Hussain stands tall as England battle on

The one ball of the day for which Hussain was not on the field was Allan Donald’s first delivery to Mike Atherton. For the third consecutive day, umpire Javed Akhtar held the spotlight. He gave Atherton out leg before, but the former England captain appeared to get an inside edge.

Hussain and Butcher then saw England through to lunch without further loss, and the afternoon session also saw only one wicket fall. First-innings centurion Butcher became England’s second casualty when Shaun Pollock slanted one across him and Brain McMillan pouched a regulation catch at slip.

Alec Stewart, on six, survived a chance flashing at Pollock. JacquesKallis at second slip dived across McMillan but could only get his fingertips to the ball, which skittered away for four.

Progress was generally slow and the tension almost tangible under grey skies. England scored just 65 in the morning session and 32 in the first 16 overs after lunch. But Stewart’s reprieve sparked an acceleration; he took 12 runs off a Pollock over and 16 off two from Donald in mid-afternoon. Scoreboard

England (1st innings): 230
South Africa (1st innings): 252
England (2nd innings, overnight 2-0): M Butcher c McMillan b Pollock 37, M Atherton lbw b Donald 1, N Hussain batting 83, A Stewart c Boucher b Pollock 35, M Ramprakash lbw b Pollock 25, I Salisbury batting 4; Extras (b8, lb1, w2, nb10) 21.

Total (for four wickets in 91 overs): 206
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-81, 3-143, 4-200.
Bowling: Pollock 25-11-39-3, Donald 20-4-57-1, McMillan 11-0-22-0, Ntini 15-4-43-0, Kallis 15-6-31-0, Cullinan 1-0-1-0, Cronje 4-1-4-0.