defiant innings by AB de Villiers gave South Africa an outside chance of snatching victory when England were set a target of 197 on the fourth day of the fourth and final Test at the Oval on Sunday.

England faced eight balls before bad light stopped play without any runs scored. De Villiers hit 97 and found a determined ally in tailender Paul Harris as South Africa, trailing by 122 runs on the first innings, made 318 in their second innings.

De Villiers and Harris (34) put on 95 for the eighth wicket, frustrating the England bowlers and defying the second new ball which was taken when the stand was worth only 23.

The resistance ended when Harris was caught at second slip by Andrew Flintoff off Stuart Broad, with De Villiers following in the next over when he charged down the pitch against left-arm spinner Monty Panesar and was bowled.

De Villiers, who went to the wicket when his side were only 16 runs ahead with four wickets down, hit 12 boundaries in a 170-ball innings.

It was the fifth time De Villiers had been dismissed in the nineties in Test cricket. He has hit six centuries. He also continued a remarkable record of not having been dismissed without scoring in 77 innings since the start of his Test career, a world record.

England remained favourites to gain a consolation win in a series already won by South Africa but their task was made more difficult than seemed likely when fast bowler Steve Harmison struck two crucial blows early in the day with three more wickets falling before South Africa had a lead of 100.

Harmison dismissed both overnight batsmen, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, in a hostile eight-over spell in which he took two wickets for 12 runs.

Amla was out for 76 to the 19th ball of the day when he was forced on to the back foot by a lifting delivery from Harmison which he edged to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose. He added only five runs Sunday.

Kallis never looked settled against the pace and bounce of Harmison and the swing of James Anderson.

He had an escape on nine when he drove Harmison low to wide mid-off where England captain Kevin Pietersen dropped the chance.

But he was out next ball without adding to his score when he edged Harmison low to Paul Collingwood at third slip.

For Kallis, long regarded as South Africa's most reliable batsman, it completed his least successful series since he became an established Test player. In seven innings he scored 104 runs at an average of 14.85, with 64 of his runs coming in one innings in the third Test.

He was the only member of the South African top six in the batting order not to score a century during the series.

Ashwell Prince was troubled early on by Harmison but seemed fairly secure as he advanced to 24. But then he slashed at a short ball from Andrew Flintoff and edged a catch to Andrew Strauss at first slip.

Mark Boucher helped De Villiers add 40 for the sixth wicket before Anderson extracted extra bounce from the pitch and Boucher was caught off the splice of his bat by Collingwood at backward point.

Morne Morkel was caught at short leg off Panesar before Paul Harris joined De Villiers in a stand which which was marked by confident stroke play from De Villiers and determined defence, mixed with the occasional attacking shot by Harris.

Broad dismissed last man Makhaya Ntini to finish as England's most successful bowler with three for 44.

AFP

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