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Match on!!!!

JP Duminy won a successful review against Anderson after the ball went down the leg side and an appeal was upheld.

By the time the review happened and Duminy took guard again, the Anderson of the World Cup quitely disappeared and the Anderson of the Ashes form took his mark and bowled an unplayable swinging yourker that homed in on Duminy's off stump and successfully uprooted it.

Here's how it stands:

SA need 47 of 96.

van Wyk and Peterson are at the wicket, Morkel, Steyn and Tahir yet to come.

And most important, Swann has two overs left.

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Double strike!

First was AB, bowled by Anderson.

He pitched it short of length, AB was in two minds before deciding to see it through to the keeper. That he did safely, but for the small matter of the ball having clipped the bails on its way there. Lazy!

In the next over from Swann, Du Plessis deflected the first ball off his legs, and the forward momentum carried him out of his crease. Ian Bell, who was doing duty at short leg, flicked the ball back on to Priot who removed the bail in time.

England becomes the first team to dismiss five South Africans in this world cup!!

But did they post enough on the board to make a match of this?

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The problem with small totals is that if you dont get wickets quickly and regularly, the opposition gets to bite off a huge chunk of the target between wickets.

That is exactly what AB and du Plessis have done here, though KP has been bowling really well. Even if England get a wicket now, SA require only 66 off 23 overs.

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Though the nurdle to third man has been around for a while, recent months have seen the birth of a new shot: the nudge through vacant slip.
The nurdle to third man is relatively safe because even it is not done correctly, most times there isnt any slip and the batsman gets away.

But this new shot is mostly employed against the straighter ball and comes with the high risk of chopping the ball onto your stumps.

Trott tried to employ this shot twice earlier in the morning, when there was only a second slip and first slip was vacant but did not get any run for his effort.

Amla shaped up to do the same to Broad now, was beaten for pace, and played on.

Soon, Kallis edges one to Prior and the only doubt is if he took it clean. He says he did and Kallis goes too.

Double strike from Broad gives England a slim chance to get back into this match.

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England gert their first wicket and it had to be Swann!!

Smith was throughout this innings unsure of how to handle Swann. He let a lot of away spinners alone and there was a brief flash as he lofted him on the off side for a four, but Swann had the final laugh.

He got one to bite the surface and spit at Smith, who looked to block it.

Prior was quick with the gather and bowler and keeper went up in appeal.

After multiple zoom-ins, the third umpire decided he had seen enough evidence to over turn the on field umpire's not-out decision.

Now how much more can Swann do?

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England have tried everything, but have not got that a wicket.

Swann, introduced in the seventh over, has been getting a lot of turn from this pitch, but Amla has been assured and confident against him.

While the English batsmen were frozen at the crease and looked to pick the spinners off the pitch, Amla has been getting to the pitch of the ball and negating any bite the pitch might offer.

Smith, though, has been happy to let most balls from Swann go by, mostly because the stock ball goes away from him.

South Africa are 48-0 after 12, and it is now time to bring on Shane Warne. :)

Seriously, that is the only way South Africa is going to lose this match from that score.

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For any outside chance to get into this match, England needed a quick wicket or three.

But it was not to happen in the first six overs.

There was a half chance that Strauss could not reach and slip grassed a comparitively easier chance off the same Yardy over.

Swann comes on in the seventh over.

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The South African chase is underway.

Copycat Strauss does a Smith by opening with Yardy.

Amla does not do an encore of Strauss a he despatches the third ball to fence.

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England: 171 all out

That is it.

Overall, a clinial and disciplined performance from the South African bowlers.

Peterson used the surprise element to get rid of Strauss and KP in the first over, and the England innings was soon doomed once he got rid of Bell too.

Trott and Bopara steadied the innings, but once Trott went after his 50, the gulf in class between these two teams showed.

Though Peterson opened up the English top order, Morkel was the pick of the South African bowlers, keep it tight and straight.

If England are to make a match of this, a lot depends on how early Strauss brings on Swann. Because, if the South African openers get going, there wont be much for Swann to do by the time he usually comes on.

Despite Peterson's early harvest, the standout bowler today has been Morne Morkel. He has been immaculate, keeping it just short of length and generating good pace and bounce. There has not been a chance for the batsmen to either free their arms, or get on to their front foot.

Especially in his second spell, England's lower order have found him virtually unplayable.

If England were to get to some respectable score, a lot depended on Ravi Bopara, who was all set to up the tempo after he had reached his 50 off 87 balls.

