On another sweltering day at picturesque Arundel, England hopeful Asa Tribe and 18-year-old Ben Mayes looked to be giving England Lions a fighting chance against a strong South Africa side before a late-order collapse saw the visitors reassert their authority, backed up by an unbeaten second-wicket partnership of 94.

Tribe and Mayes took their overnight partnership to 189, with the Lions at that stage an encouraging 148 to the good with six wickets in hand. Tribe made an excellent 135, showcasing his powers of concentration and judicious shot-making against a probing attack on a wicket where batters found it tricky to get themselves in.

But with the the ninth over of the new ball, Dane Paterson won an lbw shout against Tribe, and his combination with the pacy Nqobani Mokoena proved a real handful for the rest of the order, with only Mayes standing tall in bringing up his own century – his first in first-class cricket having made his debut for Hampshire against Essex in April of this year – before Ottneil Baartman bowled him.

Mayes had come to people’s attention in the U19 World Cup in Zimbabwe earlier this year when he hit a tournament high – and an England Youth record score – of 191 from just 117 balls against Scotland. He ended up the competition’s leading run-scorer, outdoing even India’s wunderkind Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

Tribe, meanwhile, has been told by Rob Key that he is very much on the England selectors’ radar and to keep doing what he is doing. This innings, against international-class opposition, will have done him no harm at all after a middling start to the season where he has scored over 300 runs but not managed to make the kind of eye-catching contribution that demands inclusion.

From the heights of 322 for 4, the Lions’ last six wickets fell in a heap for just 65, leaving the visitors with a victory target of 214. South Africa’s three impressive quicks shared the wickets around, all putting in a decent 20+ overs shift with the thermometers threatening to reach 30 degrees.

In the game’s first three innings, only three batters had got beyond 32, but that trio had all made high-quality centuries, so England knew that if they were to pull off a win that had seemed highly unlikely after the first two innings, they would need to make inroads into the South African batting line-up early.

Mitchell Stanley got the ball rolling, having full international Tony de Zorzi caught behind by Mayes early on, but Jordan Hermann and Lesego Senokwane built steadily, nullifying the Lions’ pace attack. Dan Mousley brought on slow left-armer Liam Patterson-White and then himself but it was to no avail, Senokwane bringing up his half century off the penultimate ball of the day, leaving South Africa A needing just 92 when play resumes tomorrow.