South Africa were four wickets closer to levelling the series against England at lunch on the fourth day of the second test at Trent Bridge on Monday.
England shambled to the interval on 79/4 in their second innings‚ still 395 runs away from their increasingly mythical target of 474.
The home side resumed with a solitary run on the board‚ and lost their first wicket to the 11th ball of the day when Vernon Philander bowled Keaton Jennings through the gate for three.
Philander struck again to trap Gary Ballance in front for four‚ the fast bowler taking his two wickets in 19 balls for eight runs.
England were 55/3 when Chris Morris yorked the in-form Joe Root for eight.
Morris claimed the key wicket of Alastair Cook in the fourth over before lunch with a bouncer that reared viciously at the batsman’s head.
Cook took desperate defensive action‚ and the looping chance he gloved was stunningly caught one-handed by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock diving far to his right.
Opener Cook batted for a minute short of two hours and faced 76 balls for his 42.
That gave Morris two wickets for as many runs in 20 deliveries.
Philander took 2/16 and Morris 2/7.
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