CRICKET FIRST TEST:UNTIL THE last hour or so, when Makhaya Ntini, fuelled by the adrenaline of his 100th Test appearance and the noisy support of the Centurion crowd, let rip at the England openers with the new ball, it had been a desultory day of Test cricket.
Ntini and debutant Steyn-alike Friedel de Wet livened things up. The sun beat down mercilessly through the thin air, and throughout it, until Graeme Swann claimed his fifth wicket, England toiled as South Africa dragged themselves from their overnight 262 for four to 418, the highest first-innings total made in 15 matches on this ground.
The ball was as soft as a koeksister (a syrup-coated braided doughnut) in a Gauteng bakery, the pitch, zippy when fresh, as sluggish as the day. There are cracks there now where once there were none, which, say some knowingly, will lead to erratic bounce later, and Swann found some turn. But once the moisture of the first day had burned away, this was a decent track on which to bat, hard to score quickly but difficult to prise out an adhesive player.
Yet England came back well enough and the start to their innings was electric. Ntini, accompanied by his young son, had led the South Africans on to the field, backslapping colleagues following. He hurtled in. The first ball, short of a length, rose wickedly to Andrew Strauss, who brilliantly let it fly over the stumps. The smack into Mark Boucher’s gloves was audible and the crowd roared its approval.
News of the bowler’s decline to military medium appeared premature. Twice more he tested Strauss, with the England captain gaining a single from his pads and getting off the strike. A local sponsor had offered a drink for all in the ground if Ntini claimed a wicket first ball, and if he failed to snare Strauss then he ought to have had Cook, who hung his bat out at his first ball and edged hard, fast and head high to AB de Villiers at third slip, who could only parry the ball for runs. It was an insipid shot: so much for the hours spent in practice under the tutelage of the old master Graham Gooch.
Cook did not last. De Wet found his line, and Boucher took the edge low down.
It added a little more spice to the occasion too with the appearance of Jonathan Trott, who was given the regulation smattering of pantomime booing, took an eternity to get his first run, and survived the closest of lbw calls when Paul Harris was introduced to the attack with his left arm spin.
But by now Strauss was in to his stride, pulling Ntini for four and then cuffing him through point for four more. Ntini was withdrawn.
By the close Strauss had made 44 of England’s 88 for one, and, vulnerable as he has too often proved on resuming an innings, needs to start afresh this morning.
He and Trott, solidly on 18, have added 63.
Little of the preceding cricket had been pretty as Strauss’s bowlers regained enough control to stem any South African charge.
After Graham Onions had dismissed Jacques Kallis for 120, Swann was able to wheel away, a wicket in his first over as so often he seems able to produce.
The tail wagged with the vigour of a dog with a Boneo as Mark Boucher, missed at fine leg on 25 by Onions as he mis-hooked Stuart Broad’s bouncer, compiled 49, and there was an irritating 38 from the ubiquitous and underrated Harris.
Swann was excellent value for his five for 110. With the new ball just nine overs old at the start of play, he had to wait more than an hour for a bowl, but immediately had the left-handed JP Duminy taken low down at slip by Paul Collingwood, a fourth catch for him, having already taken Kallis there.
Swann has now taken three five-wicket hauls in just 13 Tests, something which, in the last few decades, would have been regarded as untold riches for an England spinner.
Scoreboard
Overnight: South Africa 262-4 (J Kallis 112 no).
South Africa first innings
J Kallis c Collingwood b Anderson 120
J Duminy c Collingwood b Swann 56
M Boucher c Cook b Swann 49
M Morkel c Prior b Onions 13
P Harris b Onions 38
F de Wet lbw b Swann 20
M Ntini not out 4
Extras (b2 lb15 w5) 22
–––––
Total (153.2 overs) 418
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-51, 3-93, 4-159, 5-283, 6-316, 7-341, 8-377, 9-414.
Bowling: Anderson 37-9-104-1 Broad 32-8-74-1 Onions 30-5-86-3 Swann 45.2-10-110-5 Collingwood 7-1-18-0 Trott 2-0-9-0
England first innings
A Strauss not out 44
A Cook c Boucher b de Wet 15
I Trott not out 18
Extras (b1 w5 nb5) 11
–––––
Total (1 wkt, 23 overs) 88
Fall of wicket: 1-25.
To bat: Pietersen, Collingwood, Bell, Prior, Broad, Swann, Anderson, Onions.
Bowling: Ntini 7-1-18-0, de Wet 7-0-46-1, M Morkel 4-0-12-0, Harris 5-2-11-0.
- Guardian Service
