South Africa are on 192-5, still needing another 70 runs to avoid the follow-on.

Spearheading the England charge will be Dominic Cork, who has already taken four wickets, and Angus Fraser, who grabbed a vital scalp just before bad light stopped play.

Cork has already exorcised his frustration at his 15 months in Test exile, with four well taken wickets, two of them easy catches for Ben Spendlove, a fielding substitute for Darren Gough.

The third day

Spendlove took an easy catch

The start of play was delayed by two hours and 20 minutes because of rain, but Cork made up for lost time, dismissing Jerry Liebenberg in the sixth over with the score on six.

The South African opener pushed uncertainly at a delivery which nipped back off the seam to hit the inside edge and lob gently to give Spendlove an easy catch at short leg.

The Derbyshire teenager was delighted, even more so when Cork, his county captain, was the first to congratulate him.

Gary Kirsten was Cork's next victim, he had toiled hard for his 12, and was beginning to look like he had found his rhythm when he flashed at a rising delivery.

The ball carried to Mark Butcher at third slip, who took an excellent catch above his head.

Jacques Kallis and Daryl Cullinan then built a partnership of 81, frustrating everything England's attack could throw at them.

Stewart's gloves removed the bails

However, the wicket was drying out in the warmth of the Birmingham afternoon, and Fraser and Cork, despite concentrated spells of bowling, could not get the ball to move off the seam.

Croft too was toiling without reward, varying his pace and spin, to no avail. He came closest to a wicket, and could blame his captain, Stewart, for missing an easy opportunity to remove Cullinan.

Croft beat Cullinan for pace as the South African advanced down the track but though Stewart appeared to have stumped him television replays showed it was Stewart's gloves that removed the bails - not the ball.

Kallis and Cronjie held England at bay until after tea, but it was Cork, who again made the breakthrough.

Stewart accounted for Kallis

He tempted Kallis into flashing at a ball outside his leg stump and Alec Stewart was able to take the catch behind the wicket.

His replacement, South Africa's captain Hansie Cronje, had faced just six balls, scoring one run, when Cork struck again.

Cronjie pushed at a ball which came back at him and provided another easy catch for Spendlove at short square leg.

Jonty Rhodes tried to inject some life into the South African innings, and scored the first six of the match, hitting Angus Fraser high over square leg and into the crowd.

He built a partnership of 66 with Cullinan, hitting a rapid 36 himself, and when play was suspended for bad light, it looked as if they would be together on the fourth day to steer South Africa past the follow-on target.

But the light lifted enough to allow more play, and Fraser came back to completely destroy Cullinan's wicket.

He had scored a stubborn 78, and was a crucial scalp for England.

Stewart will have been delighted with Cork's performance, the Derbyshire captain has shouldered the responsibility created by Gough's injury, taking the attack to the South Africans.

Another measure of the England performance is their fielding which was uniformly sharp, and the fact that they conceded just one run in extras all day, compared to the tourists who handed them 54 in extras.

Scorecard

England 1st innings

• M Butcher c Kallis b Adams 77
• M Atherton c Boucher b Donald 103
• A Stewart c Cullinan b Klusener 49
• N Hussain lbw Adams 35
• G Thorpe b Pollock 10
• M Ramprakash b Donald 49
• M Ealham b Adams 5
• D Cork c Pollock b Donald 36
• R Croft c Boucher b Donald 19
• D Gough not out 16
• A Fraser c Cronje b Pollock 9

Extras 54

Total 462

FoW: 1-179, 2-249, 3-309, 4-309, 5-329, 6-356, 7-411, 8-430, 9-437, 10-462.

Bowling, Donald 35-9-95-4, Pollock 42-12-92-2, Klusener 31-7-74-1, Cronje 11-3-28-0, Adams 42-10-83-3, Kallis 20-7-46-0.

South Africa 1st innings

• G Kirsten c Butcher b Cork 12
• G Liebenberg c sub b Cork 3
• J Kallis c Stewart b Cork 61
• D Cullinan b Fraser 78
• W Cronje c sub b Cork 1
• J Rhodes not out 36
• S Pollock not out 0