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Unfortunately SA couldnt hang on with only 8.3 overs remaining and the Poms thanks to the Kiwi Stokes managed to level it at 1-1.
Some interesting comments overheard from the stump mic though from Pommy keeper Buttler directed towards Philander!

Bit of a flogging for the Saffas here
The Proteas were giving it to Sibley too so it came back in spades at Philander mate

bh, southerner -- correct England should be 2-0 up, dodgy umpirring and batting cost them at pretoria.
Rabada is one whom causes trouble on the field. Remember the Smith incident when he walked into the former captain and was not punished?

I watched the last session and if ever you wanted a reason to keep five day test cricket that was one. Hardly any runs but the whole session was packed with tension, drama and twists. South Africa did wonderfully well to bat till teatime and only have 5 wickets down but the pivotal point in the match came when De Kock who had played a very sensible innings to that point had a complete brain fade and smashed a half tracker from Denly straight to a fielder. There was still around 25 overs left at that stage and England were buoyed by this wicket and the whole dynamic of the game changed at this point. Still Philander and Pretorius were blocking effectively until Stokes came back. He is without doubt the best all round cricketer in the world at the moment and without his efforts I have no doubt South Africa would have hung on for a draw. Another moment in the game came when Stokes beat Pretorius all ends up about 4 times in an over and looked all at sea and yet in the next over Philander refused a single off Bess that would have given him the strike in Stokes next over to protect Pretorius. The result was 2 wickets in 2 balls and bought England to within one wicket of victory. Stokes was unstoppable by now and it was inevitable that he finished the match off although it was still a little closer than England would have hoped as there was only 8 overs left.


That was the most intense combative cricket that I have seen since the ashes last year and as a neutral onlooker it was so enjoyable to see two teams going hammer and tongs at each other unlike the tension free one sided romps that the Australian team have enjoyed this summer.
Bring on Port Elizabeth!

Spot on with your summary above Mike.

One thing you do have to admire about the Poms (begrudgingly) is their support around the world with the Barmy Army.
They always turn out in massive numbers not only here in Aus for the Ashes but also earlier in the summer in NZ and now in SA, sheesh at one point yesterday they had the Barmy Army chant going for what seemed like an hour when SA had a decent partnership going between DeKock & VanDerDusson and kept chanting until they got their desired wicket!

Saffas wouldn't have wanted to lose any wickets before lunch but apart from a couple of partnerships wickets fell regularly and the tail was left to save it
and that is seldomly done

it is good to that they have dealt with rabada -- that is what sent smith's batting around the twist on the last tour of africa: the fact that rabada did exactly the same thing, sooked about his penalty, and they let him off. It would have piddlled the former captain to the maximum.

Ben Stokes once again is almost single handedly carrying the Poms to a win in this series, with cameos from Pope, Curran, Anderson, Broad, Sibley.

Rabada out of the 4th test has virtually ended SA's chance of winning the series their only chance is to hold out for 2 draws to square the series 1-all now.

Beasley Hutton wrote: Ben Stokes once again is almost single handedly carrying the Poms to a win in this series, with cameos from Pope, Curran, Anderson, Broad, Sibley.

Rabada out of the 4th test has virtually ended SA's chance of winning the series their only chance is to hold out for 2 draws to square the series 1-all now.

To be fair, Pope's contribution was a little more than a cameo although Stokes influence on him during his innings was pretty obvious. I think England have their new number 3 there and may even swap him and Denly in the batting order in the next test. Pope reminds me of Ian Bell a little bit and has a great temperament. Great prospect

South Africans had them in trouble but let the last 4 wickets get 350 and take it away
losing a couple early themselves makes tonight an all day attempt to survive