By Richard Sydenham
LEEDS, England, Aug 2 – Alviro Petersen punished England for
dropping him early on by scoring his fourth test century as
South Africa reached 262 for five at the close of the first day
of the second test on Thursday.
Petersen was 124 not out at stumps, after England won the
toss, and Jacques Rudolph was on one following a seesaw day that
began with South Africa scoring freely in the sun before England
fought back after lunch in overcast conditions.
Petersen was given out lbw on 119 to Steven Finn but
successfully reviewed umpire Steve Davis’s decision as replays
showed the ball would have bounced over the stumps.
He had earlier reached a well-crafted century with his 11th
boundary, a pull off Stuart Broad, on a day which saw a Finn
wicket cancelled out by a dead ball call from the umpire.
Finn’s long-standing problem of clipping the stumps at the
non-striker’s end with his knee in his follow-through cost him.
He did it three times in the morning and on the fourth
occasion, when Graeme Smith edged to Andrew Strauss at slip
while on six, the ball was ruled out.
Match referee Jeff Crowe said later that the batsmen had
complained that Finn’s actions were a distraction.
Continued…
