England fast bowler Graham Onions has been hailed as a legend after taking his team to an incredible third Test draw against South Africa.
The fast bowler survived Morne Morkel's last-over onslaught to save the Test, just as he had done against Makhaya Ntini in the first Test less than three weeks ago.
"Graham's becoming a bit of a legend. If I'm honest, I wasn't that confident. Bunny did a great job," The Sun quoted Skipper Andrew Strauss, as saying.
"I felt in control. I used to open the batting in claub cricket for Gateshead Fell. But then I grew and found I could bowl a bit of pace. So the bowling took over. I never scored a century, just a few fifties," Onions said.
England collapsed after a brilliant partnership between Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell for the sixth wicket that lasted 57 overs.
Onions and Graeme Swann held on for the final 17 deliveries as England completed their third Test escape in six months with nine wickets down.
"It's not often the ending of the story is the same. And I always feel as batsmen that we should apologise to Graham for putting him in that situation," Strauss said.
"These draws show there are a lot of characters in our side and we have a great ability and willingness to fight. When you see other guys doing it, you want to be one of those guys next time," he said.
"Bell and Colly got us into a fantastic position and, with 10 overs to go, I was thinking I'm quite happy with my training kit on and nothing to worry about. But then a few wickets fell and I was next into bat - it was a lot worse waiting to go in than actually going out there.
"It was very enjoyable again to get that draw. It felt a tougher last over this time because Morne Morkel landed a couple of decent yorkers," Onions added.
'Claim over ball tampering malicious'
Skipper Andrew Strauss, who is furious that the hosts made insinuations at England's tactics without making an official complaint over ball tampering charges, has branded the South Africans 'malicious'.
The issue snowballed following TV footage on Tuesday showing Stuart Broad standing on the ball and James Anderson fiddling with it.
Strauss said: "By announcing it to the media without being clear whether they were going to put in a formal complaint, the South Africans have been a little malicious."
"I refute these allegations. I don't feel there was any effort to alter the state of the ball. But I appreciate some of that footage didn't look amazingly good," The Sun quoted Strauss, as saying.
"If the spotlight is on us now, we must be very careful. But what Broad did was not going to help us. His studs could have done in the shiny side, ruining a chance of swing," he added.
