Alastair Cook owed England first-innings runs. After making his hundred against Pakistan at Old Trafford last year, he had dried up like an actor forgetting his longer speeches, just chipping in with one-liners. But with the series against South Africa poised at one-all, Cook delivered an unbeaten 82 which has kept England in the game.

Test cricket is not cool - most of the time - because the most valuable player is often the opening batsman who turns the tide of a series painstakingly. Cook has piloted England to 171 for four in conditions where the ball has darted all over the shop, and his stubbornness had to be back at its monumental best as he left the ball, or edged it, or was beaten altogether. But on such unglamorous innings - and at times he was even uglier than Dean Elgar - Test victories are based.

Day one in itself made a strong case against four-day Test matches. This may well end in four days, as the first two Tests of this series did - while a Test against West Indies later this summer could easily end in three, especially the inaugural day/nighter at Edgbaston. But because this game was scheduled to last five days, England’s batsmen had to put their heads down, grinding and grafting, instead of throwing the bat as if they had attention deficit disorders; thus their techniques were tested, and their personalities revealed, most notably Cook’s extreme devotion to duty.

It was much the same as Trent Bridge when South Africa had decided to bat first, a little reluctantly, as the pitch was damp and the ball both swinging and seaming, but it had to be done because the footmarks when dried out would make batting even harder. Cook was England’s Hashim Amla, personifying patience. If he can but reach a century on the second morning - it would be his 31st in Tests - he will be cheered to the echo, not least as the relic of another age when batsmen grew up trying not to get out, rather than trying to get the ball out of the ground.

Of Cook’s five companions, the first had the unhappiest day: Keaton Jennings, caught on the crease again. He has had one bad Test, as he made a hundred in his first, a 50 in his second, also in India, and a valuable 33 at Lord’s after an erroneous decision in his first innings. He may be halfway through his second bad Test, but for the moment he has had just the one at Trent Bridge - yet the bandwagon, or tumbril demanding his head, gathers pace.

Jennings faced nine balls from Philander without scoring a run. After an early lunch, Root was to face six balls from Philander without scoring a run before he too nicked off. The difference was that Jennings showed little intent, when a single to get to the other end should have been the top priority; and the decision about his immediate future has to be based on what is going on inside his head.

Source: AFP