Cape Town // England bowler Steven Finn refused to criticise his side’s fielding despite seeing several opportunities spurned as South Africa’s batsmen flourished on Monday.
England managed just one wicket on Day 3 of the second Test as the Proteas closed on 353 for three with captain Hashim Amla unbeaten on 157 and Faf du Plessis 51 not out.
AB de Villiers was the only success England enjoyed on Monday – snared by Finn – but not until he had made 88 as South Africa finished 276 runs behind the tourists’ 629 for six.
Amla was allowed to come back from a year of poor form with a dogged unbeaten 24th Test century. However, it might have been a different story if England had made the most of the chances they created, with Amla being dropped twice – on 76 and 120 – after De Villiers had been put down late on Sunday having scored just five.
Amla, whose captaincy has been criticised after a year of poor results for the top-ranked Test nation, scored his first hundred in 13 months, as the visitors struggled with the bright sunshine and temperatures over 30 degree Celsius.
Faf du Plessis was 51 not out, his first half-century in 12 innings. “Losing just one wicket in the day is a huge success for us and we hope that it’s a turning point,” Du Plessis said.
Asked if the drops were a lack of concentration or because it was difficult for the fielders to see at Newlands, Finn said: “It was very difficult to see, even the one that dropped short of me at mid-off I didn’t pick it up until it was halfway towards me.
“It is tricky to see here and sometimes people drop catches and that just happens in cricket. We’ve been excellent at taking catches so far this series and through the summer, hopefully tomorrow we can take those catches.
“I thought we never let them really get away from us.
“We created pressure. We created those little chances. Unfortunately we didn’t take them but we come back tomorrow.
“It’s been a bit of a long hard slog but I think everyone’s put a lot of effort in today and I don’t think you can fault the way we bowled. As a bowler you need to try to mix it up as much as you can. I thought we did that really well today, we just didn’t get our rewards.”
Amla, those two reprieves aside, batted belligerently and never attempted to overplay his hand. This was his seventh score of 150 or more.
When De Villiers brought up his 50 it also signalled his 8,000th Test run, with Amla nudging past 7,000 at the start of the afternoon.
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