England rocked by Steyn
THIS was more like it, much more like the shootout between the world’s best teams that we had been so looking forward to. If the first day of the battle to be ranked no 1 belonged to alastair Cook and England, then on the second South africa emphatically stood up to be counted.
The tourists, so disappointing at the start of this first Test when they looked undercooked and almost lethargic, were a totally different proposition yesterday, taking advantage of cloud cover and muggy conditions to strike back aggressively.
Suddenly, from 267 for three, England looked likely to crash to nearer 300 at The Kia Oval rather than the expected 500 as Dale Steyn relocated his mojo to once again, for five overs at least, look like the best bowler in the world.
If it were not for a brilliant counter-attack from matt Prior, with support from Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann, England would have squandered the excellence of Cook, who could add just one to his 114 before being undone by Steyn.
as it was, Cook was the first of seven England wickets to tumble yesterday while they were adding just 118, 60 of them to Prior who overcame a shaky start to take the attack to South africa and lead andrew Strauss’s side to 385.
It looked as if that would still be a formidable score when Jimmy anderson, as important to England as Steyn is to South africa, found swing from the off to trap alviro Petersen in front of his stumps.
Yet, with England confident of making further inroads, one of the many showers that had somehow been bypassing this famous old ground hit The Oval and sent the players off for almost two hours. When they returned the sting, and the swing, seemed to have been taken out of the England attack.
Graeme Smith, who had endured a frustrating start to his 100th Test, averages 72 in England and again he proved his class as the hosts struggled to maintain the bowlers’ firm grip on the day as South africa reached the closed on 86 for one.
Hashim amla is still there too, after surviving a sharp chance to Strauss at slip off Ravi Bopara and his side are now very much back in the opening salvo of this Investec series. With the sun expected to shine for the rest of the match, they will now be looking to at least reach first-innings parity with England. Game very much on.
Earlier allan Donald, South africa’s bowling coach, had called for more aggression from his charges and Steyn, morne morkel and Vernon Philander responded. The tourists are adamant that Steyn, complete with bandaged ankle and elbow, is fully fit and, as the world’s no 1 bowler came charging in to take the wickets of Cook and Bopara in seven balls for no runs, it was easy to believe them.
The 29-year- old, always happier bowling against right-handers, had tried to replicate morkel in a roundthe-wicket attack on Cook on Thursday but he was much more potent switching to over, swinging the ball late into the left-hander and inducing an inside edge that clattered into his stumps. and the rapid departure of Bopara which followed was a huge personal setback for a batsman seemingly destined to always be on trial. He came into the side on the back of an excellent one-day series against australia with the time having arrived for him finally to dispel any lingering doubts about his temperament at the highest level. Yet still they persist.
Bopara rightly survived a huge shout for lbw before he had scored but, far from cashing in, his brain seemed scrambled as he pulled halfheartedly at the very next ball from Steyn, tried to withdraw his bat but succeeded only in edging through to aB de Villiers. The pressure will be immense when Bopara next bats.
From total calm England seemed in a state of panic, best summed up by Prior setting off for an impossible single which would have led to the running out of Ian Bell had Petersen not rushed his throw.
England seemed to have weathered the storm when Steyn was withdrawn but where South africa have a big advantage over England is in the shape of Jacques Kallis.
arguably the greatest all-rounder ever, Kallis showed his immense worth to Smith by cranking up the pressure with four successive maidens and bowling Bell with an in-ducker that trimmed the off bail. England would surely have capitulated had Jacques Rudolph held on to a low catch at gully offered by Prior on 17, but once Tim Bresnan had dragged on an Imran Tahir long-hop the wicketkeeper switched from defence to attack.
Runs flowed after lunch as Steyn disappeared for 29 in just four overs during a second spell in total contrast to his first, his only encouragement coming when Swann was struck on the helmet and deflected the ball for four leg-byes. It needed morkel to crush the resistance by dismissing Prior and anderson to end with four for 72, Philander being rewarded for some smart bowling with another bail-trimming dismissal, this time of Broad.
This slow and dry pitch can only offer more turn as the Test goes on and England will want to make sure it is the tourists who bat last. Prior said: ‘It’s very easy to think this was South africa’s day, but it was very attritional cricket and they’ve only scored at two an over.
‘If we can get two or three early wickets, we’ll be back in a strong position — 350 is a par score on that wicket, so we’re still in a very good position and there are some encouraging signs for Swanny.’