The Hindu : Sport : Pietersen puts England in command

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Pietersen puts England in command

Ted Corbett

South African pacemen fail to make inroads

Steyn struck Pietersen hard on the ear before tea
Antagonistic opponents did not applaud his century

LONDON: It will be a long time before a South African fast bowler tries to hit Kevin Pietersen on the ear again. Dale Steyn struck him hard just before tea at Lords and two hours later Pietersen had not only completed his fourth century at this ground in his 40th Test but put England in a strong position at 309 for three.

Pietersen, who switched to left-handed hitting in a one-day game this summer, was completely orthodox but he gave a fine exhibition of on-driving and an even finer demonstration of the art of celebration as he reached a century in his first Test against his native country.

His antagonistic opponents did not applaud his three-hour century; another example of the miserly cricket we saw from England when it insisted on capturing the wicket of a New Zealand batsman lying on the ground.

Short and wide

Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel arrived in England with reputations that included the word fearsome, frightening and fiery.

But on the first day of the series all three bowled short and wide to underline Graeme Smith’s misjudgement in asking England to bat first. By lunch at 71 without loss it was England which had the quiet chuckle.

By tea, at 163 for three, after the cream of England’s batting line-up had fallen in 13 balls for three runs, the smiles came with a South African accent. Part of the cause was a ball of 89 miles an hour from Steyn that tumbled Pietersen to the ground.

He recovered quickly enough after a few kind words from the fielders and a sip of their water and no doubt they thought the point had been made. These bowlers are dangerous.

So too is Pietersen and particularly when he is quiet and determined. When he was hit he was concentrating on defence, content to let Ian Bell dominate the scoring; a few overs later he was in top gear.

Soon after tea he had gathered his 11th Test fifty in 73 balls, a couple of overs later he was top scorer.

Bell reached fifty and at this point England looked ready to pass 400 for the first time in a dozen Tests.

Careful start

England had built its innings carefully. Andrew Strauss, still feeling his way back, and Alastair Cook, no longer wet enough behind the ears to need a towel at the crease, left anything wide that is to say everything in the first four overs played the straight balls that is to say not many and dealt peremptorily with the short and reachable.

They gave no chances before lunch and only Jacques Kallis, hobbling to the end of his bowling years on wonky knees, induced an error.

When a wicket fell there was no doubt umpire Darrell Harper got it wrong. Strauss moved across his stumps, failed to connect with a ball that pitched outside the leg stump but it thumped into his pads and he was given out.

By this stage even the pretence of viciousness had gone from the pitch but Steyn felled Michael Vaughan’s off stump with a ball of 88 miles an hour.

Then, just 13 balls after Morkel got his lucky break, Cook played the only bad shot of his 60 and the ball skied to third slip.

Bell’s place, like Vaughan’s grip on the captaincy, is open to question, but he and Pietersen added 178 and by the close there was no doubt which side held the upper hand.

SCOREBOARD England: A. Strauss lbw b Morkel 44, A. Cook c de Villiers b Morkel 60, M. Vaughan b Steyn 2, K. Pietersen (batting) 104, I. Bell (batting) 75; Extras: (b-10, lb-2, w-1, nb-11) 24; Total: (for 3 wkts, 90 overs) 309.

Fall of wickets: 1-114, 2-117, 3-117

South Africa bowling: Steyn 21-4-68-1, Ntini 18-2-58-0, Morkel 21-3-66-2, Kallis 15-3-49-0, Harris 15-4-56-0.

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