South Africa have not given up hope of spoiling Kevin Pietersen's captaincy debut with victory at the Brit Oval.

Just 17.5 overs were possible on the third day between England and the South Africans, who resume on Sunday 12 runs behind with eight second-innings wickets intact.

Although England have been in the ascendancy so far, the tourists have fought their way back into the match thanks to an unbeaten 71 from Hashim Amla.

Another couple of significant contributions from elsewhere in their order would increase the possibility of completing a 3-0 npower series victory.

"So far England have been very good," said South Africa coach Mickey Arthur.

"They looked vibrant. I knew they would come out with a point to prove, they hit us hard on day one and Kevin played really well in his first Test as captain.

"From what we have seen so far England look pretty handy. But they have always been handy. They're a very good cricket team.

"But from a South African point of view we certainly don't want to lose any Test matches.

"We would be really gutted to lose the last Test match here.

"As long as we remember the things that have got us to this point we will be fine going forward, and we will keep improving.

"The guys are going to be fighting to win this one because we still have the opportunity to do so.

"We feel we can defend 220, and if we can get that high there will be a lot of pressure on the England top five."

It was only an uncharacteristically poor South African batting display after winning the toss that allowed England to seize the initiative.

"I don't want to make excuses because it was a pretty ordinary performance," said Arthur.

"The thing that I kept reminding the guys about - and what I have been reminding them in the second innings - is we forgot all the things we have been doing well over the past 18 months.

"That comes down to relaxing slightly mentally - we weren't as tight or as decisive in our movements or as patient as we've been.

"Mentally the guys weren't in the same space as they were at the start of the series."

Amla has proved a solid performer on this tour, having repelled England's barrage of short balls with aplomb.

"We've always rated Hash highly," Arthur said. "He had a problem when he started but when I came in he was a guy we identified to bat at three for us.

"He was the one we went for in that role, we needed to run with him and give him an opportunity.

"He has blossomed, repaid the faith we showed in him and he will be a quality player going forward.

"He is so calm, with such a good head - someone who is pretty streetwise in cricket terms for his age."

England's battle to force a victory was frustrated not only by the weather but also by an injury to wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.

They missed the chance to dismiss Amla on 58 when he got an inside edge off all-rounder Andrew Flintoff behind the stumps which Ambrose failed to collect despite a one-handed diving catch to his left.

It capped a miserable day for the Warwickshire wicketkeeper, who is averaging 16.33 in the series and suffered a suspected broken left ring finger on the previous evening.

"Timmy has damaged a finger, which is quite nasty actually but as all true keepers do, he got stuck in and he's carrying on but it's quite painful," confirmed coach Peter Moores.

"It might be broken, we don't know but in some ways there's not much point in doing much about it now because the game's on so it's one of those where we'll assess it at the end of the game.

"He's happy to carry on, the doctor's seen it and doesn't think he has done any structural damage so he'll carry on with painkillers and we'll sort it out afterwards."

Moores, a former Worcestershire and Sussex wicketkeeper, stressed the injury did not have a bearing on Ambrose being unable to take the catch, which he believes was a difficult chance anyway.

"He did brilliantly because it was definitely no more than a half or a third chance," Moores explained.

"He got a hand on it but if you watch the footage back he's got an awfully long way to get there.

"Inside edges are especially difficult for keepers because you're setting yourself for the outside edge all the time.

"I'd give him credit for getting a hand to it, actually - I wouldn't have got anywhere near it, don't worry about that!"

Today's incident is the latest in a number of fumbles behind the stumps for Ambrose who has struggled with the bat and has been replaced in the one-day squad by former Sussex team-mate Matt Prior.

But Moores believes Ambrose is a strong enough character to come through his current struggles.

"Timmy handles things really well - he's a very level-headed bloke," Moores added.

"Whether he's done well by getting a hundred at Wellington or had tougher times, he stays very much at an even keel which is very much a strength of his.

"He makes some difficult things look very easy when the ball wobbles and moves around so I think he's handled himself very well.

"It's a pressure environment, we know that and he knows that, and he's desperate to get a score in the second innings."

Moores also confirmed that left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom, overlooked for this Test to pave the way for the return of Steve Harmison for his first Test since March, had been rested to get him ready for the start of the NatWest one-day series with a Twenty20 international in Durham on August 20.

Sidebottom is believed to be suffering with niggles to his shoulder, neck and groin but the back trouble which forced him out of the second Test against South Africa earlier this summer has cleared up.

His absence has been off-set by an impressive return from Harmison, who has attributed his success to bowling over 400 overs for Durham this summer to enable him to secure a good rhythm.

Should Harmison be selected for the winter tour to India, England have already got plans in place early to allow him to play and train with the Lions, who are also touring India, before linking up with the Test squad for their only warm-up match in Baroda on December 5.

That should enable Harmison to get enough overs under his belt to be in good rhythm for the two Tests in Ahmedabad on December 11 and Mumbai on December 19.

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