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Medappa, Rane frustrate Kerala's victory surge

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A defiant century by Satyajit Medappa and stout resistance from RohitRane helped Goa stave off an outright defeat in their South Zone RanjiTrophy clash against Kerala at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochion Saturday. The match was called off in the 10th mandatory over afterthe visitors, following on, were bowled out for 321 in their secondinnings, just 131 ahead of Kerala.Resuming on the final day at 111/1, Goa needed a further 79 to maketheir opponents bat again. Disaster struck with the seventh ball ofthe day when skipper V Kolambkar was snared at first slip off left armspinner Sreekumar Nair without adding to his overnight score of 32.Medappa was joined by his former Tamil Nadu teammate Tanveer Jabbarwho did not last long at the crease, falling to Kerala skipperAnanthapadmanabhan just after entering double figures.Soon afterwards Medappa reached his century, featuring nine hits tothe fence, off 215 balls. Leg spinner Ananthapadmanabhan struck twicemore in successive overs before lunch to take care of Medappa andDinesh Rao. The twenty six year old Medappa’s five and a quarter hourknock had netted 116 runs. Goa went into lunch at 188/5, still tworuns behind and in grave danger of an outright defeat.It was Rohit Rane who was instrumental in frustrating Kerala’s designsin the remaining two sessions. He marshalled the tail withresourcefulness, adding 72 for the seventh wicket with Syed Khalid.Rane was last out, caught by Girilal at deep midwicket for 75(164balls, 6 fours) as Goa settled on 321 in 137.1 overs. SpinnersAnanthapadmanabhan and Ramprakash bagged seven wickets between them.

Captains praise spirited display by England

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England skipper Nasser Hussain praised the courage of his two opening bowlers for testing Australia’s nerves before the hosts managed a five-wicket win on the final day of the fourth Test in Melbourne.Despite the drama of the fifth morning, England are now 4-0 down in the series, but not before Steve Harmison and Andrew Caddick troubled Australia, who werechasing just 107 for victory.”It was a good morning for us,” Hussain told Sky Sports. “We still lost theTest match but at least we showed we can do something out here and that we’vegot a bit of character. That was about as enjoyable as we’ve had it out herethis winter.”Cricket must be a mind game really because Australia have a history of struggling to chase low scores, and that was a really low score. The two big lads ran in hard and did well. It wasn’t an easy pitch to bowl on but they bowled well and all credit to them.””There will be some tired legs because we’ve gone in with four bowlers here and lost one of them with Craig White getting injured. So we’ll have to get the balance right as Sydney is a different pitch and we’ll have to look at what we need to do.”Australia captain Steve Waugh paid tribute to the spirit shown by the tourists.”England bowled really well this morning and they made us fight hard for our win,” Waugh said. “We didn’t play all that well today but all credit to England, they really gave it a go.””We’ve had some problems in the past chasing low totals – I think you can getyourself into problems when you don’t play your shots and play your naturalgame,” admitted the Australian captain.”England came at us really hard this morning and once you lose a wicket in the first over you start to doubt yourself a fraction in the dressing room, thenyou lose a couple more and all of a sudden it’s game on – any side is vulnerableunder pressure.”Waugh himself was the subject of a belated appeal for caught behind, made after England’s wicket-keeper James Foster and other fielders had seen a replay on the big screen.”They appealed only because of what they saw on the screen, partly in shock and disbelief and also because of the rollicking they knew they were going to get from me at drinks that they hadn’t appealed for one of the greatest batsmen ever to play the game,” Hussain said.”But you can’t see something on the big screen and appeal on that, you can’t play the game like that. Most of the time we appeal on gut feeling and what wesee and what we hear, that’s the way we play the game and it probably showscredit to our boys that they didn’t hear anything so they didn’t appeal.”

Samuels' growth a consolation for Windies

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Dale Steyn was irrepressible with the second new ball © Cricinfo Ltd.
 