But in the 38^th over, Morkel pitched one in line with the off stump about a couple of inches farther than his bread-and-butter length and got it to jag back into Bopara who was caught at the crease. The onfield umpire gave him out LBW, and Bopara had no luck with his review.

This is now almost over for England.

Just as I finished typing that, Smith brought on Steyn at the other end in an attempt to shoot out the England tail quickly.

While Morkel has been concentrating on length and has been happy to let the pitch do the rest, Steyn got the very first ball of his spell to reverse. It pitched short but did not bounce too much and trapped Bresnan in front of the wickets. The review showed that the ball would have hit the outside of the leg stump and the umpire was disinclined to overturn his original decision,

England have now run out of reviews, and are yet to take their powerplay. At the rate at which Steyn and Morkel are going, they don't have much time to take it.

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A feature of this innings so far has been that Smith has never kept a bowler on for longer than 3 overs at the most. And he has used seven of them. At the end of 35 overs, the bowling card read 7,6,4,4,5,5,4. What this ensured was that even when there were two set batsmen at the crease, they could never get into any kind of rhythm and truly get on top of any one bowler.

Morkel emerged from Smith's bowling carousel in the 36^th over and bowled to Prior, who was looking to up the tempo from the moment he arrived at the crease, the kind of beauty that immediately gets writers to resort to clichés, because there is no other way to describe it.

Morkel kept bowled it from close the stumps and pitched it at that length patented by Glenn McGrath and got it to climb on Prior, who stood rooted and tried to fend it away from his body. AB safely took the edge.

England now stare at a sub-200 score. South Africa have been clinical so far. Good disciplined bowling, a captain who thinks on his feet, and outstanding fielding have kept the pressure constantly on the England batsmen.

The batting powerplay is yet to come, but do England have it in them to capitalize on it?

Scorecard

England 115/4 after 31

Peterson's first spell resembling a football formation (4-2-4-3) was never going to stand. As he came on in the 27^th over, these two played him as he should be – on merit, ball by ball – and more than doubled his runs conceded.

In the next over off Steyn, Trott reached his fifty by driving the ball hard into the pitch. It missed the bowler's outstretched hands and a diving mid-off before Smith pulled it back in near the ropes.

Smith gave one more over to Peterson and then replaced Steyn at the other end with Tahir. This quick switching of his resources looked like the early signs of desperation from Smith.

The sense of urgency he showed immediately paid off.

First, Tahir bowled a full toss and Trott took a swipe at it. Steyn, patrolling the arc between Long on and deep mid wicket came running in, threw himself head on. He was parallel to the ground when he had the ball, but as he crash landed, the ball bounced on impact.

A couple of balls later, Tahir got one to bounce marginally higher than normal. Trott, who has throughout this innings tried to come down to the pitch of the ball fended it not unlike what Bell had done with Peterson, and was dismissed in the same fashion: The bowler going full stretch to his left to pouch it.

A good recovery act comes to an end and a lot will depend now on whether Bopara can show the temperament to play the long innings. His highest in 56 innings so far is 60.

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England 97/3 after 25:

A couple of veteran journalists have already said that 240 or even 200 on this pitch will be tough to chase.

That is not suprisingt, considering that the best spinner in today's match will come on in the second innings and also that the South Africans are not terribly fond of spin.

Supporting Swann for England will be Yardy, who should be to England what Peterson was for the Safs, and if he is fit and up to it, KP.

That is at least 20 overs of spin that South Africa will have to weather.

In that light, Smith's reluctance to bring Peterson back on for a quick couple of overs is surprising.

Just as I was typing that, an ICC tweet says the average first innings score on this Chennai pitch is 240.

Trott and Bopara have been solid in the meanwhile, the only glitch in this period being a mix up that required Bopara to scamper back and dive in.

In the 25^th over Bopara's eyes lit up as JP Duminy dropped one short. He skipped down to loft it into the stands over mid wicket for the match's first six.

Bopara, 35, is fast catching up with Trott, on 41.

Smith has now used seven bowlers who have bowled between 2 and 4 overs each, as he brings back Steyn for another spell. Still no sight of Peterson.

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England 73/3 after 19 overs:



In the 15^th over, Imran Tahir, whose action reminds one of Mushtaq Ahmed, got one to pitch on the leg stump and turn considerably. Trott got down on his knees to sweep it, was beaten by the turn, and was hit on the thigh. The onfield umpire upheld the LBW appeal, and TRott chose to review it. Replays showed it turned quite a bit to miss leg. Though he was beaten, Trott clearly knew where his off stump was.

