Another First Test Saved

With the first test finally starting last Wednesday everyone was keen to see just how England (after a fantastic ashes series win this summer) would shape up against a good South Africa team out in South Africa. It was much the same as ever unfortunately with England struggling for large periods of the test and then collapsing when it looked like we would get a draw easily before the final pair combined to see out the last few overs.

It started well getting by winning the toss and asking them to bat first and things were looking up when Stuart Broad got Graeme Smith early but thanks to a Jacques Kallis century they managed to reach a decent score of 418 all out (definitely not what you want when you've won the toss and asked them to bat first). The only good bit of note was 5 wickets for Graeme Swann and 3 for Graham Onions.

Then came the first collapse with which we have long associated English batting and at 242-8 things were looking very good for the hosts and it seemed that it would only be a matter of time before South Africa wrapped up the innings. Enter Graeme Swann and Jimmy Anderson who shared a 9th wicket stand of 106 and thanks to a brilliant innings of 85 from 81 balls meant that England could get up to 356 all out.

After a fine start for England in the South African second innings where they were 46-4 a century from Hashim Amla allowed them to get up to 301-7 declared meaning that England had just over a full day to bat out and a target of just over 350 needed if they were to win the game and in the penultimate over of day 4 horror struck when captain Andrew Strauss was caught behind meaning that England then only had 9 wickets left with which to bat out the final day of the test match.

Things were going well though with a large century stand between Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen meant that at one point England were coasting to a draw and were 172-3 but as per usual England batsmen collapsed and they went from 172-3 to 218-9 in the space of about an hour. This meant that the final pair of Paul Collingwood and Graham Onions had to bat out the last few overs to save the match when in fact they should have easily made it to a draw but thankfully Graham Onions managed to keep out all 6 balls of the last over and a draw was salvaged.

The worrying thing is that with the next test starting on Boxing Day there are a few worries throughout the team with both Alistair Cook and Ian Bell short of runs and Stuart Broad still looking like he is unsure of what type of bowler he is. So as we head off to Durban for the next game we can only hope that they get the balance of the team right on what is going to be a tough match because generally they are very flat pitches in Durban.