Hussain refuses to budge

So the sluggard means of the first day were justified by the end of the second. Well, just about. England, 135 for two overnight, had reached 366 for nine by the time Nasser Hussain decided the light had closed in sufficiently to make it a hazardous business batting against Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock armed with yet another new ball, the third of the innings.

England's position might have been better, for they reached 336 for four before five wickets went down in a rush for only a further 26 runs.

Hussain's decision to leave the field was not only based on the fact that England's last batsman Phil Tufnell had been hopping about for a quarter of an hour as if someone had put tin-tacks in his shoes, but that he himself had spent 10 hours welded to the crease.

If it seemed an odd decision at face value, given that the imperative is for England to make the running now if they are to beat both South Africa and the fickle subtropical Durban weather, then the flashes of lightning and the heavy shower that soon followed made any quibbling academic.

Tufnell and Hussain will now try to eke out a couple more runs and break up a two-hour session, but it would surely be better to take what advantage the bowlers could glean from another compensatory early start at 9.30 a.m.

Hussain's has been a monumental effort, a masterpiece of dedication and self-denial. He came in to bat at 10.35 on Sunday, was 51 not out overnight, reached his eighth Test century - and his first in 26 innings since he made 105 against South Africa at Lord's the summer before last - six overs into the afternoon session yesterday and then retreated into his shell again. The last two hours of his knock took him only as far as 146, in which he has hit 17 fours.

Add his unbeaten five hours at the crease in the second innings in Port Elizabeth and it is now around an hour short of 1,000 minutes (15 hours) since the South Africans last got Hussain out. He has now entered the annals of great English stone-wallers, which for a fellow who in this series has twice got off the mark with a six is some culture change.

In the radio box Geoffrey Boycott, whose life story could be encapsulated in an eye-on-the-ball blockumentary, was heard chuntering away about how in 1967 he was dropped from the side for scoring faster. And in batting for 634 minutes thus far Hussain has now eclipsed by five minutes Boycott's 191 at Headingley in 1977, his 100th hundred.

But there are other efforts to be outlasted: Mike Atherton's 185 not out at the Wanderers four years ago to deny South Africa victory will be outlasted if Hussain bats for another 15 minutes, likewise Clive Radley's 158 in 648 minutes against New Zealand; then there is Ken Barrington's 256 in 683 minutes against Australia at Old Trafford in 1964; and, way beyond, Sir Leonard Hutton's 364 in 797 minutes.

That England managed to up the tempo yesterday was down to a special innings of 95 from Alec Stewart, who joined Hussain in the second over of the day after Darren Maddy had been caught at short-leg without adding to his overnight score.

Stewart and Hussain put on 156 for the fourth wicket during which Stewart in particular pulled and hooked with gusto, including three boundaries from one Nantie Hayward over.

Indeed, Stewart played remarkably well on a pitch which may have gained a fraction of pace but still made timing desperately hard. Having given his captain a five-hour and 54-run start, he reached his half-century in 77 minutes, was 84 when Hussain edged the boundary that brought him his hundred and was within 15 of the captain when he was out lbw to Hayward.

Stewart has now overtaken Mark Waugh as the most prolific Test batsman of the decade.