Stubborn South Africa show how England need Freddie’s magic

Michael Vaughan may not be counting on Andrew Flintoff to sprinkle his magic dust all over Headingley, but England’s weary bowlers will surely greet the return of their favourite conjuror with open arms for the second Test.

What England were crying out for during 111⁄2 hours of South Africa’s second-innings defiance at Lord’s was the X-Factor that Vaughan so accurately said Flintoff possesses.

Stalemate: England and South Africa players shake hands as the first Test is called a draw

The return of the man who did most to win the Ashes cannot come a moment too soon. The England captain confirmed after South Africa had finished on 393 for three to complete their great first npower Test escape that Flintoff will play in a second match that will be upon us with unseemly haste on Friday.

But the question remains as to who he will replace.

What a first Test that started spectacularly for England, but ended with two days of frustration demonstrated was that they need to return to the five-man attack that served them so well in 2005.

That means Paul Collingwood must make way for Flintoff, however unlucky he was to be dismissed here, with England having to hope that a combination of Flintoff at six and the out-of-sorts Tim Ambrose at seven can muster the runs demanded of the lower middle order. After all, Collingwood has not made a decent contribution all season so he could hardly be missed, whatever Flintoff scores in his first Test for  almost 19 months.

Yes, the pitches for the remainder of this series cannot be as flat as the one at Lord’s, which is worryingly turning into the draw capital of Test cricket, but the firepower that Flintoff brings will be invaluable against a batting line-up that refused to lie down and die on Sunday and yesterday.

Stuart Broad is the only other candidate for the drop, as long as Ryan Sidebottom is fully fit, but while he is not yet taking as many wickets as he would like, he is improving with every game and batting like a genuine all-rounder. Broad at eight would be comforting for England should Flintoff and Ambrose fall short with the bat in Leeds.

It must be a concern for England that their bowlers endured such a heavy workload for such little reward at Lord’s. The back-to-back Tests dictated by the overcrowded international calendar may be good value for spectators, but South Africa will have a significant advantage should Graeme Smith win the toss on Friday and, this time, elect to bat.

Vaughan’s bowlers cannot possibly be ready to operate at their optimum levels so soon after this exercise in durability and, ultimately, futility.

England were dead on their feet by the time Hashim Amla became the third South African centurion in the innings and the sixth batsman in the match to reach three figures.

Sidebottom has a back condition, Broad ended the match limping and Jimmy Anderson was too fatigued to take the third new ball before the match reached a confused and embarrassing conclusion.

And that’s not to mention the mental state of Monty Panesar, who huffed and puffed his way through 60 wicketless overs before being told to curb the excessive appealing by umpire Daryl Harper which, in truth, he has got away with for some time.

Monty makes yet another appeal to umpire Harper

Umpire Daryl Harper hads words with Panesar

After an over to ponder Monty makes his apologies to Harper

South Africa, something of a shambles on the first three days, left Lord’s in such good order that they may have got away with their one bad performance of this series. Their vaunted pace attack surely cannot be any worse in the remaining three matches.

Vaughan tried everything to sprinkle some magic dust of his own on Lord’s and somehow conjure up some wickets. The morning session saw the England captain produce an impression of Douglas Jardine and instruct Anderson to pepper Amla with short balls while six legside fielders waited to pouch any chances. They never came.

It was after lunch before Anderson induced the first false shot from Neil McKenzie, who faced 447 balls before being caught behind, and then Sidebottom produced the ball of the match to bowl Jacques Kallis with an inswinging yorker.

Ashwell Prince survived an over from Panesar which contained five appeals — one of them almost justified — before being dropped by Alastair Cook off Broad at wide gully. But by then the draw was inevitable.

There was just time for Harper to give Panesar an unofficial rap over the knuckles for his over-enthusiasm — Monty then spent an over at fine leg contemplating his ‘crime’ before running up to the Australian official and apologising — before the match ended with the sort of farcical scenes that make Test cricket such a hard game to explain to outsiders.

At 4.40pm and 10 minutes before both captains would have been allowed to call it a day, Collingwood, hardly the quickest, bowled a bouncer at Prince and the umpires, seeking an early end to the torpor, offered South Africa the light even though it was perfectly playable.

Handshakes all round and the bemusement of a decent Lord’s crowd was followed by the reappearance of the sun and two embarrassed umpires calling the players back for two more overs bowled by the deadly duo of Kevin Pietersen and Cook.

Umpire Billy Bowden has written during this Test of his penchant for ‘high fiving’ the MCC members in the Lord’s pavilion on his way to the middle, but his return after that little fiasco would surely have been greeted by a more sober response.

It brought the curtain down on a Test which both sides could look back on, in the end, with a degree of satisfaction. Now the stakes will be raised by the return of England’s talisman for round two.