Score big and set it all up for Swann…
PEOPLE have already been asking whether we have talked up South Africa’s bowling attack too much on the evidence of the first day of this Test series. Well, hold on.
There were good reasons yesterday why they didn’t make the impact that perhaps had been expected of them.
Firstly, this Oval pitch is a very good, flat one — at least it will be until later in the match when I expect it to turn — with very little of the pace and bounce that would have encouraged Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.
Secondly, they were up against two extremely good batsmen in Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott who we have seen perform like this time and again. And, thirdly, South Africa must be under- cooked after two warm- up matches where they spent a lot of time watching the rain.
That is the way of the modern tour and there was always every chance that South Africa would look flat and sluggish after their lack of proper preparation at Taunton and Canterbury. The trouble for them is that, with this being a threeTest series, there is not too much time for them to grow into the tour.
Steyn looks like he’s carrying a couple of injuries which will be a worry for Graeme Smith. He left the field to have his right ankle strapped and there were also signs of strapping on his elbow, with the result that Steyn looked way below his best.
The one big surprise was that South Africa were not more hostile. There were barely six bouncers all day, and even though conditions were not conducive to the short stuff they could surely have tested out the England batsmen with a few more.
You only had to look at the dismissal of Trott to see what could have been achieved. Morkel bowled a bouncer at him which he let pass harmlessly by but he was dismissed next ball by one that was pitched up which Trott did not quite get to the pitch of.
Things can change very quickly and it would only take Steyn to click today to provide a very different complexion to this first Test. That’s why England must not give it away now. They have to grind South Africa into the dust and go on to a formidable score.
This is not the Oval wicket of 2009 which turned on the first day and so upset Australia but it is dry and there will be increasing assistance for the spinners the more the match goes on.
Graeme Swann will be relishing bowling here — as long as England have completed the batting job and moved on to the commanding position they really should be in after an excellent first day.