The build-up to this game witnessed the siege of Lord's by hordes of goggle-eyed South Africa supporters being given the guided tour. For three days their team resembled a bunch of wide-eyed tourists as well, so overawed did they seem by the apparent immensity of the occasion and the history of the place. Yesterday was the day they finally put away their autograph books and digital cameras, knuckled down to the task in hand and set about trying to create a bit of history of their own.

Only once before has a touring team batted through a whole day's Test cricket in England without losing a wicket and for a long time yesterday it appeared that South Africa would become the second. It was not until the second new ball was taken, half an hour before the scheduled close of play, that South Africa's opening partnership was prised apart. Failing to take into account the extra pace and bounce offered by the new ball, Graeme Smith skied a pull shot off James Anderson to give England their first and only success of the day.

Hashim Amla survived a barrage of short-pitched bowling to finish the day unbeaten on 20, but it was Smith and Neil McKenzie, his opening partner, who were entirely responsible for injecting their team with a transfusion of hope. Both scored fine hundreds and shared a first-wicket partnership of 204. Since they lay claim to the record opening partnership in Test cricket (415 against Bangladesh) this was a mere trifling but, given the situation, the occasion and the relative merits of the bowling attacks, their efforts yesterday will have given them more pleasure.

With just 229 runs scored and the run-rate hovering at below 2 per over throughout, this was an oldfashioned kind of a day. For the first time this summer, England's bowlers were made to toil. Monty Panesar wheeled away from the Nursery End but he remained wicketless and, in truth, rarely looked like causing problems, the tortoise-slow pitch nullifying his threat. Nor was there much movement in the air or off the pitch for England's seam bowlers.

With the St John's Recreation Ground in Antigua no longer on the Test rota, Lord's is fast becoming the bowlers' graveyard of international cricket. When, late in the day, McKenzie pushed Anderson into the off side and called Amla through for a quick single to bring up his hundredth run, it was the fifth century of the match. The pitch remains true and easy paced and South Africa now have a great opportunity to save the game.

In such conditions, England needed to take every chance and half-chance that came their way. Tim Ambrose fluffed the only genuine opportunity, a thick edge from Smith off Kevin Pietersen that failed to stick in his left palm (and, in any case, was not costly), but there were sundry other half-chances and near misses that added to England's sense of frustration.

In truth, England's bowlers did not bowl badly, and, like the conjuror he is, Michael Vaughan, the captain, displayed all his trickery. In such conditions, though, old-fashioned discipline and toil is not enough. But England have no one to bowl wrist spin and, in the absence of Stephen Harmison, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff, no one to rough up the opposition or reverse swing the ball at extreme pace.

The suspicion remains that Ryan Sidebottom is not 100 per cent fit (he has been struggling with his lower back for some time) so the selectors may have their decision on Flintoff's (or Jones's) participation at Headingley made for them.

By mid-afternoon, with the run-rate threatening to go into reverse, England were reduced to orchestrating the crowd into a frenzy of slow handclapping. More than that, there was the odd bit of tomfoolery too, such as when Andrew Strauss feigned a sliding stop in order to con the batsman and prevent them from taking a second run. The only trouble was that it bamboozled Pietersen, following up behind, and the ball rolled harmlessly away to the boundary for four. Panesar was not amused and shot Strauss a look as if to say, leave the jolly japes on the fields of Radley, Andrew.

Suddenly, England's domination of the previous three days seemed a distant memory. Smith, no doubt, had not forgotten his troubles and he knew that runs were essential for his self-esteem. His strength of character is, perhaps, his greatest asset as a cricketer and any spectators unaware of the events of the previous three days would have been hard pressed to imagine that things had gone so badly for him. There was an assertiveness and commitment about his play that, in the circumstances, was mightily impressive. With the rough outside the left-hander's off stump, Panesar would have hoped to cause Smith endless problems. But Smith read Panesar's length flawlessly, which allowed him to defend deep in his crease, and, when Panesar overcompensated, drive him against the spin through the covers. For the most part, though, Smith simply moved across his crease and milked the spinner through the leg side.

Panesar might have thought about bowling around the wicket more to create an angle and give himself a chance of beating Smith on the outside edge.

McKenzie was no less impressive. For the first half of the day, with his low backlift and limpet-like occupation of the crease, he gave a passable impersonation of Chris Tavaré. But as England tired, McKenzie showed that he has plenty of arrows in his quiver. The celebration of his hundred was suitably low-key, a recognition that this was simply a landmark to be passed on the way to greater achievement. There is still much work to do.

Scoreboard

England: First Innings 593 for 8 dec (I R Bell 199, K P Pietersen 152, S C J Broad 76, A N Cook 60; M Morkel 4 for 121).

