England lost three early wickets on the first morning of the second Test, under classically cloudy Leeds conditions, after South Africa won the toss and unsurprisingly chose to field. Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel exploited the helpful pitch, and a lot rests on Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen, the two not-out batsmen at lunch, if England are to fight back with a challenging first innings.
This Test was supposed to be dominated by Andrew Flintoff's return after 18 months in the wilderness, but the limelight was stolen by England's shock decision to hand Nottinghamshire's Australian-raised Darren Pattinson his debut at the expense of the injured Ryan Sidebottom. Pattinson, a roof-tiler born in Grimsby who has just 11 first-class matches under his belt, was left waiting in the pavilion for his first bowl as Graeme Smith chose to field in ideal bowling conditions.
Steyn's first ball at Lord's was a leg-side drifter, a delivery that seemed to set the tone for his side's disappointing effort on the first morning. Their coach, Mickey Arthur, promised his attack would find their lines at Headingley, and today they duly responded, led by Steyn and Morkel. Strauss began confidently enough, however, cutting the disappointing Makhaya Ntini over cover before pouncing on a shorter delivery from Steyn, hooking him powerfully around the corner. After 30 minutes, there was plenty of movement on offer, but on an easy-paced pitch that offered good value for strokeplay on the front foot.
If South Africa needed a stroke of luck, they got it in Morkel's second over. Cook attempted to flick a leg-side delivery around the corner, failing to make contact, but South Africa's raucous appeal was vindicated by Billy Bowden. A disconsolate Cook trudged off, perhaps wondering why England didn't choose to initiate the umpire-referral system in this series, but South Africa had their breakthrough.
Michael Vaughan arrived at the crease, but lasted a mere seven balls when he edged a beautiful outswinger to Smith at first slip. It was the third time in five Tests that Steyn has removed the England captain, and although Vaughan is a wonderful driver of the ball back down the ground, his defence against straight balls (he was bowled at Lord's by Steyn) looks worryingly suspect. No such concerns for Pietersen, however, fresh from his hundred at Lord's. Steyn fed him with an easy-paced delivery on middle-stump, flamingo-flicking it through midwicket, though the bowler produced a corking comeback that beat Pietersen's outside edge. Two balls later, a half-tracker was dispatched into the midwicket stand for the morning's most authoritative shot for six, as the drizzle began to fall more steadily.
Since Strauss's comeback to Test cricket, he has struck a more composed and cautious figure than the free-flowing batsman who took on South Africa in 2004-05, and such vigilance was needed by England while Steyn and Morkel continued to probe. Twenty minutes before lunch, however, Morkel - mostly looking to bowl a fuller length than his natural Steve Harmison-style lifters - found one to rise on Strauss who edged it to a diving AB de Villiers at third slip. As South Africa rose to appeal in unison, a perplexed Strauss stood his ground, and Bowden was forced to refer the appeal to the third umpire who - as the partisan crowd's jocular booing helped suggest - noticed de Villiers had grounded the ball. And grounded it comfortably, too.
Strauss continued to make the most of any fuller deliveries, driving down the ground before lashing a cover-drive off Morkel to move into the twenties. But on 27, a slightly shorter ball from Morkel found Strauss's outside edge, and England found themselves struggling on 70 for 3 at lunch. With Tim Ambrose batting uncomfortably high at No.6, and Flintoff making his return having struggled with the bat for Lancashire, much rests on Pietersen and Bell this afternoon.
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