After watching the spectacular affair of the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the cricket seemed a saner event. But for heroic effects, there was nothing short on offer. Kevin Pietersen has decided to make this a memorable affair and it may have just helped England restore the pride that was badly tarnished after the Test at Edgbaston. Ntini held the brakes but will it be enough for South Africa?
Makhaya’s eighteenth five wicket haul in an innings in a Test also included the wicket of the England captain. But not before Pietersen was the epitome of class and supremacy in his first century as captain in the first Test that he has taken on the responsibility. It may be too early to say this and only time and tougher Tests will tell how much Pietersen will have to dedicate his time away from his own batting. But for the moment, he has silenced the many questions that were raised about making the one man in true form in the most difficult job in England’s cricket in present times. It was also perhaps the reason why local lad Andrew Flintoff was shielded from the responsibility a second time round.
His superlative shots straight down the ground and delicate but decisive pulls made it an innings to watch and one that steadily pushed a positive result for South Africa further away. His innings can be better put in perspective because it gave the tail enders an opportunity to use the comfort zone initiated by him to really annoy the South Africans by adding another hundred runs since his departure.
What seemed like a modest lead suddenly turned into a full blown deficit that South Africa had to overhaul before they could set a target that would test England in the fourth innings. The task became harder when South Africa lost their hero from Edgbaston, skipper Graeme Smith, before a single run was scored in South Africa’s second innings.

Man for the morning:
It is Kevin Pietersen’s turn to do it for England for the bat. At the moment, he is entrenched and rubbing it into the South Africans. But the visitors are not too unhappy.
Makhaya Ntini has been overshadowed by Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn performing outstandingly for South Africa. Perhaps this is the Test and just the ideal scenario for him to raise his game a notch and get South Africa back into fighting form after their batting lapse yesterday. Ntini struck twice to have South Africa going in reasonably contented at lunch.
SA had an interesting start when Makhaya took Ian Bell out of the equation with the fourth ball of the day. With Bell gone, the focus shifted to Alistair Cook who has shown reasonable amount of guts on this tour, even when the wind refused to blow their way. Today however he would have to be faulted. He gave away all the hard and the initiative back to the visitors and left Pietersen the task of truly taking the game further away from the visitors, not if South Africa have anything to do about it.