Another heavy loss, another dream, so real only a week earlier, shattered.Yet, even as Dale Steyn’s irresistible pace with the second new ball propelled South Africa to their series-clinching victory by an innings and 100 runs nearing the end of the third day of the third Test here yesterday, Marlon Samuels’ second Test hundred and the overall fight in a hopeless situation exemplified two of the gains for West Indies from a series in a country that had previously brought only defeat and despondency.No advance – and there have been a number – has been more individually significant than Samuels’. No aspect has been more noticeable than the general spirit.For nearly three hours yesterday, Samuels and Dwayne Bravo, two of those on whom the future lies, kept West Indies’ flame alive in a fifth wicket partnership of 144.But, with Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the rock of the batting in the two previous Tests, so ill with a virus infection he was incapable of joining the fray and Steyn firing on all cylinders, South Africa only needed to separate the two to lighten their load. It came with the sixth ball after tea when Steyn removed Bravo lbw for 75 (117 balls, as many as 13 fours). It was a timely return to form after a run of low scores but the method of his dismissal was all too familiar, aiming to work the ball to leg off the stumps.By then, Samuels was 19 away from his hundred and Denesh Ramdin, with another neat, but brief, cameo, and Darren Sammy remained to see him through to his goal.Ramdin, in no bother while stroking five fours in 25, surrendered his wicket with a dab at Andre Nel that appeared to be an after-thought but the two Sammys batted through to the new ball, the Jamaican arriving at his hundred four overs before Graeme Smith handed it to Steyn.Samuels slapped the first ball, short and wide, dismissively to the point boundary for his 18th four. The next was a wicked delivery, fast on a perfect length and straightening enough to breach his defence and trim his off stump. It was the first of Steyn’s four wickets from 15 scoreless balls that hastened the end of the innings as Sammy, caught and bowled off the leading edge, and Daren Powell and Fidel Edwards, comprehensively bowled, followed.Samuels’ vigil of four-and-a-quarter hours and 190 balls began 35 minutes into another hot, cloudless day following the summary dismissal of the two openers.Brenton Parchment was lbw to Steyn, aiming to leg, and Daren Ganga, another in Samuels’ last-chance situation, fell cheaply yet again to a weak shot and a slip catch. For 50 minutes, Runako Morton trusted his eye and his power in punching seven fours in a run-a-ball 37. It was ironic, after his shot-a-ball attack, that he should chose not to offer a shot at all to Shaun Pollock’s second ball of the day to be plainly lbw.It was a special dismissal for Pollock as it was to be his last, and 421st, wicket in what he had announced the day before would be his final Test. He will be missed, as all great players are, but it was, he said, time to go.The Samuels-Bravo association began with a stroke of luck, a straight drive when Bravo was seven that Andre Nel failed to catch, two-handed, on his follow through. There were a few more alarms on the way but the two stuck it out.During one fiery spell from Steyn after lunch, Bravo took a blow on the shoulder and Samuels, then 41, was missed low down at second slip by Jacques Kallis. Later, with Samuels into his 50s, there was one frenetic over from Nel when he slashed three fours, two in succession through the widely-spread slips.The introduction of Hamish Amla’s club level offspin was a concession from the South Africans as the stand went past 100, the second session yielding 96 off 27 overs and no wicket.

Marlon Samuels’ second Test century pushed his average above 30 © Cricinfo Ltd.
 

Steyn’s immediate intervention after tea with Bravo’s wicket and his new-ball burst at the end settled the issue, securing the Sir Vivian Richards Trophy for South Africa for the fifth successive series. It presented Pollock with a fitting farewell to international cricket as he was hoisted shoulder high by his jubilant team-mates as they left the ground.In contrast, it was a disappointing finale for the West Indies, even given that they were cruelly stricken by misfortune even before a ball was bowled.With captain Chris Gayle incapacitated and missing and his stand-in Bravo’s side strain preventing him from bowling, their fate was sealed once they were six wickets down for 57 an hour-and-a-half into the match. It was a tomb from which there was never any escape against superior opponents, buoyed by their hard-fought triumph in the second Test just a few days before.Samuels innings, and series form, was more than a grain of consolation. A batsman of such obvious ability that he was thrust into the hottest of cricket war zones, Australia, aged 19 with one first-class match to his name, he arrived in South Africa with 24 spasmodic Tests spread over the intervening seven years, with the dubious credentials of a batting average of 27.3 and a solitary Test hundred.The word most regularly associated with him was “attitude”. He once said he would like to become a model and, collar up, he often moved like one at the crease and in the field. There was a lot of style, too little substance. Like some others, this was surely his last chance. The middle-order position left vacant by the retired Brian Lara needed to be filled and, potentially, he best suited the bill. But even West Indies selectors eventually run out of patience.Finally, their persistence has had its reward. Samuels yesterday crowned a series against tough opponents that confirmed his development and capacity to produce consistently. His 314 runs at an average of 52.33 occupied just over 17 hours all told. This was the discipline missing for too long.

