Steve Finn: ‘It’s easy to lose the ball here. It just blends in’

'A tricky day for us'

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England are now involved in a game of attrition. How the match has turned. After scoring at nearly five runs an over they are now engaged in trying to induce a bloody-minded South Africa into making mistakes.

“A tricky day for us,” said Steve Finn who took the only wicket to fall on the third day of the second Test. “One wicket in a day isn’t ideal or what we wanted coming into the day but we stuck to our guns very well, created a couple of chances.

“We changed our fields, our pace, our lengths suitably for the wicket, trying to make something happen. There were half-chances and little inclinations for us to take wickets. We’re still a long way ahead of the game and we haven’t let South Africa get ahead of us.”

After their spectacular batting on the second day, England still led by 276 runs at the end of the third. South Africa scored 212 for one in the day to finish on 353 for 3 with their captain, Hashim Amla returning to form with 157 not out. But he was dropped twice.

“They were tricky chances,” said Finn. “It’s not easy to see the ball here. The ground and the crowd are very much in line with where the ball comes from. It’s easy to lose it. When the ball gets a bit older and darker it just blends in with the crowd. No one means to drop catches but we’re obviously disappointed they weren’t taken.

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work to win, we’re going to have to come back tomorrow and put even more pressure on them. We’re still very chipper in the dressing room.”

In an attempt to force an error late in the day, England called on Alex Hales, whose rolling off-spin brought the last of his three wickets (including Jonny Bairstow) seven years ago. He managed a maiden in his three overs. It brought back memories for Finn.

“Alex and I opened the bowling for Hertfordshire Under 12s together,” said Finn. “That was the last time I saw him bowl. They were filthy seamers then and they’re filthy off-spinners now. Someone like that bowling does offer something different. Our main bowlers hadn’t got the breakthrough and they played him tentatively. Watching Alex Hales bowl is not something I particularly want to do again but if he had got that breakthrough it would have been fantastic.”

Faf du Plessis, South Africa’s middle-order batsman, was one of those who provided prolonged resistance. He clearly hopes that if South Africa can survive with a draw here (and he did not entirely rule out the win) it could affect the rest of the series.

“To lose one wicket in a day is a huge win for any batting line-up. I hope this will be the turning point for the batting line-up to get its confidence back. We have had a really strong Test team for a long time but every team goes through changes and we’re going through huge changes. Hopefully the period of transition will be a short one.”