England stare down the barrel

Following the high of a 211-run victory at Lord's a week ago, this was a chastening day for England, who have to pull off a Test record run chase if they are to secure an unlikely victory.

The surface offered less assistance to the pace bowlers than the first two days, but the home side would not have been pleased to see examples of the ball keeping low late on.

Tactics were occasionally imaginative - the off side packed or leg-side catchers employed for the short ball - and the bowling wholehearted, even if paceman Mark Wood again looked innocuous in 18 wicketless overs.

But most of England's efforts were repelled by a South Africa side who demonstrated all the patience, discipline and application that eluded the hosts on day two.

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Amla leads Proteas' plod

It was Amla (87) who epitomised South Africa's relentless accumulation, only bursting to life at the sight of Liam Dawson, hitting the left-arm spinner down the ground.

Still, it was Dawson who removed Amla, correctly reviewing a rejected lbw appeal after the right-hander advanced down the pitch.

Elgar (80) earlier shared a stand of 135 with Amla, but the left-hander showed no great fluency before he was bounced out by Stokes.

England chipped away, but the compact Du Plessis (63) was another to show restraint until he was trapped by a Stokes delivery that scuttled through.

Off-spinner Moeen benefited as the visitors accelerated towards a declaration, claiming his fourth wicket by holding a return catch from Vernon Philander (42), who had just hoisted two massive leg-side sixes from successive balls.

During this match, Hashim Amla has overtaken AB de Villiers to go third on South Africa's all-time Test run-scorers' list (8,157). He is behind Jacques Kallis (13,206) and Graeme Smith (9,253)

More review problems for England

Root, in his second Test as captain, has experienced problems with the Decision Review System, seeing two referrals wasted on the first day after pressure from bowlers Stokes and Stuart Broad.

That was probably the explanation for his reluctance to use a review after Broad's muted appeal for an Amla edge behind was rejected. Subsequent replays showed the faintest nick.

In Broad's following over, Anderson, at gully, leapt high and thrust out his left hand, but failed to cling on to the chance offered by Elgar.

Later, Cook was correct to challenge when given out leg before to Morne Morkel, with the ball-tracker suggesting it was going over the top of the stumps,

Still, he and opening partner Keaton Jennings each had a further appeal to survive in a testing period before the close.

'We have two days to knock them off' - what they said

England bowling coach Ottis Gibson: "It is a great game to win from here. You have to give a lot of credit to South Africa. There was a lot of character shown not just by our bowling unit but the fielders.

"The captain said he wanted people to step up and Anderson came in and led really well this morning. Wood has not got any wickets but bowled really well in patches coming off the back of a long lay-off and Stokes was fantastic today.

"It has been a very tough couple of days but we have two days to make 474."

Ben Stokes went for just 34 runs in his 20 overs, also taking the key wickets of Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis

Ex-England batsman Ed Smith: "The groundsman here at Trent Bridge reckons the pitch will get flatter the more the sun comes out. Let's hope for England's sake he is correct.

"There were some ominous signs late on with Vernon Philander swinging the ball round but England battled through a horrible period without loss."

Former England spinner Graeme Swann: "England should be thinking they can chase this. Joe Root is a positive lad and will think it's chaseable. I played in a game where India chased 380-4 against us in Chennai.

"Joe has very little captaincy experience but in a game where he led Yorkshire, Middlesex knocked off 480. I think Hampshire did something similar to him too. He'll be thinking if they can do it to my team, I'll do it to somebody else's."