Pietersen revitalises England

CRICKET/ THIRD TEST:SUNSHINE EMBRACED the ground in the afternoon, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood counter-punching brilliantly with a fifth-wicket stand of 115 to haul England from the depths of despair to a position from which they have a realistic chance of beating South Africa and levelling the series.

Pietersen made 94, an innings of real intensity that became more furious as it progressed - until finally he combusted with his own excitement. Collingwood, in all probability batting for his Test match life, made an unbeaten 101, his fifth Test hundred and first for more than a year.

It was also, by 57 runs, his highest score of a dismal season: a courageous innings in its conception and execution. Collingwood may not be one of the game's great players, but no one can doubt his character or appetite for a scrap.

By the close England had reached 297 for six in their second innings, a lead of 214 and enough already to put the jitters up a South Africa side who have struggled to cast off the tag of chokers over the years.

Earlier, England had required a further 16 overs to finish South Africa's first innings on 314, a lead of 83, and their redoubtable wicketkeeper Mark Boucher had made 40.

Collingwood joined Pietersen with the England innings in disarray at 104 for four, wickets squandered as if batsmen had no inkling there is a credit crunch. It began with Alastair Cook, who was fortunate to survive a leg-before shout off his first ball from Andre Nel - it would take a heart of stone not to have laughed at the bowler's subsequent histrionics - but in trying to hit a long-hop from Makhaya Ntini to Solihull, he top-edged a catch to be well caught by Boucher.

Michael Vaughan then produced a half-hour cameo that promised riches with a sequence of vintage strokes. Then he blew it all in one go, with Hashim Amla taking an exceptional low catch at extra cover. And when Andrew Strauss was caught at second slip England were 70 for three, still 13 adrift and in danger of defeat inside three days, a situation compounded when Ian Bell swashed at a loosener from Ntini and like Cook, succumbed to a top edge and Boucher's gloves.

These, though, are the situations on which Pietersen and Collingwood, differing personalities, thrive.

From the first, Collingwood appeared to be moving into the ball nicely, neat off his legs, flicking and clipping. He pulled witheringly to square-leg to get off the mark and throughout he cut and carved ferociously when fed the stroke by bowlers intent on avoiding straying on to his legs.

Having lost Pietersen, however, he might have felt that his contribution would come to be seen as a just-enough innings in a losing cause. But he found an ally in Tim Ambrose, another man batting for his life, and how they did so. It took some guts for Collingwood to reach his hundred as he did, dancing down the pitch to Harris and clubbing him over long-on for six to an emotional reception.

Pietersen was magnificent, the adrenalin-charged demise, caught at long-on as he too tried to reach three figures with a six, forgiven in the wake of the fight-back that preceded it.

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