England Cricket / Andrew Hughes / 24 July 2008 /

Two ton Prince and tearaway Morkel justify the hype as the Proteas become short favourites. But Egbaston has traditionally been happy hunting ground for England, writes Andrew Hughes.

For the first three days at Lord's it seemed that those who had taken the odds on a South African series win had been put away by the hype. The home side were well on top and England backers were feeling smug. But since then, the South Africans have won every session, cruised to victory at Headingley and are now as short as [1.36] to win the series, with an improbable England series win at [15.0]

Two men have been particularly influential for the visitors. Ashwell Prince stiffened the resolve of the middle order with two impressive tons. The first, at Lords', gave his team something to cling to amongst the wreckage and his second, at Headingley, was the platform for victory. Cricket watchers used to seeing a shuffling, nudging kind of batsman have witnessed a more solid exhibition, not borne of defensive caution, but a concrete resolve and punctuated with some languid attacking strokes.

Morne Morkel is the youngest of the tearaway fast bowling trio we were told were going to wreak havoc this summer. But whilst Steyn has spluttered and Ntini looked a little creaky, it is Morkel who has gone furthest to justifying the hype. A lanky, gangling quick bowler, more Joel Garner than Alan Donald, he has proved a persistent menace, with his pace and bounce. Eleven wickets at twenty-one apiece make him the best bowler on either side.

Meanwhile, England's main threat with the ball has come from an unlikely source. James Anderson, so often the selectoral scapegoat has finally started to do justice to his talent. Picking up where he left off against the New Zealanders, he has continued to bowl with fire and control, showing commendable accuracy on the bowler's graveyard of a pitch at Lord's. Most improbably, his batting has also begun to feature, with some dogged defensive work and a touch of panache.

Of course, there have been a fair number of failures too. Whilst his teammates will be taking it easy in their tour game at Worcester, Jaques Kallis will be desperate to spend some time in the middle. His return of twenty-four runs in three outings so far looks particularly feeble compared to the six centuries amassed by his fellow batsmen. Over the years he has piled on runs as ravenously as he has piled on the pounds, but so far this series, he has been all paunch and no punch. South Africa will hope the big man rediscovers his appetite for runs soon.

He isn't the only one in need of a big score. Aside from a brief flowering in the First Test against New Zealand, the shadows continue to lengthen in the autumn of Michael Vaughan's career. Steyn has got him twice and a vulnerability to quick bowling is often the first sign of reflexes on the wane. At times, he has looked alarmingly at sea. If England continue with only five specialist batsmen, they can ill afford any passengers, even those as illustrious as Vaughan.

And his reputation as the best captain in Test cricket is looking a little shaky too. His preference for Pattinson over Tremlett, the subsequent under-bowling of the Grimsby born debutant and the shuffling of the batting order to protect Flintoff all created a shambolic impression. Smith's decision to insert England at Lords' was a bad one, but then Vaughan admitted he would have done the same. And whilst Vaughan has been the more proactive in the field, Smith showed real courage in leading from the front to save the First Test. In the captaincy stakes, it is honours even but in itself, that represents something of a triumph for the South African skipper.

Vaughan certainly has his work cut out to lift his tired and demoralised troops for the Third Test. Edgbaston has traditionally been a good venue for England, but they are definitely on the back foot, as reflected in their odds of [4.3] to win in Birmingham, with the jubilant South Africans on [2.32] and the draw available at [2.76].

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