PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — South Africa grabbed the key wicket of England captain Andrew Strauss late on the fourth day of the first Test after setting them a challenging victory target of 364 runs yesterday.

The strike made early inroads and South Africa will believe they have a good chance of bowling out the opposition for a win today.

South Africa declared on 301 for seven wickets in their second innings at Supersport Park after their lower-order batsmen had blasted a tired England attack. England had to face six overs before the close, but Strauss was sent on his way for one run with the eighth ball of the innings.

The third ball Strauss faced, from Morne Morkel, found the outside edge of his bat and wicketkeeper Mark Boucher gleefully took the catch. Alastair Cook on four and nightwatchman James Anderson on six will resume on Sunday with the England total on 11-1.

South Africa’s attack will relish bowling on the final day on a pitch with variable bounce. Batsmen Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, who added 119 for the fifth wicket yesterday to start turning the match, both remarked on the “up-and-down” bounce.

“Losing Andrew Strauss was a massive blow for England, and we’ll have to work hard (on Sunday) but I think our bowlers are up to it,” De Villiers said.

De Villiers hit 64 and Amla went on to record his seventh Test century before falling to a ball which did not bounce above ankle height. Amla said the partnership had benefited from regular communication between him and Boucher.

Scoreboard

South Africa 1st Innings 418

England 1st Innings 356

South Africa 2nd Innings (Overnight 9-1)

A Prince b Anderson 0

G Smith b Onions 12

P Harris b Anderson 11

H Amla b Anderson 100

J Kallis c Cook b Broad 4

AB de Villiers c Bell b Broad 64

JP Duminy lbw Anderson 11

M Boucher not out 63

M Morkel not out 22

Extras: (10lb, 4w) 14

TOTAL: (for 7 wickets declared) 301

Overs: 85.5.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-20, 3-34, 4-46, 5-165, 6-191, 7-266.

Did not bat: Friedel de Wet, Makhaya Ntini

Bowling: Anderson 20.5-1-73-4, Onions 16-3-50-1, Broad 16-5-58-2 (2w), Swann 27-3-91-0, Collingwood 6-1-19–0.

England 2nd Innings

A Strauss c Boucher b Morkel 1

A Cook not out 4

J Anderson not out 6

Extras: 0

TOTAL: (for 1 wicket) 11

Overs: 6.

Fall of wickets: 1-2,

Bowling: Ntini 2-1-5-0, Morkel 3-1-6-1, Harris 1-1-0-0

Toss: England.

Umpires: Aleem Dar and Steve Davis

TV umpire: Amiesh Saheb. Match referee: Roshan Mahanama.