Sport 31-12-1999 Kirsten Is Hero Of Third Test who: Gary Kirsten what: Has record-breaking innings in final day of Third Test where: Durban, South Africa when: Yesterday snippet: The Third Test in Durban has ended in a draw - but only thanks to a "magnificent" performance but South African batsman Gary Kirsten, says the BBC. "England went into the final day poised to claim a series-levelling victory, but Kirsten had other ideas, hitting a superb 275 before Mark Butcher bowled him to bring to an end the second longest innings of all time." Kirsten had been in for 872 minutes, says The Times - "longer than anyone in a Test except Hanif Mohammad during his 16-hour marathon at Bridgetown in 1958. More than that, his 275 equalled Daryll Cullinan`s record for the highest South Africa Test score, set only this year at Auckland, and he has now passed Cronje as the highest scorer overall in Tests for South Africa." "Kirsten began batting at 3.55pm local time on Tuesday and was finally out at 5.02pm yesterday," says Derek Pringle in The Independent. It almost "seemed long enough for evolution to have taken place, and you half expected Kirsten to walk off with his bat having become a natural extension of his arm. Not so for England; what would Nasser Hussain have given for a classy wrist-spinner or a reverse-swing expert to have sprung from the primeval soup simmering beneath England`s sun hats?" [... more]

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