Dominant Australia build vast lead

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Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBen Stokes troubled the Australians for much of the first session•Getty Images

On every day of this Test Australia have tightened their grip further and so it was again on day three, a day on which Alastair Cook fought hard for 96 and Ben Stokes lashed 87. They were innings that, viewed in isolation, would appear impressive enough, but seen against the backdrop of Steven Smith’s 215 and Chris Rogers’ 173 looked unequivocally inadequate. There are big scores, and then there are huge scores.And England will need a huge total to win this match. By the close of play, Rogers and David Warner had cruised to 108 for 0, with Rogers on 44 and Warner on 63, and Australia’s lead was already 362. Michael Clarke had declined to enforce the follow-on, not surprisingly given his history, and all that remained was to decide how long to give his bowlers and how many to set England.The one positive in the back of Cook’s mind, though, will be the knowledge that this pitch remains very good for batting and offers little sideways movement to bowlers either fast or slow. They should not view batting out a draw as an impossible task. It is worth noting that Cook himself survived for 351 minutes in the first innings. A little more support is what he will need.Cook frustrated Australia for much of the third day, first during a 145-run stand with Stokes and then as part of a 56-run association with Moeen Ali. He was patient and waited for the bad balls to score, and looked set for a 28th Test century. But with his 233rd delivery he drove at a Mitchell Marsh ball outside off stump and played on.Marsh has been responsible for more drag-ons than George R. R. Martin; he played on himself during Australia’s innings and then had both Cook and Stokes by that method on day three. Stokes had moved the score along briskly before lunch but on 87 he drove at a delivery that stayed a touch low and chopped on to give Marsh the first of his two wickets.Stokes had gone for his shots and struck 13 fours and one six during his 128-ball stay. He scored runs all around the wicket and brought up his half-century from just 67 deliveries with a four crunched through cover off Mitchell Johnson. Cook, meanwhile, was careful at the other end, anchoring the innings in the knowledge that eating up time was invaluable for England.His fifty came from his 142nd delivery with a flick through midwicket for three off Nathan Lyon and he struck 13 boundaries, including a classy drive through mid-off when he used his feet against Lyon and an on-drive off Mitchell Starc. Often he waited and played the ball late, finding the gaps square of the wicket on both sides.Cook was put down on 63 when he pulled Johnson to Steven Smith at square leg, and there were a few other nervy moments, but overall it was an excellent innings from England’s captain. He had support from Jos Buttler after Stokes departed, but Buttler managed only 13 before he edged behind when Lyon came around the wicket and drifted an arm ball on.Buttler walked without waiting for the umpire’s call; earlier he had stood his ground after edging Johnson behind. Peter Nevill took the ball low to his right and it seemed on first glance like a brilliant, athletic take, although an umpire review showed the ball had grazed the turf in the process and Buttler was reprieved to the chagrin of the Australians.Ali played his shots, as expected, and launched Lyon back over his head for six to go with five fours. But on 39 he was lbw to a lovely piece of bowling from Josh Hazlewood, who curled the new ball in and struck Ali dead in front. The batsman asked half-heartedly for a review but if it was any plumber it could have unclogged his drains.From there it was a quick finish. Mark Wood was bowled by Hazlewood for 4 and Stuart Broad was snapped up at slip off Johnson for 21 to end the innings on 312. England’s deficit was 254 but there was as much chance of Clarke enforcing the follow-on as there was of Kumar Dharmasena opening the bowling in the second innings. Clarke is a target-setting kind of guy.Australia’s second innings was fairly uneventful, although Adam Lyth was left to rue a missed chance at gully off James Anderson before Warner had scored. It was very catchable, and by the close of play Warner had brought up a 71-ball half-century and, perhaps most worryingly for England as the Investec Ashes wears on, found some decent form.Already the difference was such that England would need a record successful fourth-innings run chase at Lord’s – West Indies’ 344 for 1 in 1984 is the benchmark – and Australia seemed set to push their lead well into to the 400s. It will take some sort of effort from England to prevent Australia tightening their grip further on day four.

