Ivo Tennant casts an eye over the first day's play at Lord's

Winning the toss

Graeme Smith's decision to field upon winning the toss, below, was doubtless influenced by the amount of rain that fell in North London on Wednesday and the expectation that the pitch would have sweated under the covers. This, allied to cloud cover in the morning, which did enable the South Africa fast bowlers to swing the ball, would have accentuated the captain's decision to ask England to bat.

The reality was that the pitch turned out to be flat. The introduction of Paul Harris's left-arm spin before lunch was indicative of Smith's ploy not coming off. Harris had plenty more bowling to do afterwards in conditions that did not assist him. Mind you, England would have bowled first had they won the toss.

The telling partnership

Not the one between Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, although that did realise 114, but Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell, who put on an unbroken 192. Neither had scored when they came together, but their contrasting styles, to say nothing of their different heights, were instrumental factors in their stand. No matter that Bell spent 68 minutes in the forties.

Pietersen, who had been outscored initially, assumed control in the way he flayed good-length balls outside off stump, hooked Dale Steyn and sought to take on Harris. Where he was flamboyant in thought and movement, Bell was incapable of playing an inelegant shot. That said, the opening partnership made all this possible.

Targeting Paul Harris

Mickey Arthur, the South Africa coach, had said that it would be naive to suppose that England's batsmen would not target Harris, above, and he was proved correct. The manner in which Pietersen drove the left-arm spinner for four and six to long-on, swept him for four immediately after reaching his half-century and tried to fetch a good-length ball from outside off stump to leg emphasised that this was a bowler to be hit out of the attack. South Africa have not produced a top-class spin bowler since John Traicos - and that was 40 years ago.