Smith falls but little joy for England

England at last took Graeme Smith's wicket on the fourth morning of the third Test at Newlands - but South Africa's lead nonetheless grew to 415.

After 273 balls in the middle since early on Tuesday, and having hit exactly 100 of his runs in fours, Smith (183) mis-hooked Graham Onions to give Paul Collingwood a steepling catch on the long-leg boundary.

Replays soon showed Onions had overstepped for a no-ball. Smith was off the field by then, though, and, in a match that has seen relations between these two teams deteriorate, England were long overdue a slice of fortune.

On the second evening, Smith's third-wicket partner Jacques Kallis had identified South Africa's ambition as setting their opponents a 300-run last-innings target.

On 397 for four by lunch, it was already sure to be far in excess of that.

England's misery was compounded by their hosts' publicly-voiced suspicions of untoward treatment of the ball by England seamers Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

No official complaint was forthcoming - as it needed to be to fuel the controversy - and one glance at a lop-sided scorecard demonstrated there was no reason for South Africa to worry themselves.

Even after Smith's 85-run stand with Kallis was broken, there was no indication yet that the South Africa captain would soon be satisfied.

Two trends were broken in the second hour of the morning, when Kallis surprisingly fell four short of a 53rd Test half-century - caught behind trying to hit Anderson on the up past cover - and JP Duminy avoided a third successive first-ball duck.

Duminy already had a pulled four to his name when he would have been run out, had Andrew Strauss' shy at the stumps been accurate when AB de Villiers sent his partner back after he had set off for a single.