South Africa leave England battered, bruised and humiliated

CRICKET/Test Match: If South Africa had a point to prove, they did so in the most emphatic way imaginable against a raggle-taggle England side as the series got under way yesterday at Edgbaston.

Herschelle Gibbs and the Proteas' captain Graeme Smith both made big centuries, passing landmark after landmark on their way to an opening partnership of 338, the highest inflicted on England in 807 matches and the sixth highest in the history of Test cricket.

Michael Vaughan, the seventh bowler tried by Nasser Hussain, finally made a breakthrough with his dinky offbreaks at a quarter to five, with Mark Butcher setting himself firmly under a steepler at deep midwicket and removing Gibbs for 179 just when it seemed as if the opening pair would see the day through from start to finish.

But by the time stumps were drawn South Africa, at 398 for one with Smith unbeaten on 178, had established the sort of firm hold on the first Test that England must have dreaded.

As duff first days in the field go, this was right up there with the worst England have experienced. Not since West Indies scored 437 on the opening day of the fourth Test at Headingley in 1976 have they conceded more runs; the single wicket they managed to take was only just better than Mike Atherton and Devon Malcolm's first experience of Test cricket, at Trent Bridge in 1989, when Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor batted through the entire day for Australia to score 301.

Nor did the agony end there for England. Midway through the afternoon, when South Africa were rattling along at a rate in excess of a run a ball to score 165 in two hours, insult was compounded by injury when Marcus Trescothick, fielding at first slip, intercepted a ball awkwardly and was rapped on the tip of his right index finger.

The Somerset opener went off for an X-ray which revealed a slight crack, which he was treating with ice last night. The injury - on his top hand, because he is a left-handed bat - ought not to prevent him batting but, as Martin Clunes said of giving birth, it will probably smart a little.

Battered, bruised, beaten, hammered, whipped, thrashed, humiliated. Take your pick, all are applicable to England. With the exception of Andy Flintoff, who flogged some life from a generally moribund pitch and at least bowled with some consistency, the attack degenerated at times to a shambolic level.

Thus Jimmy Anderson's rapid rise to fame and fortune came to a sharp run-a-ball halt, and there was to be no dream return for Darren Gough, who huffed and puffed but was off the pace. For the Yorkshireman, two years is looking a long time to have been out of the game at this level.

At times it was chronic, England's day encapsulated midway through when Steve Harmison bent a considerable distance down and let the ball run through his legs to the boundary.

Guardian Service