Taming Swann was key to run torrent

THE biggest factor in the huge South African score and the failure of England’s bowlers to make any impact was the way the batsmen, in particular Graeme Smith, negated the threat of Graeme Swann. It made England’s four-man attack look very ordinary and vulnerable. It works brilliantly when Swann is effective, as he has so often been, but here we had the combination of a pitch with very little movement, the South African captain playing the spinner brilliantly and three world-class batsmen in Smith, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis all at their best. When you are in the field as a captain and nothing is happening you yearn for something that little bit different, as the height of Morne Morkel (below) gave South Africa that extra ingredient. And there would have been times yesterday when Andrew Strauss would have wondered if Steven Finn would have made any difference. That is a question England will have to address ahead of Headingley but yesterday they had no-one who could ruffle Kallis in the way Andrew Flintoff did in 2008 and if they lose today they will have to decide whether they bring in Finn for a second Test when they will have to do much better. Strauss can be considered a conservative captain but his explanation for this is that modern batting is largely about attack and his methods usually involve wearing the opposition down until they make a mistake. But you can’t do that with Amla and Kallis because they have unlimited patience and refuse to be ‘bored’ out. There was not a single moment in Amla’s triple century when he looked vulnerable, tired or in any way under threat. It was an amazing performance. He has improved enormously since he first emerged in Test cricket. Then he was crabby, would get square on and his bat twirled far too much. In short he looked like a quotas selection in the new South Africa. Yet I remember Shaun Pollock saying Amla was averaging 50 in domestic games before he played at the highest level and that those in power knew he would go on to prove he belongs in Test cricket. And how he has done that now.