"Legend" Onions receives captain's praise
"Legend" Onions receives captain's praise
Friday, 08, Jan 2010 10:06
By Richard James.
England captain Andrew Strauss has described Graham Onions as a "legend" after the no.11 batsman helped guide the tourists to a dramatic draw against South Africa on Thursday.
Onions came to the wicket with 17 deliveries left in England's second innings on the final day of the third Test and bravely managed to keep out the South African bowlers to secure the draw.
In much the same way he save the opening Test match of the series in Centurion last month, Onions batted out the last over to retain England's 1-0 lead in the four game series.
Earlier Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood appeared to have safely guided England to a position of safety after a stand of 112 in 57 overs.
However, both middle-order batsmen fell within a short period of each other in the last session of the day with Matt Prior and Stuart Broad also dismissed, leaving Graeme Swann and Onions to face the final overs.
Speaking after the game, Strauss admitted his relief at finally getting over the finish line.
"I was thinking, 'We're in this situation again and it's not often the end of the story is the same,'" he said. "I was feeling pretty comfortable until Graham [Onions] went in there. But he did a great job again.
"I always feel that as batsmen we should apologise to Graham for having put him in that situation yet again - although I thought it was an unbelievable partnership between Collingwood and Bell."
Onions himself said it had been worse waiting to go into bat than actually being out in the middle facing the South African attack.
"Belly and Colly got us into a fantastic position and with ten overs to go I was thinking I was quite happy with just my training kit on and nothing to worry about. Then all of a sudden a few wickets fell and I was next in.
"It was a lot worse waiting to go into bat than actually being out there. I felt in control of the situation but it was harder than in Centurion, definitely tougher.
"A lot of credit has got to go to their bowlers. I'm a massive admirer of Dale Steyn. He ran in and bowled so many overs, so hats off to him and Morne Morkel."
Strauss though could not hide his disappointment regarding the South African allegations that England had been involved in ball tampering.
Footage of Broad stopping the ball with his spikes, with James Anderson also alleged to have picked the ball, reportedly angered the South Africans, but Strauss dismissed the allegations as "malicious".
"I thought it was malicious for the South Africans to announce it to the media without being totally clear in their minds what they were going to do or whether they were going to put in a formal complaint," the England captain said.
"We're not particularly happy about it and I strongly refute those allegations. There was no concerted effort to alter the state of the ball. I appreciate some of the footage didn't look amazingly good but I don't think it was anything malicious. Ball tampering is a very sensitive subject and, if you're going to make allegations, you have to be very confident that that is exactly what the other team is doing."
The fourth Test will take place in Johannesburg on January 14th.