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Kitchen cooks Proteas' goose

Bruised, battered, embarassed and, finally, triumphant -- that is the story of Michael Atherton and his anchoring role in a rare England win over South Africa.

Allan Donald, furious over a clear-cut caught behind decision against Atherton that went against the bowler, had battered the former England skipper with an hour of ferocious fast bowling.

His spell after lunch on the final day, as England fought for the 50-odd runs still needed to pull off a win, was no less furious as he rattled Atherton with deliveries bowled wide of the crease, short and coming in to the batman's ribs and face.

All the fire and fury, though, failed to produce the breakthroughs South Africa wanted, and England finally walked out -- Atherton for one might be tempted to say, limped out -- winners by a convincing 8 wicket margin, captain Alec Stewart coming in after Nasser Hussain's dismissal to see the side home in company of his predecessor.

Earlier, Hussain and Atherton put on 152 for the second wicket before Donald, for once, got everything right -- he found the edge of Hussain's bat, second slip held on to the catch low to his right, and the umpire actually upheld the appeal.

Atherton finally walked off with 98 against his name, two short of what would have been a fighting, if rather fortuitous, century.

With the series level at 1-1, the final Test promises to be the heck of a humdinger.

Much as Atherton's obduracy in the face of hostile fire sealed the win, the real credit should go, in that order, to an inspired spell by veteran quick bowler Angus Fraser, who returned five-fer's in both innings, to some shoddy batting by South Africa in its second innings, and to some spectacularly inept umpiring.

The fun and games began on day four, when Atherton, batting with Nasser Hussain, was given the benefit of the doubt when the South Africans confidently appealed for a caught behind as the ball appeared to deflect off his glove.

A fired up Donald then bounced Atherton twice before exchanging words with the former captain. 'White Lightning' really lived up to his name in that spell, consistently maintaining speeds of around the 88-90 mph (140-144 kph) mark in an hour-long spell.

To further his frustration, wicket-keeper Mark Boucher, who earlier in this Test set the world record for the fastest 50 catches in Tests (ironcially, with half those catches coming off Donald's own bowling) failed to hold on to a regulation catch, again off Atherton, when England were 100 for one.

Earlier, in course of the South African innings, Jonty Rhodes was controversially adjudged caught behind by English umpire Mervyn Kitchen. Kitchen also -- wrongly, as it turned out -- ruled Jacques Kallis out, caught behind off Cork, on the third evening.

With the score 237/2, Kallis nipped one back into Atherton, then five short of his 100, and rapped the pad after beating the bat. A very clear case of LBW, except that Merv Kitchen, yet again, had other ideas.

Apparently inured to such umpiring, this latest reprieve earned no more than a few wry smiles from the South Africans.

However, the touring Proteas, who earned a caution from the match referee for protesting certain decisions in course of its win at Lord's earlier in the series, now faces the prospect of being fined for dissent as they protested the various decisions on days three and four.

In passing, former England star Tony Lewis got it right when he awarded the man of the match, not to Michael Atherton but to Angus Fraser. For it was the veteran bowler who unlocked this Test for Stewart, with five wicket hauls in both innings, the one in the second being most crucial.

For Alec Stewart, a first win as captain of England, after his side hung on by its fingernails, at Old Trafford in the previous Test, to avoid going 2-0 down.

For Hansie Cronje -- as ever, diplomatic at the post-match conference, whatever be his attitude on the field -- a reason, he says to fight back.

"We didn't bat well in the third innings," Hansie said, then added, when asked whether he thought the run of the ball (a polite euphemism for the lift, or lack of it, of the umpire's finger) had gone against his side in this Test, "Well, it happens that way in sports, sometimes you create your own un-luck, maybe if we hung on to some of the half chances, things could have been different."

And so it is all down to the wire, with the final Test at Headingley, starting August 6.