Cook and Prior lead England fight
England had to bat deep on day two of the third Test at Newlands to stay on course to protect their 1-0 series lead over South Africa.
Alastair Cook (65), Matt Prior (52no) and Ian Bell all displayed admirable determination to keep the first-innings deficit to manageable levels as England reached stumps on 241 for seven in reply to 291 all out. Kevin Pietersen's departure for a second-ball duck made his the seventh wicket to fall in a crazy first session which started with England hustling out the home tail.
On a slow pitch of occasional uneven bounce, the tourists soon knew they faced a long haul to approach parity.
Cook and Bell dug in for a 60-run fifth-wicket stand but neither was able to consolidate sufficiently to get anywhere near three figures, and it therefore fell to Prior to bat through almost the entire evening session as England eked out a tenable position.
Cook had earlier left the majority of 136 deliveries faced, drawn into a shot only when defence was necessary or attack feasible.
It needed the introduction of Paul Harris to tempt him into a relative rush of runs - including three slog-sweeps for four in two overs.
Bell was still more watchful, needing 15 deliveries to get off the mark with a square-driven four off Dale Steyn and not adding to that in 10 overs before doubling his score with another boundary past cover off Jacques Kallis.
The South Africa all-rounder responded with a barrage of short balls for Bell, whose no-pull policy meant he was restricted to fend-offs - with a short-leg waiting to pounce on any mistake. The England number six appeared to have won the battle, though, until the return of Kallis from the Kelvin Grove end had him cutting an undeserving ball aerially to point to fall two runs short of a deserved 50 - and leave England still 117 runs adrift, without a remaining specialist batsman.
Earlier in the day, James Anderson finished with figures of five for 63 as he helped the tourists blow away South Africa's tail in only 20 minutes.
