Phew, that was bloody good fun. At the end of another sweaty, yelping, head-in-hands draw, with Graham ‘Steve McQueen’ Onions once again batting out the final over, the end result is this: England can not lose this series. Despite being dominated in the second innings here at Cape Town and almost self-destructing at Centurion, England deserve to be 1-0 up with one to play.

As brilliantly as Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel bowled in this Test, they and their team-mates rarely bowled well in partnerships.

It’s easy to blame Paul Harris but, well, it’s only fair. He was dreadful against the right-handers in the second innings and out-bowled by part-time spinner JP Duminy. With Graeme Swann in their side, South Africa would have wrapped up this Test before tea – or he would have at least taken Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell out of their comfort zones. As it was, they played Harris like a German goalkeeper facing an English penalty.

Since England’s crushing collapse in Jamaica, England have lost only one of their 14 Tests under the leadership of Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower. The ignominy of that defeat, and the knowledge that the number 51 will forever haunt those involved, seems to have added several layers of fight to this England team; a real hatred of losing.

It could so easily have been three defeats – three different balls at Cardiff, Centurion and Cape Town would have meant no Ashes glory and 2-1 down in this series, but in each instance they had enough belief, and skill, to do just enough. Their only defeat since Jamaica, at Headingley in the Ashes, was because of a first-innings collapse on the back of early-morning fire alarms and wicketkeeping injuries.

Five of England’s top six scored 40+ runs in the second innings at Cape Town. The only batsman not to contribute, Kevin Pietersen, hit a vital 81 at Centurion to save the match. That it was Ian Bell who made the most important contribution shows how far England have come in such a short time. His transformation was so great that it was like watching Mr T getting his pilots’ license. Compare that with South Africa’s dismal second-innings performance at Durban where none of their top six scored more than 22 runs.

South Africa have been very good in this Test – Graeme Smith’s 183 deserved to be a matchwinning innings – but they will need to bowl better in partnerships in Johannesburg if they are to save the series. Something special is needed these days to break England’s fighting spirit.

Danel Brigham is assistant editor of The Wisden Cricketer

Follow him on twitter: WisdenCric_Dan