Onions leaves South Africa in a pickle

Sitting indoors on a Friday night isn't what I had planned over the break from university, however due to lack of funds I have no choice but to sit in watching Eastenders, Coronation Street and luckily West Brom against Nottingham Forest on Sky. Now these have all reached their climax, the idea of writing a new blog briefly crossed my mind, on the dramatic, eventful, and certainly enjoyable test match between England and South Africa in Cape Town.

Despite Graham Onions not making a significant impact throughout the five days, his defiance to play for a draw, one which mirrored his heroics a couple of weeks earlier at Centurion will live long in the memory of this year's tour of South Africa. On both occasions after saving each test match, Onions celebrated by turning and punching the air in the direction of the England dressing room, a sign of relief and joy to the English, yet a sign of sorrow and disbelief to the South Africans. To any non-cricketing fans, many of you reading may feel the series is in South Africa's hands. How wrong you are! England lead the series 1-0 with one game to play so a draw is guarenteed, however coach Andy Flower and skipper Andrew Strauss have urged the fans that victory is all they intend to achieve from the last test in Johannesburg.

What an achievement it would be for Strauss' side. To beat Australia and South Africa in a test series within six months would surely rocket England up the test rankings, and to be considered one of the mot dangerous threats in test match cricket. However, even in the greatest of sides, there are flaws to the structure of the team and however controversial this may sound, I believe England's current flaw is Kevin Pietersen. A total of six runs in two innings, including a second ball duck is horrendous for a player who has been seen as the country's most talented bastman for the past four years. Players like Ravi Bopara and Ian Bell have been constantly questionned by the media and the coaching staff about their form, however when it comes to Pietersen nobody seems interested. It seems people are afraid to doubt him because of the huge ego the South-African born player has. I say it's time to change. Pietersen's form has been diabolical, not throughout this tour but in the Ashes he gave away his wicket in idiotic fashion on more than one ocassion, and his lack of major run scoring in recent years shows there should be calls to axe him or either start working on his 'over-ambitious' technique.

Back to the test match, and a superb bowling performance from my favourite bowler James Anderson resorted the Proteas to only 293 in first innings. The ever resilient Jacques Kallis playing his way to a well constructed 108. However, England failed to take advantage and after losing Andrew Strauss in the first over I sat there at 8.40am on my sofa with an immediate sense of disbelief. Alastair Cook offered some resistent by adding 65 and Matt Prior playing his way to 76 but all England could muster was a measley 271, thanks mainly to Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn who notched up five and four wickets each respectively.

The South Africans took control and despite the prompt dismissal of the out of form Ashwell Prince, captain Graeme Smith proved why he is considered one of the world's top bastmen with a class 183, supported superbly by Hashim Amla (95) and Kallis, who hit 46 in a total of 447 for 7 declared, leaving England four sessions to bat. As I continued to sit there, eyes motionless yet glued to the television I remained hopeful that despite requiring the highest run chase in history, we could somehow come away with a victory, and this hope would soon become nearer to a reality. We started brilliantly. Cook passed 50 for the second time in the match, and even though struggling against the pace of Steyn, Strauss continued to hit runs on a regular basis, however like any ordinary England fan, whatever sport it may be, my dreams of victory soon became shattered. Cook played an atrocious shot to be dismissed for 55, then Strauss soon followed for 45. By the time I had time to compose myself for the final day, before you know it we had gone from 101-0 to 160-5, losing Trott, Pietersen and nightwatchman James Anderson in the process.

Fortunatly for England fans, Anderson entered blocking mode and used up 52 balls to score his 9 in what was now being called a rescue mission rather than an attempt at victory. All hope seemed lost and by this point I had turned channel to watch Only Fools and Horses and Jeremy Kyle. Oh how I regret turning that channel when I look back because enter the ever-reliable Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell who managed a partnership of 112 off over 300 balls. Collingwood contributing 40 off 188, and Bell striking 78 off 213. Without doubt it was this partnership which saved the test for Strauss' men. It isn't the first time Collingwood has been involved in a rescue mission though, in the first Ashes test in Cardiff he played a remarkable innings to bat for over five hours, meaning Anderson and Monty Panesar could block out the Australian attack, and at Centurion, Collingwood was alongside Graham Onions when the Durham bowler blocked the last ball from Makhaya Ntini to salvage a draw.

Even though overs were shrinking fast and with 4 wickets remaining, South Africa tested England's resolve and dismissed Collingwood and Prior in quick succession to leave he test match on edge. With three overs remaining, Stuart Broad was dismissed by spinner Paul Harris, and then four balls later Ian Bell made his only error of the day by needlessly playing a ball which barely threatened the Warwickshire man, resulting in an edge to Smith. The South Africa captain looked to have a sense of victory in his eye. He batted superbly, and his on-field specials were something to behold. Enter Graham Onions who thwarted the Kolpaks of a first test win, now endured with the same task of seeing out the bowling attack. Partnered by Graham Swann, both bowlers prodded away, blocking every ball in sight and leaving any wide deliveries.

Tension overwhelmed my body, as it came to the last ball. I couldn't watch. I actually had my head behind the pillow, watching with a tragic bond of anticipation and anxiety. In came Morkel, to the crease, bowled, and wide of the off-stump which Onions easily watched fly past his person. Now I could relax. We had drawn the test match. Onions replicated the celebration he did at Centurion, and the look on the South African players' faces told the story, that they didn't have that final thrust to dismiss England. The Barmy Army celebrated like we had won the World Cup, jumping for joy with a sense of chaos. It was a sign of relief.

Make no mistake about it, our resilience as a side has improved dramatically under Strauss's reign, but our performance in Cape Town was not one the fans want to see any time soon. Our batting line up was too inconsistent and if it wasn't for match performances from Cook, Bell and Collingwood, the series would be level. I never saw the result as a good one. I saw it as one we got away with, and were lucky to get away with. Strauss has vowed for victory at the Wanderers when the test begins on the 14th, now let's hope he manages to keep his word.

Many Thanks for reading

G.M