Second test - Eng v SA Day 1

Graeme Smith won the toss and surprised many people by going against popular opinion, asking England, under Michael Vaughan for the first time in the longer version of the game, to bat first on a wicket which had more than a tinge of green in it.

Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock shared the new ball to Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick, and as early as the fourth over Ntini should have snared Trescothick when an outside edge offered the simplest of catches to Smith at slip - only for the South African skipper to fluff it.

Good players tend to be lucky - and the better they become, the luckier they get. As it was, Smith only had moments to rue his error before Ntini struck in decisive fashion. With the total on 11, Trescothick aimed a flick-cum-drive outside off stump but only contrived to drag the ball on to his own wicket for 6. The hug which Smith gave to his strike bowler spoke a thousand words.

Butcher joined Vaughan at the crease and for twenty minutes, the pair launched an almost frenzied assault against Ntini's bowling. Butcher (19) hit three scintillating boundaries in the space of four balls before Pollock seamed a ball away to take the edge of the Surrey stalwart's bat and Andrew Hall took a straightforward catch at third slip.

Captains past and present set about repairing the damage as Pollock continued to be as economical as Ntini was expensive, and for a while England seemed to be wresting the initiative. Vaughan struck a rare boundary off Pollock before steering an Ntini delivery to the third man fence. A pull to square leg off the same bowler moments later prompted the first bowling change.

Pretorius was wasteful but Hall, eager to cement his place in the side for the rest of the series made the decisive breakthrough and one which precipitated a most dramatic collapse, even by England's own inimitable standards.

Hussain (14) drove expansively at Hall but he was undone more by his own flamboyance than by any exaggerated seam movement as the ball darted through the huge gap left twixt bat and pad. The tumbling of timber on this occasion may be more than symbolic.

At 73-3 and with still half an hour to go before lunch, it was vital for England that they didn't lose another wicket. They didn't - they lost two. Anthony McGrath played one punchy square drive off Hall but two balls later, he tried to work a ball through midwicket from outside off stump. The leading edge to Kirsten was simplicity itself and England were in tatters at 77-4.

Smith, not for the first time and certainly not for the last, showed himself to be a skipper of the highest order as he immediately brought his strike bowler straight back into the attack. Michael Vaughan had really been the only English batsman to play with any modicum of solidity, but he too went the way of so many others when he played an indiscreet hook shot off Ntini with two men out in the deep. Substitute fielder Neil McKenzie, on for the injured Pretorius, made no mistake. Vaughan gone for 33, England 85-5 - all before lunch on day one.

Alec Stewart, not usually a man to let England down through carelessness, then showed that he too can show appalling misjudgment. Just five balls after the lunch interval, he tamely paddled a short ball from the resurgent Ntini straight to Paul Adams at square leg for just 7 as England continued to demonstrate how not to play quality pace.

Giles and Flintoff managed at least to take England into three figures as Smith continued to pull the strings; almost all of his field and tactical changes were paying off within moments. Hall picked up his third wicket when he enticed Giles to follow a wide one and Pollock made no mistake at a wide second slip.

In the following over, another subtle change by Smith brought the man at fine leg a little squarer. Ntini fed Flintoff the sucker ball and he went for it. Ntini's effort ball lifted, Flintoff mistimed the swipe and the reliable Adams hardly had to move at deep square leg. It was another poor effort by the all-rounder who, five years after his international debut, does not appear to have matured as a batsman one iota - and his batting is his strong point.

112-8 became 118-9 and a thoroughly deserved fifth wicket for Makhaya Ntini when he bowled Steve Harmison for a duck. For the next three quarters of an hour, Darren Gough and James Anderson gave their more illustrious higher order team-mates a lesson in both batting and good sense.

The pair essentially played straight, waiting for the bad ball to put away - something that both achieved with some aplomb. For the first time in the series, a few questions were asked of Graeme Smith's captaincy. The fact that he wasn't able to answer them quickly owed more to the fact that this Lord's track did not contain any horrors than to any careless bowling or glaring errors.

For the first time in the day, the home crowd had something to cheer as both tail-enders made a complete mockery of what had gone before - unfortunately for England's supporters, it was a stark reminder of what might well follow. Gough smashed Ntini through the off side, Anderson repeated the shot past backward point - there was even the comedy of Boucher letting a ball through his gauntlets. He watched, horrified, as the ball ricocheted off a helmet for five penalty runs.

Paul Adams entered the fray and Anderson, watchful, survived with little difficulty. When Gough came to face Adams, it was a different ball-game. The Yorkshireman pushed his front leg out of the way and deposited the ball over midwicket for six. The crowd roared as he repeated the exercise three balls later, this time over long on.

Smith hustled Pollock back into the attack and with his fourth ball, Gough decided that he too would get the treatment. Unfortunately, the slower ball totally bamboozled England's highest scorer and Adams demonstrated his safe hands for the third time by confidently holding the steepling chance. England's modest total of 173 owed much to the last-wicket stand of 55 between Gough (34) and Anderson (21*) - still to be dismissed in test cricket.

With little more than half of the first day gone, England were in the field - a position they had probably expected to have been in from the moment they lost the toss, but not after having batted already. The ominous sight of Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs came out to do battle, but it was almost as though it was a different day, a different game perhaps.

The England attack of Gough and Anderson managed to extract little from the wicket early on as bat held ascendancy over ball. Both openers had trouble with their approach - Gough overstepping, Anderson in now familiar pose, crouched over as the umpire paid close attention to his follow-through.

With Smith on just 8, England's day of misery was all but complete. Anderson held a ball back, Smith played it firmly to Nasser Hussain at cover and watched as the hapless former leader failed to clutch the simplest of chances. England were to rue that moment of carelessness.

Smith is far, far stronger on the leg side than the off, yet England seemed to play to his strengths. Anything short was pulled, anything full was turned behind square. The bludgeon of Smith is the perfect accompaniment to the rapier of Gibbs and England were chasing shadows. Anderson over-pitched, Smith crashed the ball through past the bowler.

Harmison came on and his extra pace asked a few questions, but three boundaries in an over by Smith answered them decisively. Admittedly the first was edged through the slips but a short-arm pull past mid-on was devastating. This was followed two deliveries later by a sublime chip over cover.

The introduction of Giles meant that the battle which had been so intriguing at Edgbaston was joined once more for the second time in a week. Once again, Giles troubled the Protean captain but the breakthrough for England would not come.

Gibbs and Smith maintained their total dominance as Smith went to his half-century and then the hundred partnership was hoisted after 27 overs with South Africa totally in command. Flintoff hurried Gibbs once into edging just short of slip before Harmison once more was thrust forward.

With Gibbs on 49, Harmison bowled an extremely hostile maiden, beating him outside the off stump and finding the bottom edge as Gibbs tried to leave one. In his next over he struck when Gibbs, frustrated, dragged the ball back on to his stumps. It had been a most impressive start to Harmison's second spell. Gibbs was gone for 49 but with 133 on the board, South Africa were a mere 40 in arrears.

Harmison greeted Gary Kirsten with an absolute beauty, then Smith received a painful blow on the hand from Flintoff which required lengthy treatment in the by now fading light. Smith smacked a short ball from Harmison to the point boundary and with the total on 147, Kirsten demonstrated that England batsmen do not have the monopoly on crass stupidity when he threw the bat at the fourth ball of the day's final over and was exceedingly fortunate to see it barely evade the grasping fingers. England's miserable day was now complete.

South Africa 151-1 (Smith 80*, Gibbs 49)
trail
England 173 (Gough 34, Ntini 5-75, Hall 3-18)
by 22 runs with 9 wickets in hand


Posted by Eddie