'Last 12 months have been a whirlwind' – Fekete

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Andrew Fekete was a 26-year-old accountant when he emerged from Victorian club cricket to make his debut for his state in 2012. It was a one-day match against South Australia at the MCG; Fekete took two wickets and had his foot broken by a powerful Theo Doropoulos drive. He didn’t know what his future would hold, and he never again played for Victoria.But Tasmania liked what they saw from Fekete, and offered him a deal for the following season. A first-class debut came at 28, then a big Sheffield Shield summer at 29, and at 30 he has shot out of left field to be picked in Australia’s squad for next month’s Test tour of Bangladesh. Even Fekete considered himself “a fair way down the pecking order” a couple of months ago.”The last 12 months have been a whirlwind,” Fekete told reporters in Hobart. “I guess it’s all been about opportunity. I tried to do the best I could for Tasmania and it’s snowballed from there.”In Victoria I was in and around the group a little but didn’t get the opportunity to be contracted and be a full-time cricketer which Tasmania gave me. I just wanted to see where I could get to and initially I was given a two-year contract and if at the end of that two years Tasmania said ‘thanks very much and see you later’, I still would have been pleased as I would have had a crack and got the best out of myself.”Australia’s selectors were impressed by Fekete’s 2014-15, in which he collected 37 wickets at 24.10 and was the leading wicket-taker among fast bowlers. He added two more matches to his first-class tally – up to 18 games – on this year’s Australia A tour of India, and national selector Rod Marsh said Fekete was quick, accurate, could reverse swing the ball and had earned his chance.”He slipped under the guard of a lot of people but we’ve had our eye on him for a while,” Marsh said. “He took 37 first-class wickets in the Sheffield Shield competition last year. He bowled very well in India. He’s able to bowl with good pace, he’s around 140kph. He can generate reverse swing when need be, when conditions suit, and he’s a pretty good bloke. He deserved his opportunity.”He’s just one of those old fashioned fast bowlers who runs in and bowls pretty straight. There’s nothing too fancy about him, except that he bowls stump to stump. He hasn’t played a lot of cricket either, you have to remember that. He might be 30 but cricket-wise he’s probably 25, body-wise, because he hasn’t been through the rigours of year after year of non-stop cricket. He’s fresh and ready to go.”Fekete won his place on the Bangladesh tour in the absence of Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood, who have been rested ahead of a busy home summer. He was also preferred ahead of James Pattinson, who has remodelled his action and was described by Marsh as being down on confidence in the recent ODI series in England.

Australian spinner Lindsay Kline dies at 81

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There are few bowlers who can claim to have taken a Test hat-trick; Lindsay Kline was one of only nine Australians to have done it. There are few No. 11 batsmen who can boast of surviving nearly two hours to salvage a thrilling draw; Kline did that against West Indies in Adelaide in 1961. But it is a measure of the excitement that Kline squeezed into a 13-Test career that neither of those was his most memorable moment.Kline, who has died at the age of 81, will be best remembered as the man who faced the final ball of what is perhaps the most famous Test match of them all: the tie between Australia and West Indies at the Gabba in 1960. Arguably the most iconic photograph in Test history shows Kline running to the bowler’s end, looking over his shoulder to see his partner Ian Meckiff being run out by a direct hit from Joe Solomon.A left-arm wrist-spinner who claimed 34 Test wickets at 22.82, Kline was unlucky to have been pushing for a place when Richie Benaud was the country’s dominant spinner, and captain. But despite his fine bowling record it is for his involvement in the tied Test that Kline will be best remembered. The last eight-ball over of the fifth day had started with Australia needing six to win and West Indies requiring three wickets.

