Hopes for England fading fast after loss of key wickets

Philander consolidated the work of centurion Hashim Amla in the tourists’ 351 all out – and then immediately undermined England’s hopes of pulling off a record run chase of 346 to share the Investec series, by shifting both openers lbw for only four runs between them.

Captain Andrew Strauss, on his home ground in his 100th Test and 50th in charge, managed just a single before shouldering arms to a delivery that nipped up the slope to follow back Alastair Cook – who at least played a defensive shot but could not cope with Philander’s movement off the seam from the pavilion end.

After 13 overs of evening batting, England were guided to an ultra-cautious 16 without further loss by Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell – but realistic pretensions to victory, and therefore keeping South Africa off the top of the world, were fading fast.

After Steven Finn (4-74) did most to bowl the tourists out, England knew already they must rewrite their own history and that of Lord’s by achieving their own and the famous venue’s highest fourth-innings run chase.

Finn took two big wickets in successive overs on a searingly hot afternoon to help keep English hopes just about alive at that point.

The 6ft 8in seamer twice found telling movement up the slope, on his home ground, to see off centurion Amla and then AB de Villiers with the second new ball.

England had received scant reward for their efforts before lunch, and did not help their own cause by dropping another crucial catch.

Amla (121), South Africa’s first Test triple-centurion in their landslide win at The Oval, was dropped on Saturday by Matt Prior on just two.

Then yesterday morning De Villiers escaped on eight when James Anderson put down a straightforward low chance at midwicket off Graeme Swann – the eighth catch missed by England in this series.

Finn and Anderson tried to apply the pressure from the outset. But it was not until Strauss made a double change that Stuart Broad made short work of nightwatchman Dale Steyn, trying to fend off the latest in a succession of short balls and offering a simple catch off the shoulder of the bat to short-leg.

De Villiers announced himself with successive boundaries from his first two balls, pulled fine off Broad and then down the wicket to hit Swann over mid-on.

It looked a hammer blow when Anderson then continued his uncharacteristic recent trend of dropped catches after Swann had deceived De Villiers in the air.

That impression was underlined as England began to settle into damage limitation before the second new ball, setting no slips to Anderson and apparently pinning all hope on reverse-swing or an unlikely South African mistake.

After an unexpected lunchtime shower, Amla passed his 182-ball hundred with a skilful cut for his ninth four – and it was only when Finn began to gather momentum from his favoured pavilion end that England had a lifeline.

Finn had bowled Amla through the gate in the first innings, with one that nipped down the slope; this time he got one to go the other way, beat the defence and hit off-stump to end a stand of 85.

Twelve balls later, he had De Villiers too – edging a little extra bounce to slip where Strauss took his 121st catch, the most by any fielder in English Test history.

Finn was not finished either, and before tea had Jacques Rudolph edging behind to Prior.

It took another 17.2 overs at the start of the evening session to end the innings, as JP Duminy and Philander – following their twin 61s in the first innings – again held the hosts up in an eighth-wicket stand of 54.

It was an excruciating passage of play for England supporters before Philander slapped an Anderson long-hop straight to point.

An alert piece of stumping by Prior off Swann then did for Morne Morkel, and Anderson clean-bowled Imran Tahir to leave the stoic Duminy unbeaten after 93 balls of defiance.

The left-hander had contributed only 26 runs, but nonetheless done much to make England’s mission improbable more so - even before Philander got to work again.

Afterwards, England insisted they could defy expectations and pull off a famously unlikely victory today.

Finn is hoping he is not required to bat, at No 11, after giving his team at least a fleeting chance.

Most will arrive at HQ todaywith little confidence England can even come close to such a tough target, albeit on a feasible surface – but not so the men who can still have a say in the outcome.

“As a team collectively over the last number of years, we’ve enjoyed breaking records and defying people’s beliefs against us,” said Finn.

“So when we get here, we’ve got a 15-over old ball to bat against – which isn’t going to do as much as a new ball obviously.

“We’ve got a great opportunity to assert ourselves on the South Africans early – and we really do believe in the dressing room that we can win this game.”

The key, according to Finn, will be to simply stay in the game as long as possible and then gather momentum with wickets still in hand.

“It’s going to be important we try to build partnerships, get our foot in the door and then later on in the day maybe we can smash through it and win the game.

“If we get later in the game, with what can be a tired bowling attack, we know that the older ball does a lot less than the new ball.”

He acknowledges third-wicket pair Trott and Bell are likely to have to play a significant part, after the loss of captain Strauss and Cook to Philander.

“The new ball is where it’s dangerous,” added Finn.

“The two guys that are in have performed fantastically well for England for a long time and we hope they can build a big, long partnership.

“We have that belief in the dressing room. It’s up to the batsmen to really knuckle down and get us into a position where we can win the game.

“I think it’s a very good pitch. I think Morkel got one bit of uneven bounce this evening to Belly.

“But when the ball went a bit softer, there wasn’t any uneven bounce whatsoever. When the ball is old and the sun is out, the wicket is a very good one for batting on – and people can make themselves difficult to get out.”