Dale dealt severely with England as South Africa triumphed – 1st Test

South Africa first innings 637-2 declared (Hashim Amla 311*, Jacques Kallis 182*, Graeme Smith 131, James Anderson 1-116) leads England first innings385 (Alastair Cook 115, Jonathan Trott 71, Morne Morkel 4-72) second innings 240 (Ian Bell 55, Matt Prior 40, Dale Steyn 5-56) by an innings and 12 runs.

Dale Steyn ripped through the batting line of England in the 2^nd innings as South Africa humiliated the hosts by winning the first Test with a sheer team work.

England was bowled out for 385 runs in the first innings and their second innings was folded back at 240. South Africa hammered 637 runs for the loss of just two wickets when their first innings was declared by Graeme Smith.

Hashim Amla (South Africa) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his majestic unbeaten knock of 311 runs.

The first Test concluded on Monday, July 23, 2012, at Kennington Oval, London.

Earlier, England started their second innings at 102 in 38 overs after losing four wickets. Ian Bell was at the crease for 14 and Ravi Bopara had secured the other end with 15 runs. Dale Steyn bowled the first over as a maiden and the duo collected 11 runs in the next two overs. They took the score to 117 after 44 overs and the home team lost their first wicket of the day on the fourth ball of the following over when Bopara was clean bowled by Steyn for 22 runs.

Matt Prior joined in next with Bell who added a four in the 46^th over and the first hit a couple of fours in the next over. Bell got a life when he was dropped by the wicketkeeper AB de Villiers off Imran Tahir at 20 runs. The pace of scoring was slow by the two batsmen who preferred to occupy the crease instead of taking any risk. Prior added eight runs in the 59^th over with two fours and the home team reached 5-177 in 66 overs at lunch interval. Ian Bell and Matt Prior were in the centre with 36 and 29 runs respectively.

Bell opened up with a four in the 68^th over, completed his fifty in the 74^th over and the 200 of the innings was also attained. The sixth wicket partnership contributed 86 runs and enhanced the total to 203 when Matt Prior was caught at first slip by Jacques Kallis off Imran Tahir for 40. England suffered another blow after seven runs as Ian Bell was caught in the slip again by Kallis off Dale Steyn for 55 runs.

Steyn and Imran Tahir bowled a deadly bowling spell and the tail of the hosts vanished on the last ball of the 97^th over. Tim Bresnan remained unbeaten for 20 as the second innings of England was rolled back at 240 runs.

Dale Steyn was the star performer by grabbing five wickets, Imran Tahir held three whereas Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander shared one wicket each.

South Africa won the first Test comprehensively with a huge margin of an innings and 12 runs. Graeme Smith led the team from the front and a superb team work was witnessed from the visitors. It was the first victory by the Proteas at Kennington Oval in their 14^th encounter with England and they are leading the three Test series 1-0. The second Test of the series will be played at Headingly, Leeds from August 2, 2012.