England Need Miracle At Lord's

Having been set 509 simply to make the tourists bat again, England lost openers Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick in the final session of the third day.

The duo made only 29 and 23 respectively after both perishing to loose shots in the space of four overs.

Vaughan had already been spared on 25 when he edged an Andrew Hall delivery and saw Shaun Pollock at first slip spill the low chance.

But two balls later - and much to Pollock's relief - the same combination did account for the Yorkshire player. This time the snick flew at chest height to Pollock and he made no mistake to spark scenes of wild celebration among the South Africans.

The situation got worse when Trescothick top edged a hook at Makhaya Ntini and fell to a superb catch by Paul Adams running back to square leg.

The day ended with a flurry of boundaries from former skipper Nasser Hussain and Mark Butcher and they put together a half century stand in 13 overs.

But England are still a daunting 380 in arrears after closing on 129 for two from 36 overs with Hussain on 36 and Butcher 33.

The Proteas had amassed 682 for six before skipper Graeme Smith put England out of their misery and left them a hugely improbable two days and 36 overs to survive if they were to avoid defeat.

Smith again led from the front with a superb 259 as South Africa went past their previous best total of 622 for nine declared made against Australia at Durban in 1970.

Smith recorded the highest Test score by an overseas player at Lord's overtaking the 254 of the great Sir Donald Bradman - made for Australia in 1930.

The only higher tally on the ground was the 333 by Graham Gooch for England against India 13 years ago.

Smith's marathon effort finally came to an end when he chopped a delivery from James Anderson onto his stumps.

In total Smith batted for nine and three quarter hours over three days and his 370-ball innings contained 34 fours. The 22-year-old has now amassed an incredible 621 runs in three innings in the current series after scores of 277 and 85 at Edgbaston.

The next goal in Smith's sights will be the record run aggregate for a series of 974 by Bradman against England in 1930.

Boeta Dippenaar (92) and Mark Boucher, with an explosive 68 off only 51 balls with 11 fours and a six, ensured South Africa capitalised fully on Smith's heroics.

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