CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) England was 87-4 at lunch on the final day of the second test on Wednesday as South Africa turned things around to apply some late pressure.
England lost both openers without adding to their overnight score to leave it 19-2 in its second innings. Nick Compton was then out minutes before lunch.
Between those wickets, Chris Morris bowled Joe Root and South Africa was on top in a surprise turnaround after England made 629-6 declared in its first innings.
After South Africa responded with a defiant 627-7 declared, England was 89 ahead with six wickets left and two sessions to play. South Africa was targeting a fifth-day surge to try and steal the game.
England still leads the four-test series 1-0 and is seeking a first series win over South Africa in 11 years, but the home team had shifted the momentum of the contest in the final stages of the second test.
England captain Alastair Cook was caught off an edge down the leg-side to depart in the second over of the day. Next over, Alex Hales went to a diving catch at slip by Morris off Morne Morkel.
That gave England a nervous start that was temporarily eased with Root's 29 from 29 balls and with Compton typically stoic at the other end.
Root survived after being caught in the slips off a no ball from Morkel, but he didn't last much longer before his stumps were splattered by a ball angling in from Morris.
Compton's slip just before lunch, when he chipped a simple catch to Faf du Plessis at short mid-on, meant No. 6 Ben Stokes was already called on to bat with less than a session played in the day.
Stokes, on 2 not out, and James Taylor (23 not out) were left to defend to lunch.
South Africa's wickets were spread around, with Morris, Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and spinner Dane Piedt all taking one each.
South Africa was unexpectedly in the ascendancy after conceding a huge first-innings total to England, when Stokes made 258 from 198 balls. A draw was still the likely result in Cape Town, leaving England ahead in the series but South Africa on the up with tests to come in Johannesburg and Centurion.
