England Save Tense Draw At Centurion

While it was snowing in England, we melted at Centurion Park as England enforced yet another nail-biting draw. It seemed that nothing could separate the evenly matched sides this week until South Africa took six wickets in 15 overs before Onions batted out the last over to Ntini and England salvaged a tense draw with only one wicket in hand.

Earlier in the day Micheal Vaughan told me that he thought England would save the match but, having captained the side, he suspected there would be a fair amount of drama. He was spot on. It was Cardiff revisited.

Kevin Pieterson (81, 143b, 11 fours) and Jonathan Trott (69, 212b, seven fours) put on 145 runs for the 4th wicket after England lost nightwatchman Anderson and the out-of-form Cook early on the last day. While he was still aggressive – that is his style – KP played maturely and with a straight bat and never once seemed to consider chasing the runs required. Even when England needed 205 from 40 overs with 7 wickets in hand, he hardly played a rash shot.

Trott showed us again that he is meant for Test match cricket as he sagely batted for almost the entire fifth day until he was caught with a stunning effort from AB de Villiers at slip inside the last hour. The batsman went about his job without once stopping to look at the scoreboard to realise that he could have been within striking distance of a Test century. England first, himself second, Trott belongs at number three.

My highlight of the long partnership was walking over to Castle Corner. There sat four South African journalists at the bar drinking their heads off at the bar but I moved on to enjoy some sunshine with an old school-friend who had made an acquaintance in the form of a topless Mauritian (male) neighbour on the lawn. The well-tanned fellow was closely guarding a box of Pringles that, when one opened the lid and peeled back the foil, hosted a bottle of Mauritian spiced rum. Who says the French can’t enjoy a spot of cricket!

The opening match of this Test series was full of gruelling Test match cricket of a high standard. Every day the temperature soared above 30 degrees Celsius, the pitch offered little, and both teams toiled for wickets and runs. It wasn’t cloudy for one minute of the five days and we didn’t lose an over.

At three wickets down after tea, one of those a nightwatchman, it looked as if England would be taking momentum through to the next Test. But South Africa were tantalisingly close to victory and walk away with the upper hand.

Although the press box in in the shade, it is outdoors in the grandstand and the English press in the front two rows turned from pasty white to lobster red in the first two days.They somehow got burned in the shade!  On the next three days they passed around the factor 50 sun lotion like port after dinner.

The teams will take a much deserved five day break for Christmas before this lively series kicks off again in Durban on Boxing Day.