‘Wonderful man, great character’

“The news of Lindsay’s passing is incredibly sad,” Cricket Australia’s chief executive James Sutherland said. “He was a wonderful man, a great character and a fine contributor to our game. He will be missed dearly. Throughout his cricket career he was involved in some extraordinary moments that have become part of the rich history of our great game.
“In later years Lindsay was an annual guest at Adelaide and Melbourne Test matches and in many ways those occasions won’t be the same without his great company. It has been a very sad year for Australian cricket with the passing of a number of treasured members of our community including Richie Benaud, Arthur Morris and now Lindsay Kline.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to Lindsay’s wife Stella, family and friends at this sad time.”

Benaud and Wally Grout were both dismissed, and Kline found himself walking to the crease to join the No.10, Meckiff, with two balls remaining and the scores level. Kline was the last man, and had the job not only of surviving two deliveries against Wes Hall, but of finding a way to squeeze out one more run for an Australian victory.Recalling the Test in 2010, Kline told ESPNcricinfo: “The previous over, I said to Colin McDonald ‘I won’t have to go in, will I?’ He said ‘No, I don’t think so’. Then we lost those wickets and I’m trying to pad up, and I couldn’t find my gloves, I’m looking in my bag. I was sitting on them. It got to me a bit, I got pretty nervous, that’s for sure.”I walked out and walked past Frank Worrell and he said to me ‘I wouldn’t be in your shoes for all the tea in China’. Then he also said ‘you look a little pale’. I felt it.”Kline told Meckiff that the plan was to run on the penultimate delivery, no matter what happened; he put bat on ball and took off, but Meckiff hesitated, and Solomon’s throw found him short. Kline knew he had just been part of Test cricket’s first tie, but in the rooms immediately afterwards Meckiff sat with his head in his hands thinking Australia had lost.”I’m running for a win and he’s running for a tie,” Kline said. “But I can understand it, we didn’t have electronic scoreboards or anything, flashing up ‘one run to win’ or anything like that. I thought he knew, and I thought I knew.”Kline did not play the next two Tests of the series and when he was recalled for the fourth Test in Adelaide, he was involved in a finish almost as thrilling as that at the Gabba. Kline and Ken “Slasher” Mackay compiled a 109-minute partnership for the final wicket that prevented a West Indies victory that would have given them a 2-1 lead in the series.”That was a million to one chance – I think I should put it up to a billion in one chance,” Kline said in 2010. “Before tea, Johnny Martin and Norm O’Neill said ‘come on, we’ll give you some practice in the nets’. I got bowled out about 10 times. There was a lady standing behind the net and she said ‘it’s a waste of time sending you in, isn’t it?’ I couldn’t disagree with her.”Then after tea we lost a couple of quick wickets and I had to pad up. When I started to pad up a couple of the guys started packing their bags, hoping to get an early flight to New South Wales or Queensland. You had to walk down through the stands on to the oval and one of the members shouted out ‘well, it’s all up to you now’, and everyone in the stands started to laugh. They weren’t laughing 109 minutes later.”Lindsay Kline looks back to see partner Ian Meckiff being run out at the Gabba in 1960•Getty Images

