Swann, Broad destroy SA

England go 1-0 up with commanding innings and 98-run victory

The pair of Nottinghamshire bowlers shared nine wickets as South Africa, who began the day on 76 for six, were dismissed after 18 overs and condemned to their first innings defeat by England in 45 years.

Trailing by 156 runs at the start of play, Mark Boucher and Morne Morkel were set the unenviable task of resurrecting South Africa's total and forcing England to bat again.
Morkel rode his luck when dropped by Andrew Strauss at slip off Swann on the 10th ball of the day, but hung back on the crease on the next delivery to be trapped lbw for 15.

Boucher was dismissed seven overs later for 29, judged caught behind gloving a lifter from Broad after England referred an initial not-out decision for review.

With South Africa teetering at 108 for eight, Paul Harris swung lustily for 36 but scooped a catch to mid-on from Jimmy Anderson who replaced Broad at the Umgeni End.

Swann, who celebrated his fifth wicket for the inning after trapping Dale Steyn in front for three, was named man of the match.

The off-spinner finished with nine for 164 for the Test, with his turn and variation in pace regularly bamboozling the batsmen.

Broad finished with four for 43 in 17 overs, his burst of three for 18 on the fourth afternoon having put England well in control.

Despite coming into the match as favourites after being a wicket shy of victory in the first Test at Centurion, South Africa head to Cape Town for the third Test beginning on January 3 1-0 down in the four-Test series.

‘One of the best’

England captain Strauss described this as one of the best away wins he had experienced. “It's as emphatic a win away from home as we've had since I've been involved,” Strauss told a news conference.

"Pretty much everything we wanted to do, we did. They never got away from us, we hit them hard early with both bat and ball, and then put the runs on the board to have them under pressure.

“It's a case of keeping things simple and doing the hard work and we've come a long way in the last 12 months. It's great to end the year on a real high.”

Strauss inherited the captaincy after the relationship between former coach Peter Moores and previous skipper Kevin Pietersen broke down.  He said the team's current success showed that relationships within the team had now been mended.

“We've embraced the change and enjoyed each other's success. We've achieved because we stick together in the tough times,” Strauss said.

South Africa will not be panicked into making sweeping changes, skipper Smith said. After a remarkable 2008, in which they won 11 of their 15 Tests and took first place in the world rankings, South Africa have lost four of their six Tests this year.

"It's clear in our heads what we need to look at, those areas in which we are not up to standard. It's obviously been a disappointing year and we have not lived up to the hype of 2008," Smith said.

"We reached a certain point, but we haven't been able to take it to the next level. We need to look at why we haven't done that, we need to reassess and make 2010 a better year.

"It's important to have a wake-up call, we were outplayed and it just wasn't good enough, but it was one collapse and, as disappointing as it is, I'm not a big believer in calling for mass changes.”

SCORE BOARD

SOUTH AFRICA (I Innings): 343 all out

ENGLAND (I Innings): 574/9 decl

SOUTH AFRICA (II Innings, O/n: 76/6):

Prince c Bell b Swann    16
Smith lbw Swann    22
Amla b Swann    6
Kallis b Broad    3
De Villiers lbw Broad    2
Duminy b Broad    0
Boucher c Prior b Broad    29
Morkel lbw Swann    15
Harris c Broad b Anderson    36
Steyn lbw Swann    3
Ntini (not out)    1
Total (all out, 50 overs)    133
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-37, 3-40, 4-44, 5-44, 6-50, 7-86, 8-108, 9-129.
Bowling: Anderson 8-2-24-1, Onions 4-1-12-0, Swann 21-3-54-5, Broad 17-3-43-4.