England make bright start

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Put into bat in seamer-friendly conditions, an England line-up which has not made a first-innings total in excess of 400 for 12 successive Tests was expected to struggle against the Proteas' highly-regarded pace attack.

Despite South Africa captain Graeme Smith shuffling his pace battery in an attempt to make a breakthrough, England battled through to 71 without loss at lunch with few alarms for Andrew Strauss (26) and Alastair Cook (39).

The crucial four-Test series was expected to be decided by the battle between England's misfiring top order and an attack featuring the hostility of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel and the experience of Makhaya Ntini.

But instead of being intimidated by South Africa's pace attack, England built on a cautious start to put themselves in the driving seat.