Graham Onions had seen it all before as he strode out at No. 11 with aTest match to save
Andrew McGlashan07-Jan-2010Graham Onions had seen it all before as he strode out at No. 11 with aTest match to save, and duly guided England to a draw for the secondtime in three Tests. However, Andrew Strauss admitted being lessconfident in his last man, despite Onions’ heroics at Centurion threeweeks ago.”I was feeling pretty comfortable until Graham went in there,” Strausssaid, which brought a smile from his fast bowler sat opposite. “But hedid a great job again. I always feel that as batsmen we shouldapologise to him for having put him in that situation.”One minute Onions was watching Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood guideEngland to safety, the next he was the man in the firing line as he withstooda hostile Morne Morkel. He came within a whisker of gloving thepenultimate ball of the match to the keeper, but TV replays confirmed it hadbrushed his shirt after the South Africans reviewed in desperation.The final ball then sailed harmlessly by off stump, before Onions punched the air and embraced with Graeme Swann.”I thought Ian and Paul Collingwood got us into a fantastic positionand with 10 overs to go I was thinking ‘I’m quite happy with mytrainers on and nothing to worry about’,” Onions said. “All of a sudden afew wickets fell and I was next into bat.”Onions faced 11 balls in total as he and Swann survived the final 17deliveries of a pulsating Test after South Africa had created a latechance to level the series. Having survived the last over againstMakhaya Ntini at Centurion, Onions rated his efforts of fending offMorkel a greater achievement.”It was a lot worse waiting to go into bat than actually being outthere,” he said. But it was just great again to eventually get thatdraw, as it felt a lot tougher. I felt in control of the situation but it wasdefinitely harder than the one in the first Test.”A lot of credit should go to their bowlers, I’m a massive admirer ofDale Steyn and I think he ran in and bowled so many overs. Hats off toboth him and Morkel. He’s a great bowler and I’m just thankful Imanaged to block it out again.”Onions nickname within the team is ‘Bunny’, one of the more originalefforts going around as it relates to bunions, not batting ability. Which is just as well, because he is proving far from a rabbit with the bat and it makes all the extra work in thenets worthwhile when a bowler can help save a Test. It’s not as if South Africa will need any more irking at the moment, but they won’tlike to hear that Onions’ batting ‘buddy’ is none other than JonathanTrott.”I’ve been a lot of work with Phil Neale and my throw-down buddyJonathon Trott has been doing a lot of technical stuff with me andjust generally giving me a lot of confidence especially for days likethese,” Onions said. “I like to think I’ve prepared myself for dayslike these. Obviously, I’m not going to lie – I’d rather not be inthat position, I’d rather see Belly see us through because he playedso well. But to get a draw is the most important thing.”Even though the series now can’t be lost for England, Strauss wants toensure that England don’t let South Africa off the hook in the finalTest at the Wanderers. Although the Ashes victory will retain aspecial place in the hearts and minds of this squad, a win or draw nextweek will secure their most notable success since the 2005 Ashes whenthe Australians were near their peak.”It’s nice to know they can’t win it. But ultimately, we came here towin this series and we’re in a great position to do that,” Strausssaid. “We’ll step on to that plane home pretty unhappy with ourselvesif we allow them back in now.”We understand we’ve got to be better than we were in this game at theWanderers. But we’re also quite buoyed by the fact we’re 1-0 up andhave a great opportunity to finish it off, come next week.”