Rain has caused play in the fifth Test between England and South Africa at Centurion Park to be abandoned for the second day running.

Poor weather has plagued the Test since Friday evening.

Umpires Rudi Koertzen and Australia's Darrell Hair were due to make their third pitch inspection of the day at 12:25 GMT (14:25 local time), but after meeting with both captains it was decided to abandon play.

The main problem area seems to be the bowler's run-up at the southern end of the wicket.

But the whole of the pitch remains boggy after the Hennops river at the rear of the ground overflowed on Saturday under the weight of two-and-a-half inches of rain which caused the water table to rise.

With South Africa 155-6 after being put in by Nasser Hussain on a weather-hit first day, the match remains intriguingly poised with danger man Lance Klusener 22 not out.

Further delays are likely to result in the Test being abandoned, however, leaving Hansie Cronje's men with a 2-0 series win.

Northerns Cricket Union officials counted the costs of a lost weekend. NCU president Richard Harrison said the union had lost 2.4m rand (400,000 dollars) in costs incurred and lost revenue.

A capacity crowd of 18,000 had been expected Sunday and a near-capacity crowd Saturday.

Harrison said he had a sense of deja vu after only one-and-half days of play had been possible in the first Test staged at the ground, also against England, in November 1995.

Fifth Test Match: South Africa v England
14/01/00 at Centurion Park

Play In Progress
Scorecard correct at 16:25 BST

South Africa 155 for 6 (45overs)

South Africa innings

Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
G Kirsten	c Adams	b Gough	0	7	-	-
HH Gibbs	c Adams	b Caddick	3	21	-	-
JH Kallis		b Caddick	25	61	2	1
DJ Cullinan	c &	b Mullally	46	91	5	-
WJ Cronje	c Maddy	b Gough	0	6	-	-
PC Strydom	c Stewart	b Silverwood	30	41	5	-
L Klusener		not out	22	33	2	1
SM Pollock		not out	9	17	1	-
Extras	2b 8lb 3w 7nb		20
TOTAL:	6 wkts, 45 overs		155

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (1 Kirsten, 3 mins), 2-15 (14 Gibbs, 31 mins), 3-50 (35 Kallis, 90 mins), 4-55 (5 Cronje, 7 mins), 5-102 (47 Strydom, 59 mins), 6-136 (34 Cullinan, 37 mins)
Still to bat: M V Boucher, M Hayward, P R Adams

Bowler	O	M	R	W
D Gough	13	2	46	2
A R Caddick	12	5	29	2
A D Mullally	13	5	25	1
C E W Silverwood	7	1	45	1

England won the toss and decided to field

Umpires: R E Koertzen, D B Hair

South Africa
G Kirsten , H H Gibbs , J H Kallis , D J Cullinan , W J Cronje (capt) , P C Strydom , L Klusener , S M Pollock , M V Boucher (wkt) , M Hayward , P R Adams ,

England
M A Butcher , M A Atherton , N Hussain (capt) , M P Vaughan , A J Stewart (wkt) , C J Adams , D L Maddy , A R Caddick , D Gough , C E W Silverwood , A D Mullally.