Andrew Strauss hit a sparkling half-century and led a strong England response to a challenging South African total on the second day of the second Test at Kingsmead here on Sunday. Strauss made 54 as England reached 103 for one in reply to South Africa's 343 all out before bad light stopped play an hour before the scheduled close.
On an overcast day, with the floodlights on from the start of play, South Africa's total seemed a good effort in conditions which had been expected to be favourable for bowlers. But Strauss made batting look easy as he struck eight fours and reached 50 off 49 balls before tea, taking advantage of some ill-directed South African bowling, as he and opening partner Alastair Cook took the total to 59 for no wicket off 14 overs.
The resumption was delayed by half an hour because of rain. South Africa bowled better after the break, however, and Strauss was given out leg before wicket to Morne Morkel before he had added to his score, surviving when he asked for a review and a replay showed a faint inside edge into his pads. Strauss played only one more scoring stroke, a slash for four off Morkel, before the tall fast bowler forced him back onto his stumps and bowled him off an inside edge. Morkel was easily South Africa's best bowler, taking one for 22 in nine overs. It was the second successive day on which a substantial amount of play was lost.
SCOREBOARD:
-- South Africa, first innings (overnight 175-5)
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G. Smith run out (Cook) 75
A. Prince c Swann b Anderson 2
H. Amla lbw b Broad 2
J. Kallis c Collingwood b Swann 75
A. de Villiers c Prior b Broad 50
J. Duminy lbw b Onions 4
M. Boucher lbw b Swann 39
M. Morkel lbw b Swann 23
P. Harris lbw b Swann 2
D. Steyn c Prior b Anderson 47
M. Ntini not out 6
Extras: (b1, lb17) 18
Total: (108.3 overs, mins) 343
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Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Prince), 2-10 (Amla), 3-160 (Kallis), 4-166 (Smith), 5-170 (Duminy), 6-233 (Boucher), 7-269 (De Villiers), 8-280 (Harris), 9-285 (Morkel)
Bowling: Anderson 23.3-4-75-2, Onions 23-6-62-1, Broad 20-6-44-2, Swann 35-3-110-4, Trott 4-0-19-0, Pietersen 2-0-7-0, Collingwood 1-0-8-0
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England, first innings:
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A. Strauss b Morkel 54
A. Cook not out 31
J. Trott not out 17
Extras: (nb1) 1
Total: (1 wkt, 26.2 overs) 103
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To bat: J. Trott, K. Pietersen, P. Collingwood, I. Bell, M. Prior, S. Broad, G. Swann, J. Anderson, G. Onions.
Bowling: Steyn 8.2-1-30-0, Ntini 3-0-25-0, Morkel 9-3-22-1, Kallis 2-0-12-0 (nb1), Harris 4-0-14-0
Match position: England trail by 240 runs with nine wickets remaining in the first innings
Toss: South Africa
Umpires: Aleem Dar (PAK) and Amish Saheba (IND).
TV umpire: Steve Davis (AUS).
Match referee: Roshan Mahanama (SRI).
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