South Africa: First Innings
*G C Smith c Bell b Anderson 8
(23 min, 21 balls, 1 four)
N D McKenzie b Panesar 40
(139min, 89 balls, 5 fours)
H M Amla c Ambrose b Broad 6
(42min, 32 balls, 1 four)
J H Kallis c Strauss b Sidebottom 7
(35min, 19 balls, 1 four)
A G Prince c Ambrose b Sidebottom 101
(295min, 183 balls, 1 six, 13 fours)
A B de Villiers c Anderson b Panesar 42
(128min, 119 balls, 5 fours)
M V Boucher b Broad 4
(16min, 11 balls)
M Morkel b Panesar 6
(22min, 22 balls, 1 four)
P L Harris c Anderson b Panesar 6
(19min, 18 balls, 1 four)
D W Steyn c Sidebottom b Pietersen 19
(81min, 46 balls, 2 fours)
M Ntini not out 0
(13min, 1 ball)
Extras (1 b, 4 lb, 3 w) 8

Total (93.3 overs, 412min) 247

Fall of wickets: 1-13 (5.2; McKenzie 5); 2-28 (15.0; McKenzie 12); 3-47 (22.0; McKenzie 24); 4-83 (30.1; Prince 20); 5-161 (63.0; Prince 53); 6-166 (67.1; Prince 54); 7-191 (73.0; Prince 73); 8-203 (76.5; Prince 77); 9-245 (90.5; Steyn 17).

Bowling: Sidebottom 19-3-41-2 (6 fours; 2-0-5-0/stumps/3-1-6-0, 5-1-7-1, 5-0-13-0, 4-1-10-1); Anderson 21-7-36-1 (w 1; 1 four; 1.2-0-2-0/stumps/5.4-4-2-1, 3-0-18-0, 5-1-8-0/tea/4-2-4-0, 2-0-2-0); Broad 23-3-88-2 (w 2; 15 fours; 5-1-22-1, 2-1-8-0/lunch/5-0-15-0, 11-1-43-1); Panesar 26-4-74-4 (1 six, 8 fours; 2-0-6-0/lunch/9-2-33-1, 2-0-5-0/tea/12-2-29-3, 1-0-1-0); Collingwood 4-1-3-0 (one spell); Pietersen 0.3-0-0-1.

South Africa: Second Innings
*G C Smith c Pietersen b Anderson 107
(340min, 207 balls, 11 fours)
N D McKenzie not out 102
(405min, 323 balls, 13 fours)
H M Amla not out 20
(64min, 46 balls, 3 fours)
Extras (4 b, 5 lb, 3 w, 1 nb) 13

Total (1 wicket, 96 overs, 405min) 242

Fall of wicket: 1-204 (81.1; McKenzie 85).

Bowling: Panesar 33-8-70-0 (8 fours; 2-0-7-0, 9-3-15-0/lunch/4-1-9-0, 1-0-3-0, 4-2-8-0/tea/10-1-22-0, 3-1-6-0); Pietersen 6-1-19-0 (2 fours; 2-1-2-0, 1-0-6-0, 3-0-11-0); Sidebottom 18-6-23-0 (nb 1; 2 fours; 3-0-8-0, 6-4-2-0, 3-1-6-0, 3-0-5-0, 3-1-2-0); Anderson 19-4-52-1 (w 1; 6 fours; 6-1-13-0, 8-3-24-0, 5-0-15-1); Broad 15-3-55-0 (w 2; 7 fours; 2-0-7-0, 1-1-0-0, 6-2-11-0, 4-0-25-0, 2-0-12-0); Collingwood 5-3-14-0 (2 fours; 2-2-0-0/tea/3-1-14-0).

Scoring notes: Third day: Close (at 7pm) 13-0 (4 overs, 11min; Smith 8, McKenzie 1). Two overs lost. Fourth day: Lunch 67-0 (32 overs, 134min; Smith 36, McKenzie 24). Tea 128-0 (60 overs, 253min; Smith 71, McKenzie 50). Second new ball taken at 5.21pm - 200-0 (80 overs). Close (at 6.33pm) 242-1 (96 overs, 405min; McKenzie 102, Amla 20).

Umpires: B F Bowden (New Zealand - 47th Test) and D J Harper (Australia - 72nd).

Replay umpire: N J Llong.

Fourth umpire: R T Robinson.

Match referee: J J Crowe (New Zealand).

Tests to come

Second Test (Headingley Carnegie) July 18-22.
Third Test (Edgbaston) July 30-August 3.
Fourth Test (The Oval) August 7-11.

Compiled by Bill Frindall