LONDON – South Africa’s quest to overtake England as the world’s top-ranked Test side began shakily with the hosts piling on an ominous  partnership between Jonathan Trott and Alistair Cook against lacklustre bowling from the visitors’ much-vaunted attack  yesterday.

It had all begun triumphantly for South Africa with Morkel trapping the home-team’s captain Andrew Strauss lbw in the first over at The Oval. It was originally ruled not out but was successfully reviewed.

As the three-match  Test series got underway, former South African paceman Steve Elworthy said he would “give the edge to the English side, because they are playing on home soil”.

But Elworthy said the bowling attacks were “very similar”, with each side having a parallel array of pace bowlers who either employed bounce or swing to intimidate and take wickets.

He said the first two days of play at The Oval, alongside the famous gasometer in south London, could have a big bearing on the future of the series. He felt it would not take long for South Africa to remove the rustiness that may have come from a couple of months off – followed by two rain-affected matches against mediocre county sides. England had warmed up with a victorious home Test series against the West Indies, followed by successful one-day contests against the same country and Australia.


“It doesn’t take long for these guys to hit the straps,” he told The Citizen. “It may take a session or two. South Africa may be under-prepared but they may be very fresh too. It depends how (Proteas coach) Gary Kirsten has prepared them mentally.”

He strongly supported the decision to allow the team several days in the Alps, where they went through bonding exercises and endurance tests that Jacques Rudolph said were “tests we never thought we could handle, but we did”.

Elworthy says such bonding exercises are helpful in all team sports but particularly in cricket. “It is not just a physical game” he said. “With international sport, 90% is a mental game.
“It is  key to be together as a team and as a unit.”

Elworthy, who is now working for the England Cricket Board as director of communications, is not worried about AB de Villiers keeping wicket in this match, while also expected him to score big runs.


“You see him keep and he looks like he absolutely loves it. He’s a natural at it,” Elworthy noted.

However, he added that towards the second half of a projected 15 Test-match days keeping wicket his batting might be affected.
“As the series wears on fatigue may play a role.”

De Villers has replaced veteran world-record-holder Mark Boucher after a bail struck his eye. With De Villiers behind the stumps, South Africa has strengthened its batting by bringing in JP Duminy.
 
Hardly surprisingly Elworthy sees the form of Jacques Kallis as a key match-and-series-winning issue.


“Kallis is so great he could be picked (solely) as a bowler or (solely) as a batter in any world side,” Elworthy said. “However, now that Boucher is not there to marshal the tail, there is a little but more pressure on Jacques to perform with the bat.”

Elworthy made a stark prediction though: a 2-1 series win to England.
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