Mark Butcher was swift to defend the decision by him and Marcus Trescothick to accept an offer of bad light just when both men had found their best form at Headingley. When the players came back on the field after a half-hour delay, both men were out, bringing to an end a partnership of 142 for the second wicket.
 |  I lived by the sword all the way to get to 77 |
Butcher said: "It was a very difficult decision to make. We were obviously very much on top.
"The conversation we had was 'it's supposed to be bright sunshine tomorrow - we would look stupid if we lost a couple of wickets tonight."
Despite the double blow, Butcher reckons his team hold most of the aces after two days of this Test match.
"At the moment we are still in a great position. They are a bowler down and are missing Shaun Pollock.
"We are 145 runs behind with seven wickets left in the hut.
"It will take a couple of good partnerships to get past their score, but hopefully we can then knock them over pretty cheaply and win the Test."
Butcher was out edging a drive that he hoped would disappear for his 12th boundary.
"I played in a positive away all the way through," he said. "It was a misjudgement by me but I lived by the sword all the way to get to 77."
MMIX
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