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  • Congratulations to Graham Onions for batting out the remaining overs to save England the first Test Match against South Africa.

    England were never in a position to win the game, but at 169-3 on the final day, a draw looked a sure thing.

    However, the team quickly collapsed to 218-9  with Broad, Swann, Prior and Bell all failing to challenge the scorer, adding just 4 runs between them.

    This left number 11 Graham Onions the mammoth task of blocking out several overs to save the Test Match.

    Onions was fortunate to have Paul Collingwood at the other end - a batsman of grit and courage who was is the ideal man in such situations - and also offered advice to Onions;

    "He keeps bragging that he's got the best bat in the dressing room ,so I kept shouting down 'Remember you've got the best bat, just keep using it'."

    Collingwood praised him, telling the press he " thought he was excellent. He stayed very calm, played straight and saw it through."

    With the prospect of facing Makhaya Ntini, one of the world's foremost pace bowlers, who spent time in England with Warwickshire, Onions was understandably nervous.

    "With the amount of experience that Makhaya Ntini has, all that was in the back of my mind was 'don't get out'," he said. "That's the first time I have batted with Paul, who told me to keep on fighting hard."

    In a tense final few overs, Onions successfully blocked out everything South Africa had, saving the game in what had been a test match that South Africa dominated.

    Graham is using the Woodworm iBat Pro Series - you can view our full range of cricket bats by clicking here.

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