England put to the Sword

A magnificent opening partnership of 338 between Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith put the South Africans firmly in the box seat on a placid Edgbaston pitch on day one of the First Test.

For the first match in the five-test npower Series, at Birmingham's Edgbaston ground, England picked the eleven that was expected of them, with James Kirtley taking another step closer to Andy Bichel's record of twelfth-man appearances. South Africa sprung a surprise when they opted to replace Jacques Kallis - back home in Cape Town mourning his father, Henry - with left-arm swing bowler Charl Willoughby, leaving them with just five specialist batsmen, whilst Neil McKenzie missed out for Boeta Dippenaar.

Proteas skipper Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat - hardly a surprise, given that the wicket offered was about as welcoming to the bowlers as Smith would find a Klusener family get-together. James Anderson and Darren Gough, taking the new ball, struggled to hit the right line and length, and sadly for England this set a tone for the rest of the day.

Herschelle Gibbs, watchful at first, took 25 balls to get off the mark before pulling Gough through mid-wicket for three. The final latch had been removed and the floodgates well and truly burst open. From hereon in, there was nothing that the English attack could do to stem the flow of runs. Anderson was the worst offender, going at six runs an over.

The only ray of light in a morning session that saw the South Africans rack up 100 exactly was Andy Flintoff, going around the wicket, and making Smith look distincly uncomfortable. Alec Stewart thought that he'd been caught behind with the score at 73/0 but umpire Harper wasn't in agreement. Steve Harmison caused some initial problems with the extra bounce that he extracts from 6'5" and hit 94.1mph, but akin to the rest of the attack, didn't look like breaking through.

Ashley Giles was the sole Englishman who exerted any control in the afternoon, but even he couldn't stop the flow of runs (sorry if this is getting a touch formulaic and repetitive, but there was little more to the day than runs, runs and more runs...) as first Gibbs brought up his first ton against England with a rasping square cut and then Smith lofted Giles over mid on for his century. In the midst of this carnage, one Gough over had gone for 17 with Gibbs pulling him for six over mid wicket off the front foot...

The afternoon was also marked by three missed catches. James Anderson was the first offender, dropping Gibbs one-handed after the batsman popped a return catch high and to his left. Gibbs was also the recipient off good fortune twice more, Michael Vaughan failing to hang on at point and Steve Harmison unable to get down to a difficult caught and bowled chance. Harmison also displayed a spectacular misfield, failing to get his hands within six inches of a Graeme Smith off drive through his legs.

At tea, the visitors were an incredible 265/0, breaking the South African record for opening partnerships against England (260 by B Mitchell and IJ Siedle in Cape Town 1930/31) and Gibbs in particular showed no sign of relenting in the evening session. Smith was incredibly luckyto escape a strong LBW shout when Giles deceived him with an arm-ball. Unfortunately he also deceived Umpire Harper and with the score at 301, the captain got off the hook.

Part-time offspinner Michael Vaughan was bowling by the time Gibbs (179, 236b, 29x4, 1x6) went for one big shot too many and was caught by Mark Butcher on the mid-wicket boundary with the score on 338.

This partnership made Smith and Gibbs the first pair in test history to make two 300+ opening partnerships, with A Melville and AD Nourse's 1947 Trent Bridge partnership of 319 being usurped as the highest South African partnership against England, as well as breaking Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor's 329 at that same ground in 1989 as the highest opening stand against England. The wicket brought Gary Kirsten (26*) to the crease, and alongside Smith (178*, 257b, 25x4), these two 'survived' until close, with the score at 398/1.

Marcus Trescothick was an English casualty of the day, fracturing his right index finger stopping an edge on the bounce from Gibbs off a Steve Harmison slower ball at slip, which resulted in Kent's James Tredwell fielding for most of the day. Yet all is not lost for England, on a pitch with about as much life as there is between Neil Carter's ears and against a South African bowling attack sorely lacking in depth (Pollock and Ntini backed up by... Pretorius, Peterson and Willoughby), coupled to a forecast for regular rainfall over the next few days, the smart money's on a draw.

South Africa 398/1 (HH Gibbs 179, GC Smith 178*)

Posted by Neil