It’s round one to England despite sleepy Lord’s opener
Although the scoreboard will suggest the first Test petered out into a tame draw, I suspect England will be the team taking the more positives to Headingley for the start of the second Test on Friday.
For the first time in quite a while we have seen England pile on almost 600 runs in their first innings to all but ensure that only two results were likely.
Yes, this was on a good, flat Lord’s batting track, but it was also against a pretty capable South African bowling attack, and Peter Moores will be delighted with the way his batting line-up stood firm against a pace quartet deemed to be the best in Test cricket at the moment.
Magnificent
As a Warwickshire man, it was great to see Ian Bell respond to his critics with a big score, while Kevin Pietersen was magnificent for his 152 which certainly earned him bragging rights against the country of his birth.
Credit to South Africa, though, they stood their ground and batted out bravely for the last couple of days to ensure stalemate going into Friday.
Dilemma
Unfortunately, though, it meant those who brought a ticket for days four and five at Lord’s spent more time with their eyes shut than perched on the edge of their seats as proceedings ended all too tediously.
Moores responded to the draw by announcing that Andrew Flintoff returns to the 12 for the second Test on Friday and that will present him with a difficult selection dilemma.
I’m very close with Flintoff’s physio at Lancashire, Dave Roberts, and if Dave says Flintoff is fit for England, that’s good enough for me. Now he’s in the 12, you have to assume he will start that match but there will be a lot of scrutiny over the Headingley pitch before it is decided who makes way for the big man.
Headingley is not the easiest pitch to predict as the weather is so changeable. On a clear, sunny day, it can be very flat and a good batting wicket, but on a cloudy, overcast day, the ball can swing and favour the seamers.
My feeling is that they will pick Freddie as an extra batsman, probably at the expense of an unfortunate Stuart Broad.
Set up a Gear
To beat the South Africans, England need to find 20 wickets from somewhere and, statistically, that is more likely to come for the trio of Freddie, Ryan Sidebottom and James Anderson.
For me, though, Freddie has to step up a gear, especially with the bat, to merit inclusion and all eyes will be on him come Friday.
As for Broad, his time will come. He batted beautifully at Lord’s and is probably the best number eight we have had for a long while.