CENTURION // Graeme Swann can do no wrong at the moment.
He was England's man of the day with the ball on the first two days, taking five for 110 and yesterday he proved he can deliver with the bat too - with a quite magnificent knock that increased England's chances of saving the first Test.
The spinner's counter attacking cameo of 85 from 81 balls, his highest Test score, brought England right into a match they appeared destined to lose when Swann arrived at the crease with his side a perilous 221 for seven.
They may still come off second best - there was plenty of indifferent bounce and England have to bat last - but Swann helped the visitors to a respectable 356 all out.
James Anderson then gave England a bonus, bowling Ashwell Prince for a duck in the first over of South Africa's second innings. A shell-shocked Proteas closed on nine for one, a lead of just 71.
Swann batted like his personality, with an attitude that said, "let's just have some fun". Together with Anderson they put on 106, a ninth-wicket record at SuperSport Park after South Africa had dominated most of the third day.
England captain Andrew Strauss suffered horrendous misfortune when he was dismissed for 46 off a Makhaya Ntini delivery that simply did not bounce.
Ntini's delivery knocked over Strauss's off-stump to give the man celebrating his 100th appearance a 389th Test wicket. England thereafter struggled to get to grips with the wicket, playing some truly awful shots.
Jonathan Trott was the first to have a rush of blood to the head after scoring just 10 runs in the first 90 minutes. The Cape Town-born England batsman raced down the pitch to Harris and was bowled off an apparent straight delivery.
Kevin Pietersen started to look in the mood after lunch, following two glorious flicks off his pads, before falling for 40 after expansively driving a Morkel delivery onto his leg stump via an inside edge.
TV replays suggested that Morkel may have no-balled as yet another big decision went the way of the hosts.
After Pietersen had departed, Ian Bell - under pressure for a score - looked all at sea against the South African spinner, embarrassingly departing for five after leaving a straight one that hit middle stump.
Collingwood continued on his merry way, smashing a delightful six to bring up the England 200, while Matt Prior failed to get to grips with the surface. The England wicketkeeper-batsman was another who gave his wicket away top edging to Friedel de Wet at long leg for just four off a 34-ball vigil.
Harris got a bit of extra bounce but it was his third consecutive early Christmas present following the early dismissals of Trott and Bell.
That left England still eight runs shy of the follow-on mark but Collingwood saw them to that first target, sweeping Harris and bringing up his fifty in the process.
But the Durham batsman fell the very next ball. This time it was a fine spinning delivery that met Collingwood's edge and Jacques Kallis grasped fine low catch at slip to make it 221 for seven.
Stuart Broad and Swann added 21 runs either side of tea before the former fell in controversial fashion to JP Duminy - another lbw referral with South Africa successfully overturning Aleem Dar's 'not out' call much to the disgust of Broad.
It gave South Africa a glorious chance to complete the innings but they did not count on Swann and Anderson.
Their whirlwind partnership, including two sixes from Swann and some confident cover drives from Lancastrian Anderson, wowed the visiting crowd.
Anderson was out for 29 chipping to Morkel off Ntini before Swann finally fell hooking Harris to Graeme Smith in the deep to give the South African spinner figures of five for 123.
The pitch shows no signs of getting better - the ball continued to keep low throughout the day - raising the possibility of all three results.
With just two days left, and thunderstorms expected over the weekend, the draw looks most likely. But England's top order can be eternally grateful to Swann the batsman for getting them out of jail.
sports@thenational.ae
South Africa v England, Day Four, ShowSports 3, 6.30am
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
RESULTS
6pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 1 (PA) $55,000 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner: Rajeh, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Musabah Al Muhairi (trainer)
6.35pm: Oud Metha Stakes – Rated Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Get Back Goldie, William Buick, Doug O’Neill
7.10pm: Jumeirah Classic – Listed (TB) $150,000 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner: Sovereign Prince, James Doyle, Charlie Appleby
7.45pm: Firebreak Stakes – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Hypothetical, Mickael Barzalona, Salem bin Ghadayer
8.20pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 – Group 2 (TB) $350,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Hot Rod Charlie, William Buick, Doug O’Neill
8.55pm: Al Bastakiya Trial – Conditions (TB) $60,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner: Withering, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass
9.30pm: Balanchine – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner: Creative Flair, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
Ballon d’Or shortlists
Men
Sadio Mane (Senegal/Liverpool), Sergio Aguero (Aregentina/Manchester City), Frenkie de Jong (Netherlans/Barcelona), Hugo Lloris (France/Tottenham), Dusan Tadic (Serbia/Ajax), Kylian Mbappe (France/PSG), Trent Alexander-Arnold (England/Liverpool), Donny van de Beek (Netherlands/Ajax), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon/Arsenal), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Germany/Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Juventus), Alisson (Brazil/Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Netherlands/Juventus), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands/Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands/Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Portugal/Manchester City), Son Heung-min (South Korea/Tottenham), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Brazil/Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Riyad Mahrez (Algeria/Manchester City), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal/Napoli), Antoine Griezmann (France/Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool), Eden Hazard (BEL/Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Brazil/Paris-SG), Raheem Sterling (Eengland/Manchester City), Joao Félix(Portugal/Atletico Madrid)
Women
Sam Kerr (Austria/Chelsea), Ellen White (England/Manchester City), Nilla Fischer (Sweden/Linkopings), Amandine Henry (France/Lyon), Lucy Bronze(England/Lyon), Alex Morgan (USA/Orlando Pride), Vivianne Miedema (Netherlands/Arsenal), Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany/Lyon), Pernille Harder (Denmark/Wolfsburg), Sarah Bouhaddi (France/Lyon), Megan Rapinoe (USA/Reign FC), Lieke Martens (Netherlands/Barcelona), Sari van Veenendal (Netherlands/Atletico Madrid), Wendie Renard (France/Lyon), Rose Lavelle(USA/Washington Spirit), Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride), Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Lyon), Kosovare Asllani (Sweden/CD Tacon), Sofia Jakobsson (Sweden/CD Tacon), Tobin Heath (USA/Portland Thorns)
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5