Cricket-De Villiers and Amla soldier on, S Africa still 430 behind

By Mark Gleeson CAPE TOWN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - AB de Villiers reached 8000 test runs and his captain Hashim Amla moved closer to a comeback century as South Africa slowly began to reduce the mammoth deficit against England on the third day of the second test at Newlands on Monday. The hosts were 199 for two wickets at lunch, in reply to England's first innings total of 629 for six declared, still 430 runs behind. De Villiers became only the third South African batsman to pass 8000 runs as he reached his half century, carefully picking his shots in a circumspect approach which contrasted starkly with England's cavalier batting performance on the second day. De Villiers was 56 not out at lunch while Amla, who was dropped on 76, moved to 91 as South Africa added 58 runs to their overnight total of 141 for two. It came at a slow rate of 2.8 runs per over as they attempted to minimise risk with England already 1-0 up in the series. De Villiers and Amla have put together a partnership of 114 runs, the first century partnership for South Africa in their last nine tests stretching back more than a year. They could easily have been three wickets down with Amla dropped by Jimmy Anderson at slip off the bowling of Joe Root. On Sunday, Root had let slip an easy looking catch off Anderson's bowling which, if taken, would have removed the dangerous De Villiers for a paltry five runs. Amla, whose leadership of the South African side has been under increasing scrutiny in recent days, last made a significant contribution with 208 runs against the West Indies in Pretoria in December 2014. His loss of form has been attributed to the pressures of captaincy. The 31-year-old De Villiers joins Jacques Kallis (13206) and Graeme Smith (9253) on the list of South Africans with more than 8000 test runs. De Villiers has an average of 53.85 from 103 test matches. (Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)