Kirtley and Anderson put victory in England's grasp

England return this morning with a fine chance to square the five-match series against South Africa after wresting back the initiative in the third Test yesterday.

Michael Vaughan's team, who had scored 445 in their first innings, were bowled out for 118 on a dramatic fourth day as the all-rounder Shaun Pollock took six wickets with a superb display of seam bowling to leave South Africa needing 202 to win and establish a 2-0 series lead. But when the tourists lost their first five wickets for 50 the balance tipped decisively back towards England.

South Africa's sixth-wicket pair, Neil McKenzie and Mark Boucher, survived for 48 minutes as the tourists reached 63 for 5 before bad light brought a premature close. On a cracked and dented pitch, offering increasingly unpredictable bounce, scoring another 139 to maintain their grip on the series will be no easy task.

England's buoyant mood was in stark contrast to the gloom that enveloped them on Saturday evening after South Africa had dismissed Marcus Trescothick first ball, without England adding to first-innings lead of 83. The tourists seemed to have seized a decisive advantage when England slumped to 44 for 5 yesterday morning, when Pollock dismissed the captain for his second single-figure score of the match; Andrew Hall removed Mark Butcher and Ed Smith with his first two deliveries; and Jacques Kallis snared Alec Stewart.

Pollock added the scalps of the former captain Nasser Hussain, Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles and James Anderson to finish with 6 for 39, his best Test figures since taking 6 for 30 against Sri Lanka in Cape Town in 2001.

Pollock's father, Peter, and uncle, Graeme, dominated the 1965 Test here, Peter taking five wickets in each innings and Graeme scoring a first-innings century. "I was aware that my father and uncle are on the honours board here and I'm very proud to join them," the younger Pollock said.

England will not be disappointed that the 29-year-old, who needs one more success to become the 19th player to claim 300 Test wickets, will miss the fourth Test at Headingley later this week to attend the birth of his first child.

Only Hussain and Flintoff, with 30 each, and Giles, with 21, made double figures for England. But those runs were looking valuable by the close after James Kirtley, the whippy Sussex bowler who has enjoyed an excellent debut, won lbw decisions against Graeme Smith and Jacques Rudolph; Steve Harmison had Herschelle Gibbs caught off a top-edged hook; and an ebullient Anderson followed his five-wicket haul in the first innings by dismissing Boeta Dippenaar and Kallis.

Pollock thinks the outcome is still in the balance. "England will not be happy we have two guys at the wicket who scored 90 and 50 in the first innings, so it could be interesting," he said. "It is all about pressure and who handles it best."

Kirtley believes England are in the ascendancy, saying: "We've bowled well out there. If we can create the same mood and the same tempo in the morning there is no reason why we should not finish the job."