England reached 309-3 at stumps on day one of the first Test against South Africa at Lord’s. The day belonged to Kevin Pietersen who finished on 104*. He was well supported by the under-pressure Ian Bell who reached 75* – the pair adding an unbeaten 192 for the fourth wicket.
Pietersen received a tremendous ovation from the normally staid Lord’s crowd, probably in recognition of just how much effort he has put in for his adopted country. There was a lot of talk about how the visitors would be targeting Pietersen, sledging him etc – his innings today was the most marvellous response. If he can continue this form, there may be a number of ashes bets placed on him leading the scoring charts next summer.
SA skipper Graeme Smith won the toss and put England in – I bet he regrets that now, although Vaughan also said he would have bowled. The recent rain in London seems to have taken all the life and pace out of the track leaving the visitors’ hyped-up pace attack looking distinctly unthreatening.
On other days on other pitches they may well be a handful, but here they never adjusted to the conditions – constantly bowling too short and wide to be a threat. England’s batsmen – especially KP – must be looking to kill off the game tomorrow.
0 comments so far
There are no comments for this post yet. Why not be the first by filling out the form below.