Philander enjoys love affair at Lord's

Monday 20 August 2012

Vernon Philander used both the ball and bat to subdue England in the Third Test with South Africa, as the hosts world No.1 Test status hung by a thread at Lord's.

Vernon Philander scored 61 runs in the first innings as he left his mark at Lord's. Picture: Reuters

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David Clough at Lord’s

Philander consolidated the work of centurion Hashim Amla in the tourists' 351 all out – and then immediately undermined England's hopes of pulling off a record run chase of 346 to share the Investec series, by putting both openers out lbw for only four runs between them.

Andrew Strauss, the England captain, in his 100th Test and 50th in charge, managed just a single before following Alastair Cook, who could not cope with Philander's movement off the seam from the pavilion end.After 13 overs of evening batting, England were guided to a knock of just 16 without further loss by Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell but realistic pretensions to victory, and therefore preventing South Africa from replacing them at the top of the rankings, were fading fast.After Steven Finn – four for 74 – did most to bowl the tourists out, England knew they had to achieve the highest fourth-innings run chase ever seen at Lord's. Finn took two big wickets in successive overs to help keep English hopes just about alive; the 6ft 8in seamer twice finding telling movement up the slope to see off centurion Hashim 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 cause by dropping another crucial catch. Amla had 121 runs and was South Africa's first Test triple-centurion in their landslide win at The Oval, was yesterday dropped by Matt Prior on just two. Then 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. 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 then announced himself with successive boundaries from his first two balls. It looked a hammer blow when Anderson then continued his recent trend of dropping catches after Swann had deceived De Villiers.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 an unlikely South African mistake. After an unexpected lunchtime shower of rain, 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, beating the defence to hit off-stump to end a stand of 85.Twelve balls later, he had De Villiers too, edging to slip where Strauss took his 121st catch, the most by any fielder in English Test history. Finn was not finished either, and soon had Jacques Rudolph edging behind to Prior.It took another 17.2 overs at the start of the evening session to end the innings, as JP Duminy and Philander – following their twin 61s in the first innings – again held the hosts up 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 then did for Morne Morkel and Anderson bowled Imran Tahir to leave Duminy unbeaten after 93 balls of defiance.The left-hander had contributed only 26 runs, but nonetheless did much to make England's mission improbable more so – even before Philander got to work again.

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Philander enjoys love affair at Lord's

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