Kevin Pietersen enjoyed rare success as a bowler and Stuart Broad took five wickets, as England gave South Africa some anxious moments before the second Test ended in a draw at Headingley on Monday.
The result means South Africa go into the third and final Test at Lord's on August 16 with a 1-0 lead, with England needing to win to prevent South Africa from taking over their number one place in the Test rankings.
South African captain Graeme Smith, though, said neither side would take a significant edge into the deciding Test, insisting that there were "positives on both sides".
His England counterpart Andrew Strauss said he was happy with the strategy of playing four seam bowlers and leaving out Graeme Swann, although he admitted they "probably missed" the off-spinner in the second half of the game.
"With the weather forecast we thought our best way of winning was to win the toss and bowl first. We probably misjudged the wicket a little bit, it didn't do as much as we would have liked," he added.
Speaking separately, man-of-the-match Pietersen dropped a bombshell by saying he might not play for England again after the final Test but Strauss said "We want to win this Test match and we want as few distractions as possible.
"We've got a great chance of winning."
The result means South Africa go into the third and final Test at Lord's on August 16 with a 1-0 lead, with England needing to win to prevent South Africa from taking over their number one place in the Test rankings.
South African captain Graeme Smith, though, said neither side would take a significant edge into the deciding Test, insisting that there were "positives on both sides".
His England counterpart Andrew Strauss said he was happy with the strategy of playing four seam bowlers and leaving out Graeme Swann, although he admitted they "probably missed" the off-spinner in the second half of the game.
"With the weather forecast we thought our best way of winning was to win the toss and bowl first. We probably misjudged the wicket a little bit, it didn't do as much as we would have liked," he added.
Speaking separately, man-of-the-match Pietersen dropped a bombshell by saying he might not play for England again after the final Test but Strauss said "We want to win this Test match and we want as few distractions as possible.
"We've got a great chance of winning."
