Collingwood the Centurion Turns Tide for Sloppy England

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 leveling 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. They will not have been heartened when midway through the afternoon their much derided left-arm spinner Paul Harris pitched a single delivery on the line of Pietersen's off stump and turned it sharply past the outside edge.

If Monty Panesar has the resource and above all the personality to realize that, in the final analysis, success may rest in his outsize hands, and the other England bowlers can bring discipline to their ranks, England could win this one and set up next week's final Test at The Oval. It would be a fitting climax to the series.

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. There were no more wickets for Andrew Flintoff, whose magnificent charge on Thursday evening had given England their first glimmer of hope, but Ryan Sidebottom collected the early wicket of Ashwell Prince and that of Andre Nel to finish with three for 81 while Jimmy Anderson added two wickets of his own with the second new ball to end with three for 72. Such is the apparent condition of Sidebottom's back, however, that he will be fortunate to make the cut for The Oval, leaving the way clear for the recall of Steve Harmison. It could be a fiery finale.

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 but 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. Pietersen might have had misgivings in seeing the Durham batsman emerging from the pavilion as this season he has been a wicket-in-waiting for whomsoever was fortunate enough to have a ball in his hand at the time.

Ninety-two runs in seven completed innings and a top score of 44 not out is no credential for Test cricket. From the first, though, 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. Perhaps he just wanted it out of the way.

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. Towards the end of his three-hour stay, as the crowd demanded more and more, he obliged by twice switching hands and belting Harris for four to what had become the leg-side boundary. For keeping the spinner going and subsequently claiming Pietersen's wicket and that of Flintoff four balls later, Graeme Smith can claim much credit. It was brave, thoughtful leadership.