Smith and McKenzie make superb centuries to frustrate England's hopes of victory

The draw is becoming a rarity in Test cricket in these high-octane times but, on an old-fashioned day of application and defiance, South Africa gave themselves every chance of completing an escape today which looked impossible after three perfect days for England.

Lord's is the one venue where traditions are seemingly upheld on and off the pitch.

The last five matches at headquarters have been drawn and it will take a Herculean effort from England's four weary bowlers today if the trend is going to be bucked.

Graeme Smith celebrates his century on day four of the first Test match at Lord's

England threw everything at South Africa after making them follow on but were frustrated by a combination of a wicket that is proving too placid for a positive conclusion and the determination of South Africa to erase their early embarrassment.

The new audience which Twenty20 cricket has brought to the game would have been bored rigid by a day of just 229 runs from 92 overs with only one wicket falling, but South Africa's relocation of their backbone is no less commendable for the lack of entertainment.

This first npower Test is shaping up to be a near-replica of the one involving Sri Lanka here two years ago. On that occasion England piled up a huge first-innings score, dismissed their opponents cheaply and made them follow on but were then thwarted by a much-improved second-innings effort. And a certain Andrew Flintoff bowled himself into the ground trying to force a result for England.

Yesterday was a good day for Flintoff, and not just because he was in the wickets for Lancashire at the Rose Bowl.

The inability of England's bowlers to dismiss anyone other than Graeme Smith on the fourth day has surely confirmed the need for Flintoff to return as part of a five-man attack for the second Test at Headingley which follows on Friday.

The one way Flintoff's comeback may yet be delayed is if England rattle through South Africa today to gain the win that looked likely on Saturday night. But South Africa, at 242 for one, now only 104 runs behind, will probably need to bat not long beyond tea to put themselves out of England's reach.

This was a triumph for the South African captain who saw everything go wrong that could possibly do so on the first three days.

Ton up: South Africa's Neil McKenzie celebrates reaching his 100

Smith is nothing if not a battler and how he needed his fighting qualities here to make up for his mistake in inserting England and the poor performances of his players with both ball and bat first time round.

Smith is clearly not at his best after returning from a hamstring injury but scrapped his way to his 15th Test century on the ground where he scored one of his two double centuries against England five years ago.

In truth, it is difficult to remember any of the 11 boundaries in his 107 and his eventual dismissal, just when it seemed as if England would go a whole Test day without taking a wicket for the first time since 1989, was as ugly as much of his strokeplay.

But Smith will not care about that.

England did all they could to dislodge him apart from, it seems, appeal when he had edged Jimmy Anderson to Tim Ambrose on 22. TV replays suggested he did indeed get a nick that only Paul Collingwood at slip seemed to hear but no other England player appealed and Smith remained entrenched.

When Ambrose then dropped him off, of all people, Kevin Pietersen after he had reached three figures, Smith seemed assured of taking the fight into today. But he attempted a pull off Anderson in the second over with the new ball and succeeded only in skying to his old adversary Pietersen.

His opening partner, meanwhile, is still there. Neil McKenzie, formerly the most superstitious man in cricket, has reinvented himself as an adhesive opener in his second coming as a South Africa player after a mediocre career in the middle order undermined by obsessive compulsive behaviour.

He kept England out for 323 balls, leaving anything outside off-stump and doing his utmost to take the lbw out of the equation when facing Monty Panesar after seemingly being trapped plumb in front when he had scored 13.

If McKenzie survived, as it seemed, because he was on the front foot then Daryl Harper must have got caught up in the old-fashioned ambience of the day.

Tough day: Monty Panesar had a frustrating fourth day

Umpires are much more obliging to spinners these days when batsmen plant their front foot forward - witness Asad Rauf here last year - and the day might have taken on a different complexion if Panesar, as he should have done, had made that early breakthrough.

As it was, nothing could dislodge McKenzie, whose model wife Kerry McGregor sat patiently glued to her seat throughout the day, as she must according to one of his few remaining superstitions, and he reached a deserved century shortly before the close.

The poor woman deserves a medal for such unflinching support and she will be back today when McKenzie resumes on 102. England's only hope is to dislodge both her and her spouse early.