The opening day at Port Elizabeth, the third Test of this cracking series, was a slow plod on a slow surface.
Runs never came quicker than 2.5 an over, and only four wickets fell. But that does not mean it was not an absorbing day that veered back and forth.
The morning session was all about England, the toss-winners for the third time in the series. Their young openers were given few alarms.
In the afternoon, anchored by Keshav Maharaj’s accurate spin, South Africa doggedly dragged their way back into the game with two wickets before tea and two more after.
Then a steadying unbeaten partnership of 76 for the fifth wicket meant it was England’s day, but not by much. Getting to grips with their surface, the sides sparred. This is exactly the sort of day that four-day Tests would make difficult.
All of this on a very warm day, with the brass band whirring away and the occasional song from the Barmy Army. What a pleasure.
Again, England saw batsmen get in and get out. The top six all made at least 25 (Joe Denly) but, still, no one has passed Zak Crawley’s 44. Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope are still there, on 38 and 39 respectively, mind.
Most at fault for their dismissals were the openers, Dom Sibley and Crawley. But it was hard to quibble too much with their efforts until then; by batting for 31 overs, this was England’s longest opening partnership batting first in the match by balls since – and you are not reading this wrong – 2009.
With South Africa forced to get inventive with their fields, both men were caught at backward square-leg, a disappointing way to go. In a fiery spell after lunch, Kagiso Rabada got Sibley to turn there and, not long before tea, Crawley followed for a career-best 44.
He had looked at home but South Africa could barely believe their ruse had worked twice.
Denly is becoming one of the most perplexing batsmen in England’s recent history. He averages just 31 – ostensibly, not great – but is doing a fine job for his team and particularly his captain, who is coming in that much later because of his bulwark at no3.
In nine of his last 13 innings (including four of five in this series), he has faced 100 balls.
This time, he achieved his Dentury and promptly got out – lbw on review to Maharaj. On this tour, he has a strike-rate under 33 and all five of his innings have brought between the 25 he got here and the 50 he made at Centurion. He is doing the hard work, then getting out.
But that is not really Denly at all. Those familiar with county cricket consider him a free-flowing player with plenty of shots. But he is allowing himself to be bogged down, especially to spin. Maharaj bowled 62 balls to him, and Denly could only find three singles.
Through all this, he occasionally unfurls absurdly well-hit boundaries. But he will know that his strike-rate can put pressure on his team-mates, too.
Joe Root, by contrast, played Maharaj beautifully (after one sweeping mishap to get off the mark), only to be castled by Rabada, who celebrated right in the batsman’s face.
Rabada was the pick of the bowlers and it was baffling that he was not given immediate use of either new ball, especially given debutant Dane Paterson opened up in the morning.
Stokes lived a rather charmed life early on, as Maharaj turned the ball neatly from outside his off-stump. Twice South Africa reviewed not out lbw shouts; one was umpire’s call, the other outside the line.
Then Stokes was dropped by Pieter Malan at short leg (a reflex effort) when he had 10, and another edge, off the first ball he faced from Paterson, fell just short of first slip.
Late in the day, South Africa would waste their second review on Stokes too, when Vernon Philander was convinced he had struck with his first delivery with the new ball. It was missing.
By then, Stokes had settled, and shared more than 50 with Pope, a partnership that eased familiar English fears that another collapse was on its way.
Pope looked the most fluent batsman of the day, not least against the new ball. He looks at home in Test cricket, and has provided himself with the perfect platform tomorrow.
