Smith, McKenzie make solid start

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LORD'S, July 13 (Cricinfo): One session down, six to go for South Africa. They achieved their first aim on the fourth morning as Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie survived unbroken through to lunch, making small inroads into the huge first innings deficit of 346. The session brought 54 runs from 28 overs - 11 of them in the final two overs - but for South Africa it's just the start.

England have recent memories of finding it much tougher dismissing a side second time around at Lord's. In 2006 they enforced the follow-on against Sri Lanka, who then batted for 199 overs to save the Test. So Michael Vaughan, even though he wasn't in charge for that match, will have been very aware of the task ahead when he sent South Africa back in.

There were the occasional alarms for Smith and McKenzie, especially against Monty Panesar who probed away in what will be a busy innings for him. McKenzie survived a confident lbw shout on 13, when the ball was heading for middle and leg although Daryl Harper thought otherwise. Smith had two let-offs, once when no one appealed for a faint under-edge off James Anderson, then when an inside edge scooted through low to Tim Ambrose against Panesar.

England worked hard on the ball to try and extract some reverse swing. There was a hint of it for Ryan Sidebottom, when he returned for a second spell, as he speared a series of deliveries full at Smith. However, as expected, the main dangers came from Panesar who settled into a threatening spell from the Nursery End. McKenzie was rendered virtually scoreless and for one period he added two runs in 60 balls, before the shackles were broken momentarily with a lofted on-drive off Panesar. The scoring rate, though, is of minor concern to South Africa whose focus is purely on batting time.

Vaughan was at his quirkiest in the field, never afraid to set unusual fields when there was very little happening with the ball. At one stage for McKenzie facing Sidebottom there was a silly point and three very close men at cover, who could have linked hands. But nothing broke the concentrating and the Lord's surface was living up to its reputation of not deteriorating rapidly. It's going to be a long day for everyone.

South Africa 247 and 165 for 0 trail England 593 for 8 dec by 279 runs at 9:40 pm