If South Africa can breathe easier at the end of the first day’s play at Centurion in the first Test on England’s tour of South Africa, it is the comeback man, Jacques Kallis, who scored a fine century. But England have plenty to think about as well.
Lacklustre bowling, suspect injuries, and part timers bowlers all showed up on England’s list of woes for the first day after inserting the hosts to bat, which did not disappoint South Africa’s captain, Graeme Smith, at all.
Smith though gave his wicket early, edging a ball down the legside off Stuart Broad. It took a consolidating partnership from Ashwell Prince and Hashim Amla before South Africa were back on their feet again.
But what really got the ball rolling was Kallis, who recovered from a rib injury, to post a timely century for South Africa to seize control on day one. Losing Prince for forty-five runs to Graeme Swann in the first over of spin for the match did not help South Africa. With wickets at regular intervals, Kallis was forced to drop anchor and it was only important that he did given that both, Broad and James Anderson, struggled to gain some momentum towards putting the hosts under severe duress.
South Africa were rescued by Kallis who mixed caution and aggression with the right temperament, but they will feel a lot comfortable at four down for 262, knowing that England have really struggled with their attack, and have been unable to really trouble the hosts, even though South Africa have not run away with the match, yet.
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