Day 2 at Kingsmead ended with England seizing the advantage to finish at 103/1 in reply to South Africa’s 343

South Africa had produced a good rearguard action to total 343 after having started the day at 175/5.

AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher combined well to lift the scoring rate and produce a valuable 63 run partnership. England were hoping to wrap up the tail quickly, especially with the aid of the second new ball, especially when de Villiers was out on 269.

However resistance in the form of Morne Morkel, followed by Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini allowed South Africa to post a score they were more than happy with.

Steyn and Ntini batted beautifully in putting on 58 for the last wicket. Steyn showing that you can be positive without slogging every delivery. In fact he chose his deliveries to attack exceptionally well, and Makhaya Ntini supported him admirably.

It also demonstrated to the South African top order that you just need to see off the new ball and you can cash in as the bowling attack gets tired and loses its edge with the older, softer ball.

Andrew Strauss is a defensive captain, and his decision to persist with Graeme Swann puzzled me. Swann has been England’s leading wicket taker, and he is a decent bowler who gets a bit of turn and is fairly accurate. However he is no Muralitharan or Saqlain Mushtaq, and Dale Steyn showed how ordinary he can look when the attack is taken to him.

The Proteas would have been more than satisfied in reaching 343, but most of the good work was undone with wildly erratic bowling. Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntiniwasted the new ball, bowling too short, too wide and lacking the pace and fizz one would expect from a new ball attack.

Graeme Smith had to turn to Morne Morkel and an ineffectual Jacque Kallis who is still not 100%.

It has also highlighted to me how much more positive Andrew Strauss and the English side are compared to the Proteas. They scored at 3.91 runs per over compared to 3.16 from South Africa (which was boosted considerably from Dale Steyn and Mark Boucher).

Clearly the English are looking to dominate and seize the initiative. They have achieved this and enter the third day in pole position. South Africa will need Steyn and Ntini to fire and grab early wickets because I can’t see Morkel ever ripping through a batting order. With good overhead conditions and still something in the wicket, it’s up to whoever is prepared the put in the effort to reap the rewards.