Cricket: Another Merry Waltz for Strauss

Andrew Strauss is ruthless now, a batting assassin. He smiles a lot when at the crease - and has much to smile about - but when batting for England his heart is colder than a can of what passes for beer in this country. Like a wolf after its first kill he has got the taste.

There was an element of good fortune at times during yesterday's 147 in the city where he was born, especially when a little moisture in the pitch and the first new ball brought some seam movement for Shaun Pollock. A kinder day would have brought the South African the reward that was to come later, and few would have begrudged him. But Strauss, 27, is on an introductory streak of a kind that has rarely been matched.

Already in a career that began barely eight months ago, he is leaving legendary names in his slipstream as the runs accrue relentlessly. So he grinned broadly and he touched gloves with Robert Key as he passed his half-century shortly after lunch yesterday. And he beamed rapturously, while leaping and punching the air in familiar celebration, when, with the tea interval imminent, he turned a single gently to leg to reach yet another century.

Each run - and there were a welter of fours among the nudges and pokes, including an uncharacteristic straight drive for six - was a further nail hammered into the coffin of South African ambitions as they sought to capitalise on their uplifting series-squaring win in Cape Town.

After almost six hours a few more overs were all Strauss needed to survive to regroup and begin afresh today. Instead tiredness and Pollock, with the second new ball, did for him. He drove languidly and for once loosely outside off-stump, the ball seaming away fractionally and Jacques Kallis, at second slip, made the head-high screamer look easy.

This was the highest score of Strauss's five Test hundreds but the chance of a colossal total, the only thing missing from his CV, had gone.

Instead South Africa, under the hammer for so long, have been given a glimmer of a chance to get back. Pollock, inspired by his success, turned Michael Vaughan inside out as he found late movement in the air and off the pitch while at the other end Graham Thorpe fidgeted and struggled with his timing. The captain survived by the skin of his teeth but, never happy in the gathering gloom, Thorpe fended Makhaya Ntini, an inspirationally tireless bowler, to third slip for a duck.

Three balls later, with Matthew Hoggard in as night watchman, England were offered the chance to go off for bad light and accepted it gratefully, mindful that the second new ball is not yet six overs old and will offer movement on what, at this altitude, should be a clammy morning pitch.

At 263 for four Strauss and England shaded the opening day, but barely: add two wickets to the score to get the real picture. This really is an excellent ding-dong series.

There have been times since he made a century in his debut innings against New Zealand at Lord's, and then sacrificed himself to the cause of team and captain in the second innings, when in sight of a second hundred, that Strauss seemed too good to be true. There had to be a catch to it.

Now there are those who are beginning to wonder if they had not underestimated his ability. For, if his first games were uncharted territory, he has set his benchmark now and every innings is judged by that lofty standard.

Early days these may still be, and there are greater tests to come, but in the fullness of time he may surpass John Edrich as the finest left-handed opener England has possessed.

Yesterday, after the early loss of Marcus Trescothick, the records began to tumble once more, to Strauss in particular but also to Key, who was to play an ebullient innings of 83, full of meaty strokes and character. It ended only when he drove at a tempter from Ntini, thrown outside off-stump, and edged to the solitary slip.

This pair had added 291 against West Indies at Lord's last year, when Key made 221, and yesterday in the course of three hours they looked as if they might emulate that. As it was, their second-wicket stand of 182 was, remarkably, a Test record for the wicket at this ground, leaving standing the 136 added by Bob Barber and Ted Dexter 40 years ago.

Strauss has made 1,202 Test runs at an average of 63.26. Only Don Bradman, George Headley, Everton Weekes and Mark Taylor had more after 11 Tests and Strauss has one more innings to go. Headley (seven) together with Bradman and Neil Harvey (six apiece) are the only batsmen to have made more than Strauss's five centuries in the same period of time.

Tiredness apart, there appear to be few weaknesses in Strauss's game. When given the chance, he drove beautifully, something generally absent from his run charts hitherto and a sign that the bowlers have been giving him less width. But his square cut remained withering, his cover driving precise. In all he hit 23 fours and that six.