Andrew Strauss is concerned about the fitness of his three fast bowlers after the decision to go into the first Test against South Africa with a four-man attack blew up in his face. The captain had to ask for help from back-up bowlers Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott after Graham Onions left the field with a calf strain. Onions, who was England's best fast bowler, was absent for a period before and after tea and was unable to bowl immediately when he returned.
In addition both his main fast bowlers, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, were below their best and Broad, in particular, struggled with the second new ball at the end of the day after leaving the field for treatment. All four bowlers, Anderson (right knee), Broad (shoulder), Onions (back) and Graeme Swann (side) had suffered injuries leading up to the match and Ashwell Prince, the South Africa opener, said tonight: "We knew that Jimmy was struggling a bit."
Meanwhile, Swann, England's most successful bowler with two of England's four wickets today, said the players had to improve on their use of the umpiring review system after botching both of their attempts to get decisions overturned. "We keep messing it up, we've got to get better at it," he said. "We had a quick conflab over the lbw and we all thought it had to be out but it wasn't.
"Then the caught behind, we all knew it was out and the system said it wasn't. We said: 'We're not going to call for caught behinds unless we're certain'," Swann said. "But everyone round the bat was certain, so we called for it. The system as it is, without the 'snicko' and the thermo sensor, was inconclusive so, once again, we've wasted them."
England made their first unsuccessful appeal after century-maker Jacques Kallis had been given not out lbw. The convinced England fielders questioned the decision but replays suggested Kallis had inside-edged the ball on to his pads.
England got it wrong again a short time afterwards when both Swann and the wicketkeeper Matt Prior appeared certain that AB de Villiers had got an edge to an attempted slog-sweep but without the presence of the HotSpot cameras the third umpire was unable to overturn the decision.
England's other mistake, in retrospect, was to choose to bowl after winning the toss. But in this case there was some excuse for their decision.
There was a green tinge to the surface and more than a suspicion of dampness when Strauss won the toss and even though Graeme Smith, the South Africa captain, said he would have batted the temptation to bowl first was a strong one.
"I think we were justified bowling first," said Swann. "It looked green and seemed a bit damp yesterday so we were all behind the decision."
"No one said Test cricket was easy. We've stuck in, taken four wickets and they've not got away from us. South Africa is renowned for good batting pitches so there's a lot of hard work to come."
