CRICKET SECOND TEST:JUST A DAY in and already the second Test has moved on apace. England's four-an-over swash-and-buckle approach to batting on a frisky pitch, with a little too much of the former and an insufficiency of the latter, saw them bowled out by tea for 203, the only significant contributions coming from Kevin Pietersen, 45, Ian Bell, 31, and Andrew Strauss, 27.
Under leaden skies, with intermittent showers, the ball swung for the South African seamers once the new ball lacquer had disappeared and a deep lustre had been applied, keeping the constantly attendant and attentive close catchers interested.
Four wickets apiece went to Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, while nine catches went to hand (to go with one that, controversially, did not), five of them to Mark Boucher who in clinging on added to his own world record.
With immaculate timing, the sun came out as the England bowlers warmed up for their riposte, something that tends to subdue any Headingley excesses.
The ball failed to perform any tricks for either Jimmy Anderson or Darren Pattinson, who came down the hill from the Kirkstall Lane end. Just three overs was all he was accorded before Michael Vaughan reverted to his more trusted trio, including the returning Andrew Flintoff.
Until Anderson found the outside edge of Neil McKenzie's bat, for Flintoff to collect a low catch at second slip, scarcely anything beat the bat, the opening pair having added 51. Smith built on the form gained from his Lord's century and had made 44 before Flintoff, round the wicket, found extra bounce, Strauss taking the catch at first slip and leaving South Africa, in reply, 69 for two.
Three overs later Anderson broke through again to make it 86 for three, inducing Jacques Kallis, on four, to play onto his stumps and continue his wretched beginning to this tour with the bat. He has 24 runs from three innings.
The catch that never was involved a shabby piece of jiggery-pokery by Smith and the third slip AB De Villiers, who dived forward to try to take a sharp chance offered by Strauss, when 23, from Morkel's bowling. It sped low and from a distance looked to have been taken, a view seemingly borne out by the South African celebrations.
Strauss thought otherwise and stood his ground while the umpires conferred and sought clarification from the third umpire, who ascertained not just that the catch had not been taken cleanly but also that the ball had been picked up off the deck.
The catcher must have known and the least referee Jeff Crowe should have done was to see what De Villiers had to say for himself.
It was a nasty blemish on what otherwise was a good day for South Africa once Smith had won the toss and for the second time - and no doubt with fingers crossed behind his back - opted to bowl first. It seemed a brave decision, given the way things had panned out at Lord's, and now, as then, there were those who put this down to a batting captain who did not fancy the alternative.
That, though, assumes he got it wrong at Lord's, which is certainly arguable: he was let down badly by underperforming bowlers when the pitch was at its most compliant. If he was shy of it this time, one glance at the sky would have told him to expect movement.
This meant then that those unfamiliar with the bowling of Pattinson were deprived of the opportunity to see it until the final session. His first cap came out of the blue, once it had been decided that Ryan Sidebottom's back was not to be risked and, if this was surprisingly good fortune for Pattinson, it represented a slap in the face for the queue of bowlers with rather more credentials. This not so much means Matthew Hoggard as Steve Harmison and Simon Jones.
But the message sent out to Chris Tremlett, brought in as cover for Sidebottom and sent packing, and the likes of Sajid Mahmood, Graham Onions and Charlie Shrek is a poor one which says England are more interested in a 28-year-old with minimal first-class experience and little long-term future than developing our young bowlers.
Wickets here for Pattinson will not make the thinking less bankrupt. No wonder players eye up the Indian leagues.
Taking the five-bowler option, with the consequent dropping of Paul Collingwood, meant that Tim Ambrose was consigned to batting at six, so far out of his depth it was embarrassing. Before the first hour was out, he was strapping on his pads as Alastair Cook, victim of another bad decision by Billy Bowden, and Michael Vaughan, wafting outside off-stump, were unbuckling theirs.
By lunch Strauss had followed and Kevin Pietersen, after a 44-run stand, joined him, edging to Boucher. Ambrose fell to Makhaya Ntini, his first wicket of the series, Ian Bell, batting nicely, dragged on to his stumps and Flintoff hit four fours in 17 deliveries before he flashed wildly at Steyn and became another notch for Boucher.
There was time for Stuart Broad to play a number of pedigree strokes off his hip before, on 17, he departed after edging Morkel to De Villiers at third slip. The rest subsided meekly enough.
Guardian Service
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND INNINGS
A Strauss c Boucher b Morkel 27
A Cook c Boucher b Morkel 18
M Vaughan c Smith b Steyn 0
K Pietersen c Smith b Steyn 45
I Bell b Kallis 31
T Ambrose c Boucher b Ntini 12
A Flintoff c Boucher b Steyn 17
S Broad c de Villiers b Morkel 17
J Anderson not out 11
M Panesar c de Villiers b Morkel 0
D Pattinson c Boucher b Steyn 8
Extras(lb-6 nb-5 w-6) 17
Total:(all out; 52.3 overs) 203
Fall of wickets:1-26 2-27 3-62 4-106 5-123 6-150 7-177 8-181 9-186
Bowling:Steyn 18.3-2-76-4, Ntini 11-0-45-1, Morkel 15-4-52-4 (5-nb, 6-w), Kallis 8-2-24-1
SOUTH AFRICA INNINGS
G Smith c Strauss b Flintoff 44
N McKenzie c Flintoff b Anderson 15
H Amla not out 18
J Kallis b Anderson 4
A Prince not out 9
Extras(lb-8 nb-3) 11
Total:(for three wickets, 29 overs) 101
Fall of wickets:1-51 2-69 3-76
To bat:AB de Villiers, M Boucher, P Harris, M Morkel, D Steyn, M Ntini.
Bowling (to date):Anderson 12-2-39-2, Pattinson 3-0-16-0, Flintoff 10-1-24-1 (3-nb), Broad 4-1-14-0
