ENGLAND ARE in deep trouble in the final Test. By the time bad light stopped play South Africa had seen off 12 overs of the new ball in making 29 without loss, the steadiest start in reply to England’s 180, a total founded on a fighting fifth-wicket stand of 76 between the ginger ninjas, Paul Collingwood (47) and Ian Bell (35).
The ball swung for James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom, restored to the side at the expense of Graham Onions, although Sidebottom generally wasted it by bowling too wide.
There remains sideways movement off the pitch, too, but neither bowler – nor, for that matter, Stuart Broad, who has yet to bowl – seem to have the pace to exploit it as well as did Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.
It was the latter who set the tone for England’s processional display, taking three of the four wickets that fell to the new ball, including that of Andrew Strauss to the opening ball of the match, the first England batsman to so perish for 74 years.
It was to Steyn, though, that the ultimate honours went as he crowned two ordinary spells with a scintillating seven overs of high-octane, 90mph pace that brought him four for 24 and five for 51 in all.
England will hope that the overnight break will do something to interrupt the momentum South Africa carried into their innings on the back of the performances of Steyn and Morkel.
Today it is vital all three seamers rekindle the fire in their bellies, for the first two sessions could well decide the destiny of the match and the series.
England must make the sort of immediate inroads that saw them struggle at 39 for four at one time, and then keep the pressure on a strong batting side who have been further strengthened by the inclusion of the seaming all-rounder Ryan McLaren at the expense of Paul Harris’s slow left-arm.
However, having seen England bat, and the manner in which the pitch reacts, South Africa are unlikely to bat quite as wantonly as their opponents.
The loss of Strauss was unfortunate in as much as it was an indifferent loosener from Steyn that the captain turned off his hips for bread-and-butter runs only to see Hashim Amla, perched specifically a yard squarer and two paces deeper than normal at short leg, snatch a beautiful catch low to his right.
Later, Alastair Cook, lbw to Morkel (accurately, according to the review, although not without controversy) and Bell, bowled neck-and-crop by Steyn, who teased him with rapid away swingers before ripping an inswinger through the gate, were undone by fine deliveries.
But Jonathan Trott was such a bag of nerves during his brief stay that watchers almost longed for the stability of Bell at first drop, and Kevin Pietersen likewise timed little except one sumptuous clip through midwicket before he toe-ended a pull shot to a straight midwicket placed precisely in that spot only for that delivery.
Matt Prior and Broad, feeling no doubt that the innings had slipped away and rosebuds were there to be gathered, both played injudicious shots.
If conditions throughout were challenging, then hindsight will tell England that, whereas their total is not disastrous, given that theoretically at least South Africa must bat last on a pitch of increasingly unreliable bounce, it still falls short of the 220-odd that might have been seen as acceptable.
As it stands, they might be able to wear a first-innings deficit of even 70, but beyond that the game could be beyond recall.
The first session provided outstanding entertainment. The plaintive strains of Jerusalem, deliberately and largely drowned out by heavy rock through the PA, had hardly faded when Strauss was walking back to the dressing-room.
Having won his 11th toss in 16 Tests, the decision to bat was a difficult one, the kind often shirked by batsmen who see threat in the opposition bowling rather than the virtues of posting a score.
Smith said he would have taken the same course, although he will have reflected that his bowlers could do a job.
Within 50 minutes Morkel had knocked over the top order and the record books were being scoured for low scores.
At least Collingwood and Bell spared the blushes on that score.
Guardian Service
Johannesburg Scoreboard
FOURTH TEST – Day One
In Johannesburg
ENGLAND – First Innings
A Strauss c Amla b Steyn 0
A Cook lbw b M Morkel 21
I Trott lbw b M Morkel 5
K Pietersen c Parnell b M Morkel 7
P Collingwood c Duminy b McLaren 47
I Bell b Steyn 35
M Prior c Boucher b Steyn 14
S Broad c M Morkel b Kallis 13
G Swann c Boucher b Steyn 27
R Sidebottom c Boucher b Steyn 0
J Anderson not out 6
Extras (lb2, w3) 5
––––––
Total (47.5 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-32, 4-39, 5-115, 6-133, 7-136, 8-148, 9-155.
Bowling: Steyn 13.5-1-51-5, M Morkel 11-1-39-3, McLaren 10-3-30-1, Parnell 3-0-18-0, Kallis 10-3-40-1.
SOUTH AFRICA – First Innings
G Smith not out 12
A Prince not out 15
Extras (lb1, nb1) 2
––––
Total (0 wkts, 12 overs) 29
To bat: Amla, Kallis, de Villiers, Duminy, Boucher, McLaren, Morkel, Steyn, Parnell.
Bowling: Anderson 6-2-14-0, Sidebottom 6-2-14-0.
