A day to forget for England as Langeveldt grabs five

Close South Africa A 133 for 2 (Ontong 56, van Jaarsveld 58*, Prince 7*) trail England 225 (Strauss 50, Langeveldt 5-48) by 92 runs
Scorecard

The perils of being limited to a solitary warm-up game were made all too apparent to England's probable Test team at Potchefstroom today, as South Africa A made it a day to forget in all departments. After being asked to bat first on a hot and cloudless day, England were bundled out for 225 by South Africa A's five-pronged seam attack, before Justin Ontong and Martin van Jaarsveld combined to reduce the deficit to a mere 92, with a second-wicket stand of 106.

The pick of the South African attack was Charl Langeveldt, a former prison warder from Boland, who returned the superb figures of 5 for 48 in 15 overs. He grabbed four top-order wickets in the first two sessions before returning to torment the tail, while Ethy Mbhalati and Albie Morkel chipped in with a brace apiece. The upshot was that a quietly confident England side was roundly embarrassed, and not even Steve Harmison's first wicket of the tour could salvage the situation. Although Andrew Strauss cracked a breezy fifty, it was a telling statistic that, of those players who missed the one-day trip to Zimbabwe, only the tail-ender Matthew Hoggard made it to double-figures.

England were never allowed to gain the ascendancy, not even while Strauss was going great guns in the morning session. He took no time at all to find his fluency, lacing ten fours in all in a 68-ball half-century, but the situation at the other end of the pitch was far less free-flowing. Marcus Trescothick was eventually caught behind for 7 from a stodgy 43 deliveries, and was swiftly followed by Mark Butcher, who provided England with the first of their major dilemmas.

Butcher missed much of last summer through injury, but was preferred in this match to Robert Key on the strength of his international performances over the past three years. But, following his 6 from 12 balls at Randjesfontein on Wednesday, he lasted just seven more deliveries, before wafting a simple catch to Mark Boucher behind the stumps, to give Langeveldt a wicket with his sixth ball of the morning. For Boucher, another man with a point to prove after his omission from South Africa's Test side, it was an equally important moment.

So long as Strauss was in occupation, England had a foothole, but with lunch approaching, the innings floundered dramatically. Sizing up his 11th four of the morning, Strauss carved a juicy wide delivery to Justin Ontong at point, and then, after facing three just three balls, Graham Thorpe was adjudged lbw to a full delivery, again off Langeveldt. It could have been even worse, but Flintoff somehow managed to edge his first delivery clean through the gap between the keeper and Andrew Puttick at first slip.

Flintoff never looked settled, however, and he hadn't added to his total when, shortly after lunch, he pushed frustratedly at an off-stump outswinger from Langeveldt, and was snapped up at second slip by Martin van Jaarsveld. Michael Vaughan looked in the right frame of mind to salvage the situation, but he too fell victim to a loose waft to first slip, this time off Morkel, to leave England in all sorts of bother at 117 for 6..

Geraint Jones and Ashley Giles attempted to rectify the situation with a counterattacking stand of 41 from 44 balls. Each of them slapped four fours - all of Jones's came in one over from Mbhalati - but Mbhalati responded in his next over with the wicket of Giles, caught behind for 22 as he too paid the price for his injudicious approach. (158 for 7).

The final act of a disappointing session for England came when Jones fell for 41, courtesy of a thin edge that flew at a comfortable height to Puttick. And Puttick was back in the thick of things straight after the break, running back from the cordon to clean up a parried edge from Hoggard that had looped up from Ashwell Prince at third slip. Simon Jones took the aerial route to give England's total a modicum of respectability, but Charl Willoughby ended the resistance by plucking out Harmison's leg stump.

By sowing several seeds of doubt in the England batting line-up, South Africa A had already done its job, but England's chastisement didn't end there. Puttick went cheaply, playing on to Harmison for 4, but van Jaarsveld and Ontong were determined to set the advantage in concrete and as the shadows lengthened they each brought up their half-centuries from a brisk 67 balls. Ontong couldn't quite see it through to the close, as Strauss swooped at short leg to give Giles a wicket in his second over, but England have it all to do if they are to claw their way back into this game.