Second Test, Durban: South Africa 175-5 v England (day one, stumps)
Venue: Kingsmead Dates: 26-30 December Play resumes Sunday: 0730 GMT
Coverage: Listen to Test Match Special on BBC Radio Four Longwave, Radio 5 live sports extra, the Red Button and BBC Sport website; text commentary online and on mobile phones. Also live on Sky Sports
Match scorecard  England celebrate as Graeme Swann removes Jacques Kallis
England took three wickets straight after tea on day one of the second Test to put themselves back in contention against South Africa in Durban. Graeme Smith (75) and Jacques Kallis (75) put on 150 in 46 overs but South Africa slid from 160-2 to 170-5. A further five runs were added before bad light and rain brought an early halt with 29 overs of play lost. All four England bowlers took a wicket, while Smith was run out following a misunderstanding with AB de Villiers. England selected an unchanged team for the first time since May, and on a pitch expected to tax the bowlers more than the batsmen the six batsmen-four bowlers balance looked cautious.  Smith battled through with a damaged finger but fell just before the close |
All the same, things went very much the way of the tourists during the opening exchanges on a hot, sticky morning at Kingsmead Park. The hard ball, a fresh, slightly damp wicket and three England fast bowlers who had clearly heeded their skipper's advice to steer clear of "a few bottles of red and a mid-afternoon snooze" on Christmas Day proved a toxic combination. The first wicket took just 13 balls to arrive. James Anderson seamed a brutal lifter away from Ashwell Prince, the ball taking the left-hander's gloves and looping to Graeme Swann at third slip. Things got even better for the tourists when Stuart Broad struck with his fourth ball following four searching overs from Graham Onions. This time batsman Hashim Amla could not blame the conditions, only poor technique as he played across a fast yorker, missed and was lbw. England continued to bowl well as Kallis joined Smith, but barring the odd ball fizzing past the outside edge - mostly when Smith was facing - clear-cut opportunities were not forthcoming.  | 606: DEBATE |
Terrifically watchful play by the two batsmen - after 13 overs only 15 runs had been scored - underpinned their rebuilding operation, and it took Smith 63 balls before he finally hit a boundary. At lunch, the game was well balanced at 67-2, but the longer Kallis and Smith batted during the afternoon the softer the ball became and the flatter the wicket. The 100 came up in the 39th over, then finally England - through Swann - found Smith's edge, but the ball dropped an inch or two short of Paul Collingwood at slip. Kallis's only alarm in the same period came against the bowling of Jonathan Trott of all people. The occasional medium pacer persuaded him to edge somewhere between first and second slip, but only one man was in the cordon, and he was far too wide at third slip.  When Stuart Broad removed Hashim Amla South Africa were 10-2 |
When the players came out for the post-tea session, the dice looked loaded against England with the scoreboard reading 151-2. But, as if by magic, three wickets fell in the space of 29 deliveries for 10 runs as the light dwindled rapidly. The first strike came when Swann, bowling round the wicket, had Kallis feathering an edge to a ball that went straight. Collingwood took an easy catch at slip. Next, Smith played a ball off Onions to point, only to find De Villiers negotiating a possible run before declining it. The skipper had to turn tail to make his ground, but Alastair Cook had read the situation better than anyone else - and simply ran in with the ball to take the bails off. The floodlights were on by the time Onions swung a ball through JP Duminy's defences to dismiss him lbw, but five balls later the light was offered to De Villiers and Mark Boucher. When the rain came down minutes later, it was soon clear there would be no further cricket during the day, with play starting half an hour earlier on Sunday (0730 GMT) in an attempt to make up time.
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?