It was Kline’s last act in Test cricket, and not a bad one for a bloke with a first-class batting average of 8.60. But Kline was in the side for his bowling, and he will forever go down in history as the fourth Australian to take a Test hat-trick, a feat he completed in just his second Test match, against South Africa in Cape Town in 1957-58. In three balls, Kline took the last three wickets of Australia’s win.The first of his hat-trick was Eddie Fuller, caught close in by Benaud. The second was Hugh Tayfield, plumb lbw to a legbreak. “I told people it was a flipper, but it wasn’t,” Kline said in 2011. Then the No. 11, Neil Adcock, came to the crease. Kline intended to bowl his legbreak but changed his mind during his approach; his wrong’un clipped Adcock’s edge and Bob Simpson at slip took a stunner.Kline liked to jokingly tell people that he should be considered alongside Shane Warne, who also claimed a Test hat-trick in which the three batsmen were all dismissed for ducks. “It was the only hat-trick I ever got at any level,” Kline said. “Shane Warne told me he’d only got one as well. I tell people my career was pretty similar to his. The only difference is, he got 700-odd wickets and I got 34.”In later years, Kline ran a successful company manufacturing and supplying fire equipment in Melbourne. He retained a strong interest in cricket, and each year Kline and Meckiff would join former Test wicketkeeper Barry Jarman for a holiday on his houseboat in South Australia before attending the Adelaide Test.But it was the 1960-61 series against West Indies that Kline remembered most fondly. The camaraderie between the opponents was remarkable: he recalled being one of three or four Australians joining the West Indians in Garry Sobers’ room the night before the first Test, playing calypso records. After the series, Kline swapped blazers and caps with Rohan Kanhai.”I think the most wonderful thing was the relationship between the two sides,” Kline said. “It was just magic. It was almost like mates playing mates.”

Manohar sole nomination for BCCI president

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Shashank Manohar is set to be elected BCCI president unopposed on Sunday, replacing Jagmohan Dalmiya who died in Kolkata on September 20. At 3 pm on Saturday, the deadline to file nominations, only Manohar’s name was filed as a candidate for the election that will be held during the special general meeting in Mumbai on Sunday afternoon.Manohar received backing from all the six members from East Zone – Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), National Cricket Club, Odisha Cricket Association, Jharkhand Cricket Association, Assam Cricket Association and Tripura Cricket Association. It is understood all six East Zone members nominated him, as it is the zone’s turn to nominate the president for the period till 2017. Soon after Dalmiya’s death, there was talk of the East camp wanting one of its own to stand for the elections, but there was no consensus, thus paving the way for Manohar.Confirming the East zone’s stand, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, representing the CAB, told the media at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai: “A lot of important people have led BCCI in the past and Manohar has also done it quite well. I am sure he will do a good job.”Dalmiya was the first BCCI president to die while in office, thus necessitating the unprecedented action of the board choosing a replacement at a special general meeting. This will be Manohar’s second stint as BCCI chief – he served as president between October 2008 and September 2011. He had first emerged as the consensus candidate when the ruling political party in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party, backed him and opposed Sharad Pawar’s candidature.

Worker's all-round performance flattens Otago

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George Worker’s all-round performance powered Central Districts to a four-wicket victory in a low-scoring game against Otago in New Plymouth. Worker’s 5 for 10 in four overs triggered Otago’s middle-order collapse, and his 26-ball 42 in the chase helped Central Districts achieve a target of 142 with nine balls to spare.Put in to bat first, Otago got off to a strong start with a 58-run partnership between openers Anaru Kitchen and Neil Broom. However, Worker’s left-arm spin cut through Otago’s top and middle-order, reducing them from 58 for 0 in the ninth over to 90 for 5 by the 15th over. Worker struck in each of his four overs and took two wickets in the space of four balls in the 13th over. Broom, however, held steady and it was his unbeaten knock of 70 off 49 deliveries that eventually lifted Otago to a score of 141 for 8.Worker shared a vital 47-run partnership with Will Young for the second wicket. By the time Worker was dismissed by Nathan McCullum in the seventh over, he had scored 42 of the side’s total of 50 runs and Central Districts stuttered again when McCullum dismissed Young in the same over. A 50-run partnership between captain Kruger Van Wyk and Dane Cleaver then revived the chase. Otago struck once again with quick wickets but an unbeaten 32-run partnership between Josh Clarkson and Marty Kain for the seventh wicket eased Central Districts to their first win in the tournament.

