England take control at Trent Bridge

Close South Africa 84 for 2 (Rudolph 11*, Kallis 11*), trail England 445 (Butcher 116, Hussain 106, Stewart 72) by 361 runs
Scorecard

Two wickets late in the day from Andrew Flintoff and Steve Harmison put England on top for the second day running in the third npower Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge. After building a large total of 445 in which Alec Stewart rolled back the years with a combative 72, England reduced South Africa to 84 for 2 on a misbehaving pitch. And to make Michael Vaughan even happier, they dismissed Graeme Smith for less than 200.

Stewart now has a maximum of five more innings to overhaul Viv Richards's total of 8540 Test runs (he currently has 8398) and he gave the initiative back to England after a sticky morning in which they lost three wickets. He shepherded the tail with some intelligent singles and booming boundaries and belted 11 fours in all, latching on to anything short or wide. He whipped Andrew Hall through midwicket for four and signalled the 400 next ball with a square cut for two. But he saved the best shot of the lot to bring up his fifty with a thumping back-foot drive off Hall.

With the exception of Makhaya Ntini, the bowling was a much more demanding prospect for England than yesterday. Pollock again led the way on a two-paced pitch, and it was he who struck early. After his stirring century yesterday afternoon, Nasser Hussain slipped straight back to his intense self, but he was unable to find the same fluency as he was trapped lbw in front of off-and-middle (322 for 4). That ended an enterprising partnership of 104 between Hussain and Ed Smith.

Smith showed none of his first-day nerves as he brought up his debut Test fifty, but any thoughts of a century were dashed when Jacques Kallis came up with the perfect awayswinger, which Smith nibbled through to Mark Boucher (334 for 5).

Smith was caught flat-footed as the ball wobbled away from him, but it was an impressive start from England's bright new spark. He walked off to hearty applause in the knowledge of that, but whether he knows he is the 15th Smith to play for England, and that his 64 is the highest score on debut by any of them, is doubtful - even if he does have a double-first from Cambridge.

Andrew Flintoff also unusually took his time, but never got going. He paid for his caution, and lack of footwork, when he edged Hall to Pollock at first slip for a 20-ball duck (347 for 6). Hall, like Kallis, was moving the ball away to good effect and Flintoff, like Smith, played away from the body to his peril. Ashley Giles (22), Kirtley (1) and Harmison (14) all hung around to give Stewart some valuable support, as he used all his nous to guide England towards 450.

James Anderson opened with James Kirtley, the debutant, whose first ball in Test cricket went for four when Gibbs clipped him through midwicket. But Kirtley settled down to a tidy spell, finding the odd hint of away movement, although Anderson continued to struggle. He was determined not to feed Smith's leg-side craving, but instead gifted two half-volleys outside off stump in the same over, which were both crashed to the boundary boards as Smith and Gibbs made a solid start.

While Smith was subdued by his Bradmanesque standards, Gibbs was starting to fire. He clipped Flintoff past square leg and caressed a breathtaking cover drive in the next over. But, as in the second Test, his downfall was an inside-edge off Steve Harmison. It was a better ball than at Lord's, full and straight with a hint of movement in to Gibbs, and it cannoned into middle stump off the bat (56 for 1).

Harmison wasn't brought on till the 16th over, and that wicket gave him the gee-up he and England needed. Bowling in tandem with Flintoff, they cranked up the pace and put the pressure on with aggressive and hostile deliveries. Bowling around the wicket to Smith, Flintoff forced him to play and miss a few times, and after he edged one just short of Marcus Trescothick at first slip, Flintoff wondered what he had to do to get shot of him.

Well, the answer came in his next over as Smith's charmed life came to an end in the most bizarre of circumstances. Leaping back to defend another quick Flintoff short ball, his left foot slipped back too far and trod firmly on his own stumps (66 for 2). Smith sauntered off shaking his head while Flintoff celebrated a deserved change of fortune.

The two Jacques, Rudolph and Kallis, dug in till the end and Rudolph was lucky to survive an lbw shout from Anderson with four overs to go. They're still 361 behind and with the wicket playing some tricks, they're up against it.