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Aiming Harris to long-on for the six to bring up his hundred, he got slightly too close to the ball and watched it rifle towards A. B. de Villiers, three-quarters of the way to the boundary. Pietersen looked on, twitching his body, as a golfer observes a putt that is about to miss the hole, hoping that it would just clear De Villiers. As the fielder plucked the ball out of the air, tumbling backward, Pietersen twice smashed his bat into his pad. He looked even more culpable two runs later when Andrew Flintoff poked Harris to short leg.

This was poor cricket from a man whose intelligence at the crease can rarely be faulted. Earlier, Nel taunted Pietersen with the words “Come on, Ego”. For a while, as Pietersen flayed South Africa it looked as though the ego had landed, but, as ever, hubris comes before the fall.

England: First Innings 231 (A N Cook 76, I R Bell 50)

South Africa: First Innings

N D McKenzie lbw b Flintoff 72
(175min, 127 balls, 12 fours)
*G C Smith c Strauss b Flintoff 7
(31min, 21 balls)
P L Harris c Cook b Sidebottom 19
(91min, 54 balls, 3 fours)
H M Amla c and b Anderson 9
(33min, 23 balls)
J H Kallis b Flintoff 64
(141min, 114 balls, 9 fours)
A G Prince c Ambrose b Sidebottom 39
(166min, 104 balls, 7 fours)
A B de Villiers c Sidebottom b Flintoff 5
(17min, 17 balls, 1 four)
†M V Boucher c Vaughan b Anderson 40
(90min, 49 balls, 6 fours)
M Morkel lbw b Anderson 18
(46min, 33 balls, 4 fours)
A Nel b Sidebottom 0
(5min, 4 balls)
M Ntini not out 0
(11min, 2 balls)
Extras (35 lb, 6 nb) 41

Total (90.2 overs, 408min) 314

Fall of wickets: 1-17 (7.2; McKenzie 5); 2-94 (27.2; McKenzie 47); 3-117 (35.1; McKenzie 60); 4-135 (39.0; Kallis 5); 5-226 (68.4; Prince 29); 6-238 (72.4; Prince 31); 7-264 (78.0; Boucher 12); 8-293 (87.0; Boucher 19); 9-298 (88.0; Boucher 24).

Bowling: Sidebottom 25-9-81-3 (nb 1; 13 fours; 6-2-16-0/stumps/1-0-10-0, 5-3-9-1, 4-1-14-0, 2-0-11-0, 7-3-21-2); Anderson 26.2-6-72-3 (nb 3; 11 fours; 3-0-10-0, 6-2-16-0, 4-1-8-1, 6-1-20-0, 4-1-10-0, 3.2-1-8-2); Flintoff 30-8-89-4 (nb 2; 12 fours; 2-1-4-1/stumps/1.3-0-3-0/rain/3.3-2-3-0, 3-0-14-0/lunch/6-0-24-1, 4-3-5-0, 6-2-15-2/stumps/4-0-21-0); Collingwood 2-0-12-0 (3 fours; one spell); Panesar 7-0-25-0 (3 fours; 6-0-16-0, 1-0-9-0).

Scoring notes: First day: Stumps (at 6.31pm) 38-1 (11 overs, 50min; McKenzie 12, Harris 10). Second day: Rain delayed start by 14min. Rain break 11.24 to 11.43am — 51-1 (13.3 overs; McKenzie 25, Harris 10). Lunch 104-2 (31 overs, 139min; McKenzie 52, Amla 4). Tea (at 3.58pm) 205-4 (63 overs, 275min; Kallis 48, Prince 24). Rain delayed restart by 82min until 5.24pm. Bad light ended play at 6.23pm — abandoned at 6.38pm. Stumps 256-6 (76 overs, 334min; Prince 37, Boucher 11). Third day: Second new ball taken at 11.18am — 268-7 (80 overs). All out at 12.13pm having added 58 for four wickets off 14.2 overs in 74min. 81 overs left. Rain at 12.14pm — lunch taken at 12.30pm.

England: Second Innings

A J Strauss c Kallis b Morkel 25
(99min, 65 balls, 2 fours)
A N Cook c Boucher b Ntini 9
(21min, 12 balls, 2 fours)
*M P Vaughan c Amla b Nel 17
(27min, 18 balls, 4 fours)
K P Pietersen c De Villiers b Harris 94
(187min, 136 balls, 13 fours)
I R Bell c Boucher b Ntini 20
(35min, 27 balls, 4 fours)
P D Collingwood not out 101
(206min, 140 balls, 1 six, 14 fours)
A Flintoff c Amla b Harris 2
(4min, 4 balls)
†T R Ambrose not out 19
(99min, 78 balls, 2 fours)
Extras (4 b, 2 lb, 4 w) 10

Total (6 wkts, 80 overs, 342min) 297

R J Sidebottom, J M Anderson and M S Panesar to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (5.2; Strauss 5); 2-39 (11.0; Strauss 12); 3-70 (22.1; Pietersen 18); 4-104 (30.1; Pietersen 32); 5-219 (53.1; Collingwood 50); 6-221 (53.5; Collingwood 50).

Bowling: Morkel 15-1-75-1 (w 2; 12 fours; 3-1-5-0, 5-0-23-1, 3-0-32-0, 4-0-15-0); Nel 15-2-67-1 (11 fours; 2-1-6-0, 7-1-33-1, 4-0-22-0, 2-0-6-0); Ntini 13-3-43-2 (w 2; 5 fours; 3-0-15-1, 4-0-16-1, 4-2-5-0, 2-1-7-0); Kallis 16-4-46-0 (7 fours; 5-1-10-0, 3-1-5-0/tea/4-1-17-0, 2-1-5-0, 2-0-9-0); Harris 21-3-60-2 (1 six, 6 fours; 5-1-12-0, 10-2-34-2, 6-0-14-0).

Scoring notes: Third day: Tea 126-4 (37 overs, 166min; Pietersen 42, Collingwood 9). Stumps (at 7.11pm) 297-6 (80 overs, 342min; Collingwood 101, Ambrose 19).

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan — 49th Test) and S J Davis (Australia — 12th). Replay umpire: I J Gould. Fourth umpire: R J Bailey. Match referee: R S Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

Series details: First Test (Lord’s): Drawn. Second Test (Headingley): South Africa won by ten wickets.

Test to come: Fourth Test (Brit Oval) Aug 7-11.

-Compiled by Bill Frindall