Both spinners have gotten good turn off the pitch.

Also, Smith seems to have read the pitch better than Strauss, who before the match said he expected a bit of swing early on and nothing else on this track.

But though he took England by surprise by opening with Peterson and has tried to rotate his bowlers in the first 15 overs, it would have been better had he given Peterson a couple of overs more before Trott and Bopara settled down.

He can't let these two consolidate.

In the same period, Trott and Bopara raised their 50 partnership off 72 balls. Bopara was the quicker of the two, but Trott has looked assured against all the bowlers, including the spinners, and England will be hoping he stays till the end, as the others play around him.

Probably sensing that his quicks are not troubling these two, Smith introduces JP Duminy in the 19^th over.

Scorecard:

Overs 7-13: England 47/3

Over numbers 7 to 12 were more like England vs South Africa as we know it. Quicks pitching it just back of the length, and the batsmen starting out cautiously.

In fact, Trott and Bopara have been more at home against Morkel and Kallis than the top three were to Peterson.

Trott has in fact looked more assured against Kallis than Morkel. He is on 19 off 43.

Imran Tahir comes on in the 13^th over.

Okay, now England, this is the man you have been planning and doing your home work for. Don't mess this up!

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This is a huge match for England, whose thrill-a-minute world cup campaign, though exciting to watch, has not taken them anywhere in the points table.

Thus when Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bat, he – along with Kevin Pietersen -- must have been all pumped up to face Steyn and Morkel.

As he took strike, he must have been shocked to see not the approaching whirl of Dale Steyn, but the wiry Robin Peterson.

At least, the way he hoisted the second ball of the first over straight to the only man in the deep on the leg side, showed that he was not prepared to face the spinner and that he took the first approach that came to his mind.

Remember in their match against Zimbabwe, the Australians were prepared mentally to face 40 overs of spin and their were not worried to concede the upper hand to Ray Price, as they waited for the right opportunities.

The way Strauss and then Pietersen – a tame prod to slip off a stock ball that turned away from him just a bit – played, it was clear that not only were they not prepared to face Peterson, but also were not quick on their feet to device a strategy against the spinner.

That first over meant that Jonathan Trott was virtually opening the innings with Ian Bell against Steyn.

Peterson's second over had plenty of evidence that this track will provide plenty of turn off the track, as Jonathan Trott played out a cautious maiden over. Graeme Swann would have noticed that.

Bell started adventurously as Steyn dug one in short, as he swiveled into position quickly to excute a savage pull.

The fifth over of the innings – Peterson's third was the first time Bell faced him and immediately came down the track. Peterson saw him coming and dropped it just short enough so that the ball met Bell in sort of no-man's land. Bell fended it awkwardly and as the ball ballooned in front of the wicket, Peterson threw himself full length to his left to take a spectacular catch.

At the end of 6 overs, England were 15/3, and Peterson 4/3.

That clever spell has meant that England will use up the mandatory and bowling powerplays building their innings from the scratch, rather than setting the platform for the middle overs.

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That's it folks, the Pietersen Vs Steyn is not happening today.

Of the last ball of the first over, Peterson turned one away from Pietersen as he came forward. Typical left armer's ball and an easy catch at slip.

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South Africa open with Robin Peterson.

He bowled the first ball on Strauss's pads and followed it up with a wide one down the leg side. The third ball was also pitched on the leg stump like it was the plan, and Strauss obliged, picking out the only man on that side of the park.

Scorecard:

England: AJ Strauss*, KP Pietersen, IJL Trott, IR Bell, RS Bopara, MJ PriorÃÂÂÂÃÃÂÂÂÂÃÃ‚‚ƒÃƒÂƒÃ‚ƒÃ‚ƒÃ‚‚ƒÃ‚ƒÃ‚ƒÃ‚‚‚‚ÂÂÂÃÃÃÂÃÃ‚‚ƒÃƒÂ‚ƒÃ‚ƒÃ‚‚ƒÃ‚ƒÃ‚ƒÃ‚‚‚†, MH Yardy, TT Bresnan, GP Swann, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson

Bopara comes in for the injured Collingwood.

South Africa are unchanged:
Graeme Smith (capt), Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (wk), JP Duminy, Morne van Wyk, Francois du Plessis, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.

England has won the toss and have elected to bat.