So, about 28 hours after leaving my office in Seoul, and after going via Hong Kong and home, I was at The Oval for the second day of the final test against South Africa. Before I went to Asia, this looked like it might be a dead day in a dead game, South Africa having already won the series, and England looking merely to avoid a near whitewash. But then Michael Vaughan resigned and Kevin Pietersen was appointed England captain, so this was his first test in charge. After the first day, that first test was going pretty well, South Africa having been bowled out for under 200, and England at 49-1. Rain delayed the start of play, although it was barely spitting, so everybody was slightly impatient when play eventually started at 11:30. The 50 came up very quickly, followed almost as quickly by an England wicket, which saw Pietersen himself come into bat. The next few hours (and by far the biggest talking point of the day) featured a masterful 100 from KP, where he took charge of the innings, scored significantly faster than his partners, and fully deserved the standing ovation he got when he reached his century. 2 balls later, he was out, but the point had been proved that he could captain and bat at the same time, so nobody seemed to care.
After KP departed, the rest of the day petered out somewhat - England lost the rest of their wickets for a lead of about 90, and South Africa batted again at the end of the day. There was a bit of a lack of atmosphere in the ground, probably not helped by the game being fairly irrelevant. Even the weather was dull - not sunny, but not raining either, which in retrospect helped to avoid one of those days where one sits at cricket, sweating profusely. This was a decent day's cricket - not hugely significant in terms of the result achieved, but as Pietersen's first game as captain, and with him scoring a century, it was certainly a memorable day to have been at. 3 days later, we won the test - giving KP a 100% record so far.
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