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South Africa seize control of second Test

20/07/2008

England face an uphill task to rescue anything from the second Test against South Africa at Headingley.

It was a gruelling day for the England bowlers as South Africa racked up a first innings total of 522.

That left England needing to score 319 merely to make the South Africans bat again.

Instead they finished the day on 50-2 with an innings victory for South Africa looking the most likely outcome.

AB de Villiers scored 174 in an innings which lasted eight and a half hours.

The day had started reasonably well for England as Ashwell Prince added just 15 runs to his overnight score of 134 not out.

Prince, whose partnership with de Villiers yielded 212 runs, nicked a Darren Pattinson ball and was caught behind by Tim Ambrose.

The joy was short lived, however, as de Villiers reached his century and went on to add 74 more runs as the visitors reached 522 all out.

After toiling in the field for 176 overs, England may have hoped for a leisurely start to their second innings.

Instead they found themselves 3-1 as Andrew Strauss was out for a duck when Makhaya Ntini's ball came off his glove and was caught behind by wicket-keeper Mark Boucher.

The same combination took care of Michael Vaughan as England ended the day with Alastair Cook and night-watchman James Anderson at the wicket.

They will need to look at what their opponents did in the first test, and bat solidly for two days, if they are to rescue even a draw from this contest.

With a good weather forecast, and a wicket that's looking lively, that would seem to be an extremely unlikely outcome.