OTD: Graeme Smith's 259 forced England to submission at Lord's

Michael Vaughan’s England had no clue how to stop then-captain of South Africa Graeme Smith. With a prime bowling line-up, the host was absolutely outclassed by the visiting side. The home of cricket, the Lord’s cricket ground, was graced by Smith’s dominating 259-run innings.

The second Test (July 31-August 3) of the England vs. South Africa Test series ensured a permanent chapter because of the jaw-dropping batting display of Smith. South Africa won that match by an inning and 92 runs. On pen and paper, England was then at their helm, especially for their astonishing bowling line-up with Darren Gough, James Anderson, Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, and Ashley Giles.

They were looking less venomous when Smith and his team started to roll on the surface of Lord’s. Before the milestone batting performance, it was Makhaya Ntini’s brilliant bowling, supported by Andrew Hall and Shaun Pollock. Ntini bagged a 5-wicket figure, and Hall and Pollock got 3 and 2 wickets, respectively. England’s first innings was restricted to 173. South Africa came in with a 682/6d reply.

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That was too good for England

Before being bowled by Anderson, the former opener of South Africa faced 370 balls to register a relentless 259-run innings. The innings, spanning around 574 minutes, saw 34 boundaries coming out from the blade. In the meantime, Gary Kirsten scored 108 runs. Boeta Dippenaar was separated from his Test ton by only 8 runs. A united batting performance by SA, led by Graeme Smith, helped the Proteas climb on the mountain of runs. 

England, under pressure, tried hard to come from behind to pull out a historic turnaround. Andrew Flintoff went on to score 142, and Mark Butcher got 70 in the second innings. But those numbers were not even close to what South Africa created. Like the first innings, Ntini again took 5 and completed his 10-wicket figure in tests against England.