• Third Test day three:
England 499-9 dec;
South Africa 208-6• Tourists still in charge but rue drops on rain-affected dayHow South Africa needed some rain, not just because of the parched landscape of the Eastern Cape, but also since a draw in the Third Test now represents their highest ambition. After an interrupted day they finished on 208 for six, which represents quite a recovery since their cricket team was creaking ominously on 113 for five when the swirling drizzle enveloped St George’s Park 10 minutes before lunch.
By then Dom Bess had taken three key wickets, to add to the two taken on Friday night, thereby leaving the stattos researching when an English spinner last took the first five wickets to fall in a Test innings. The answer is Derek Underwood in the Adelaide Test of January 1975.