Hales fails again after bowlers thrive

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ScorecardEngland’s bowlers enjoyed a productive work-out on the second day at Senwes Park but Alex Hales missed a second opportunity to make his case at opener. Hales, who is at the head of the queue to become Alastair Cook’s eighth Test opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, made another underwhelming contribution, although the stand did reach double figures on this occasion.Hales was uncharacteristically subdued in grafting for 8 off 42 balls – the same number of runs he made in the first innings – before playing on to his stumps trying to defend off the back foot. Cook was far more fluent during a partnership of 46 but he followed Hales back to the dressing room an over later, for 37 off 47 balls with seven fours, after playing around a straight delivery from Andile Phehlukwayo.Cook would doubtless have preferred a longer stint in the middle but he could reflect with satisfaction on England’s earlier efforts with the ball. Stuart Broad took 3 for 18 and all of the seamers bar James Anderson – who only bowled four overs during the afternoon – were among the wickets as the SA Invitational XI were dismissed for 188.Mark Footitt was a touch wild and woolly on his first appearance in an England shirt, taking 2 for 52 from 12 overs. Ben Stokes also picked up two wickets as his comeback from injury continued to go well, and Moeen Ali produced tidy figures with his offspin, while also accounting for SA XI top-scorer, Heinrich Klaasen.Centuries from Stokes and James Taylor on the first day had already put England in charge and they opted for further batting practice during the final session.Nick Compton followed up his first-innings half-century at No. 3 by making 15 before chipping to long-off and his dismissal allowed Gary Ballance – another batsman returning to the England fold – some time at the crease. Alongside Joe Root, he helped the tourists to 99 for 3 and a lead of 381 with one day left in the game.Stuart Broad claimed two wickets with the new ball•Getty Images

After Cook had declared England’s first innings on their overnight score of 470 for 5, Broad struck with the fourth ball of the morning, Aiden Markram edging to first slip. Broad also removed Luthando Mnyanda in his fourth over, a thick inside edge helping to uproot off stump, and was then given a rest until just before tea, when he returned to end a last-wicket stand of 51 between Thandolwethu Mnyaka and Johannes Diseko.Left-armer Footitt is generally regarded as one of the fastest bowlers around the county circuit and he began at full tilt. SA XI opener Simon Khomari, also a lefty, found the pace to his liking and struck a boundary in each of Footitt’s first three overs; when the bowler responded with a bouncer, it flew high and wide of wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow for four byes.Despite the heat pushing up towards 35C, Cook kept Footitt on for a six-over spell and he finally hit his mark with the penultimate ball before the drinks break, sliding a delivery across the right-handed Zubayr Hamza to take the edge, Bairstow completing a low catch to his right. In Footitt’s second spell, Klaasen took him for three fours in an over, as runs continued to flow, but another breakthrough followed soon after as Qaasim Adams was adjudged lbw.Klaasen and Adams had helped repair some of the damage done during the morning session, after the SA XI had slipped to 56 for 5. Chris Woakes, seemingly contesting the third seamer slot for the Durban Test with Footitt, removed Khomari with a back-of-a-length delivery that was quicker than it looked and Stokes had Somila Seyibokwe caught behind off the glove, also trying to pull.Klaasen was the more aggressive during a 62-run stand but, after Adams’ dismissal by Footitt, he fell two runs short of a half-century, edging a drive off Moeen to slip. Stokes picked up his second wicket, Phehlukwayo bowled attempting to leave, and Moeen deflected a shot from Mnyaka into the stumps at the non-striker’s end to run out Ruben Claassen and leave the SA XI 137 for 9.

Rain restricted play to only 2.4 overs

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The match could not commence at the schedule time on account of heavy rain that flooded the ground. After hectic efforts put in by the ground staff to turn the ground and the pitch fit for play, it was possible to start the game at 4:30 p.m. local time.Only 2.4 overs were bowled when the game had to be suspended on account of sudden drizzle. During this period, Atapattu was, however, able to complete his well-cherished double century. The play was called off for the day with Sri Lanka at 467 for 5. Atapattu was batting at 207 while Dharmasena was at the crease with 12 runs.