Despite clear-blue skies that implied a perfect day for batting, no fewer than seven wickets fell in the morning session alone, including four in 17 balls to bring South Africa's innings to a swift and undignified end.
But, if England believed that they had stolen the momentum by dismissing their opponents for a meagre 291, the first-over dismissal of Andrew Strauss, courtesy of his nemesis, Morne Morkel, redressed the balance dramatically. Dale Steyn, operating as first-change after an unconvincing comeback match at Kingsmead, then announced his return to strike-bowler status with two wickets in three balls, including Kevin Pietersen for a second-ball duck, and when Morkel pinned Paul Collingwood lbw for 19 after lunch, England were in danger of conceding an insurmountable lead.
But all the while that the wickets were tumbling, Cook was bloodymindedness personified. Showing a clear awareness of the whereabouts of his off stump, he hung back in his crease and relied on the bowlers losing patience before he did, as he left outside off time and time again, and fed almost exclusively on tucks through the leg-side whenever they straightened their line of attack.
Only twice was Cook tempted to have a dart outside off, as Friedel de Wet and then Steyn offered hittable lengths coupled with just enough width, while his only serious attempt at a counterattack came when he greeted the spin of Paul Harris with two slog-swept fours and a clip through midwicket. It was JP Duminy who came closest to ending his vigil, on 64 and with five minutes to go before tea, when another attempted sweep looped off a top-edge and just out of the reach of Hashim Amla, back-pedalling from short leg.
Bell, meanwhile, took the alternative approach, seeking to get onto the front foot and put bat to ball as often as possible. His rate of scoring was funereal to start with, as he managed a solitary cover-driven four from his first 35 balls, but at no stage did he look flustered by his lack of penetration against a tight and disciplined bowling attack. He eventually doubled his score with a firm drill off Kallis, and moved into the twenties before tea with a brace of deft late cuts against de Wet.
After a dramatic first 15 minutes of the day's play, such attrition seemed a world away. South Africa had resumed on their overnight 279 for 6, with Kallis unbeaten on 108, his 33rd Test century, having added 63 vital and confident runs for the seventh wicket with Steyn. However, Graham Onions' second delivery of the morning was simply too good - bending in towards off, it pitched, seamed, and nicked Kallis's outside edge, to send him on his way without addition, and set in motion an extraordinary sequence of events.
Next to go was Steyn, who had batted well for his overnight 26, but now fell to James Anderson's first delivery of the morning - a fat edge to Jonathan Trott at third slip, who made good ground to accept the chance to his right. Three deliveries later, Morkel hung out his bat outside off for Graeme Swann at second slip to atone for his first-morning miss with a fine low catch, diving to his right, and one over later, Anderson completed his eighth five-wicket haul as Friedel de Wet was pinned on the front pad by a nip-backer, and sent on his way for a duck despite the futile use of a review.
South Africa's collapse exceeded England's most optimistic calculations, but the challenge for Strauss and Cook was to capitalise on the chaos. Instead, it was Morkel who struck the next blow, and arguably the biggest of the morning, when his steepling bounce from his awkward round-the-wicket line once again proved too much for England's captain. Cunningly handed the first over of the innings, Morkel forced Strauss deep into his crease with a series of lifters, before pitching his sixth ball up and finding the edge of an unbalanced drive.
Strauss swished his bat in anger as he left the crease with England tottering at 2 for 1, although that scoreline was soon massaged by Cook and Trott, who batted calmly to add 34 for the second wicket in 11.4 overs. Trott provided the aggressive intent, pulling de Wet in front of square before driving Morkel handsomely through the covers, while Cook hung back in his crease and waited for the bowlers to err in line and length. However, it was the belated introduction of Steyn that swung the balance firmly back in South Africa's favour.
After an exploratory start to his spell, Steyn exploded into life in his first over after the drinks break, as Trott paid the price for his aggressive intent and inside-edged a hard-handed drive onto his off stump. Two deliveries later, Pietersen had been and gone as well - the situation was one that he habitually relishes, and the extra bounce in the surface might have suited his attacking instincts. But Steyn drew him into a loose and airy drive, and reached out with his right hand to pluck a vital return catch.
At 36 for 3 after 13 overs, South Africa were swarming, and though Collingwood's cool accumulation allowed England to reach lunch without further loss, he was swiftly extracted after the break for 19, as Morkel found a devastating full length to trap him plumb lbw. At 73 for 4, Bell's new-found mettle was under the sort of scrutiny he had avoided at Durban. By tea, however, he he was living up to his heightened expectations.
Dilshan stars as Sri Lanka see off Tigers
Centurion Tillakaratne Dilshan and sidekick Kumar Sangakkara continued their rich run of form as Sri Lanka cantered to victory over Bangaldesh.
More to follow on Sri Lanka's effort with the bat...
Earlier middle-order batsman Mohammad Ashraful hit a half-century to help Bangladesh reach a decent total in the opening match of the triangular series in Dhaka.
Tamim Iqbal (40) and Imrul Kayes (23) put on 65 for the opening wicket, but the home side wilted as Sri Lanka's bowlers struck back in style.
Ashraful (75) built useful partnerships with Mushfiqur Rahim (35) and Mahmudullah (45), however, to help the home side reach 260 for seven.
The openers gave Bangladesh a brisk start, although they were more courageous than convincing with their strokeplay.
Kayes provided the early push, getting off the mark with a boundary over new ball bowler Nuwan Kulasekara's head and hitting Chanaka Welegedera for another in the left-arm paceman's second over.
Sri Lanka's bowlers, wayward initially, then tightened their line and stemmed the runs, but Iqbal, who was dropped on 11 by Kulasekara off his own bowling, cut loose by clubbing Welegedera for four boundaries in an over - three of them coming after he was struck on the helmet by a bouncer from the left-arm paceman.
Kumar Sangakkara brought Tillakaratne Dilshan on inside the first powerplay, but it was Kulasekara who produced the breakthrough.
He lured Kayes into a pull shot which the batsman mistimed and top-edged to Thilan Samaraweera at fine leg.
Dilshan then removed Iqbal in the next over and Suranga Lakmal further undermined Bangladesh's progress by extracting Raqibul Hasan - caught brilliantly by Samaraweera at slip - and captain Shakib Al Hasan in his first spell.
From 65 for no loss the home side had slipped to 74 for four when former captain Ashraful and Rahim came together, the duo arresting the slide with a 58-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Off-spinner Suraj Randiv broke that partnership by trapping Rahim in front as he attempted to sweep, but Ashraful forged another alliance with Mahmudullah which helped lift Bangladesh's score beyond the 200-run mark.
The pair added 95 for the sixth wicket, Ashraful reaching his 20th ODI half-century en route.
Ashraful was run out in the penultimate over, but Naeem Islam ensured a sparkling finish for the home side by clubbing Lakmal for a four and two sixes in a final over which yielded 20.
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