ENGLAND VS. SOUTH AFRICA
This was it. The big one. The one England had to win if they wanted to retain their position as No. 1 in the world. This was also a landmark test for both team captains; for Andrew Strauss, his 100th test match, making him only the ninth Englishman ever to reach a hundred caps. For Graeme Smith, veteran batsman for South Africa, it was his 94th test match as captain of his country, thus overtaking Allan Border’s previous record and establishing him as most-capped captain of all time. However, the beginning of this test, and the achievements brought with it, had been somewhat overshadowed by the “textgate” saga involving Kevin Pietersen, and some were worried that the England team would be affected by both the negative media attention and the absence of the experienced middle-order batsman that saved the game for them at Headingley.
