England vs South Africa, 3rd Test Day 4: Zak Crawley Takes England To Verge Of South Africa Series Win

Zak Crawley's dynamic unbeaten fifty took England to the brink of a series-clinching win over South Africa in the third Test at the Oval on Sunday. England were 97-0 at stumps, needing just 33 more runs to reach a modest target of 130 on Monday's final day to take the three-match contest 2-1. The often struggling duo of Alex Lees (32 not out) and Crawley (57 not out) were both unbeaten at stumps. Victory would give England a sixth win in seven Tests since their new leadership duo of captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum took charge at the start of this season.

Even though the floodlights were on, the umpires decided conditions were still too dangerous when play was halted at 6:37 pm local time (1737 GMT).

Their decision, greeted by boos from a packed crowd, meant England were denied a win inside two days after Thursday's play was washed out without a ball bowled before Friday's scheduled second day was abandoned following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Crawley deployed both his trademark cover-drive and the pull to particularly good effect during a 36-ball fifty featuring nine fours.

Lees and Crawley reprieved

Left-hander Lees, however, was dropped off the first ball of the chase when he edged Rabada only for Marco Jansen to floor a fourth-slip chance he should have held after getting two hands to the ball.

It was a rare error by Jansen, who had top-scored with 30 in South Africa's meagre first innings 118 at the Oval before taking a Test-best 5-35 in England's reply of 158 after he was unluckily dropped from the Proteas side that lost the second Test at Old Trafford.

Crawley too was reprieved, on 51, when his hard-hit whip shot off express quick Anrich Nortje was dropped by Ryan Rickelton at midwicket.

But the