If England's fast bowlers bowl back of a length, this game should be theirs. Graeme Swann will certainly have an impact but that will amount to nothing if the seamers bowl like Steyn did - ie. too full or too short. That might sound like stating the obvious, but from what we saw in that last innings it can't be stated enough.
South Africa pulled that back pretty well after England were 98 for one after 11 overs, but that was a still sloppy display and they'll know it. Dropped catches and no-balls let the Proteas down and England did well to take advantage with Pietersen's innings providing the impetus. I'd make England slight favourites, but feel free to disagree: tristan.holme@teamtalkmedia.co.za.
168-7 - Unless Kallis has an injury, this is a foolish choice of bowler by Smith. Kallis has been his best seamer today and yet he's only bowled three overs. The captain's soon unhappy, but it's because the second delivery is called a no-ball because Langeveldt, fielding at shirt fine leg, didn't get into the circle by the time the ball was bowled. WICKET! Morkel brightens the Proteas mood by bowling Bresnan with a yorker, but Yardy gets four later in the over by stepping to off and flicking the ball wide of fine leg.
158-9 - WICKET! Morgan departs to a fantastic catch from AB de Villiers. He was fielding at midwicket but made an incredible amount of ground running back to cow corner, and eventually took the catch over his shoulder less than ten yards in from the rope as the ball held up in the wind. Michael Yardy joins Bresnan out in the middle and the duo scrap for ones and twos before Bresnan gets a full one outside off stump and crunches it over extra cover for four. Smith said at the toss that he wanted to restrict England to 150, but that hasn't happened.
147-5 - Steyn starts with a low full toss on Morgan's pads which is easily steered wide of fine leg for four. It's been a while since I've seen him bowl this badly, and for once he might be slightly relieved to have finished. His four overs have gone for 50 without any reward in the wickets column.
139-5 - WICKET! Wright pays the price for some rather brainless batting. He went for the big heave against a superb yorker, which nipped in late to hit off stump. That puts Tim Bresnan at the crease, and he struggles against Lengeveldt's very full bowling. Great over for South Africa, who have pulled this match back nicely. England need Morgan to face as many of the remaining 18 deliveries as possible.
137-4 - Morgan takes a less adventurous outlook to Steyn, but still manages to nudge the ball into gaps and pick up twos. That's followed by a couple of wides, although the first one looked to have clipped Morgan's pad on its way through. Morgan grabs a couple more off the next delivery, then takes advantage of Steyn's pace to direct a flick off his legs wide enough to beat fine leg. Steyn has taken a pounding today, having failed to learn his lesson and adjust his length.
125-4 - WICKET! England are in danger of running out of good batsmen too early here. Collingwood took on Morkel earlier in the over and smashed him over wide long-on for six, but the second attempt skies the ball straight up and Boucher gets underneath it. There's still plenty of time for England here, but this new partnership between Morgan and Luke Wright needs to last at least three overs for them to take advantage. Anything over 160 will be competitive, but the pitch seems a bit better than it was this morning for the first game.
118-3 - WICKET! It's no surprise to see Duminy in the attack given Botha's success, and he deserves a lot of credit for coming back after his first ball was dispatched over midwicket for six by Kieswetter. He manages to just hold the ball back and Kieswetter takes him on, only to be caught by Steyn on the long-on boundary. That went miles in the air but Steyn held his nerve and was aware of where the rope was. Eoin Morgan's at the crease now, and it only takes him two balls to reverse sweep sweetly for four.
107-2 - Another good over from Kallis, who didn't take any time at all to find the right length on this pitch and has conceded just one boundary in three overs. That honour goes to Collingwood, who runs down the pitch to slot the final delivery over wide long-on for six to inject some momentum back into the England innings.
100-2 - WICKET! Pietersen goes somewhat tamely, but the damage has already been done. He goes on the sweep but the bounce gets the better of him and the ball loops off a top edge straight to Smith at short fine leg. Smith calls his troops around him for a quick pep talk, which will be hairdryer treatment as much as anything, while Paul Collingwood comes out to the middle. England manage just a couple of singles from the over, but the problem for South Africa is that Botha is bowled out, finishing with two for 15.
98-1 - Steyn is back, but he still hasn't learnt the right length. First he's too full and is thumped through extra cover for four by Pietersen, then he's too short and the ball disappears over the stand at wide midwicket. That bounced once on the roof and then went out of the ground, and a clip to wide long-on for four takes him to a superb fifty (30 balls, 8x4s, 1x6). A fine banner in the crowd reads: "Hey KP. I left my newborn to come and see this!"
82-1 - Dropped! Kieswetter gets a third let-off! This time Duminy is the culprit, putting down a sitter at deep midwicket. Immediately the camera cuts to England fans in the stands, laughing heartily. That would have been just reward for three tight overs, but instead England have nine wickets in hand going into the back ten. What can they do with them?
77-1 - Kallis has found the right length here - ie. back of a length, hitting the deck hard. Either there or right up in the blockhole, and Pietersen does well to dig out the final ball and get it down the ground for a couple. South Africa coming back into this nicely now in what is shaping up to be a fine game.
73-1 - South Africa might be wondering if they've missed a trick by leaving a second spinner out, based on Botha's performance so far. Even Pietersen struggles to get the offspinner away in another good over for the Proteas. The run rate is back under 10.
69-1 - Smith calls on the experience of Kallis, and it's the quietest over since Botha's opener. Interesting to see how England go about this after a crackerjack start - if they take their foot off the gas then the Proteas will be encouraged back into the game, but England might also reason that it's not worth taking the risk of throwing such a good start away. New Zealand did it earlier today, and only just got away with it.
65-1 - Now Kieswetter gets in on the act, giving Langeveldt the charge and smashing him over wide long-off for six. This is superb, and they key is that England's batsman are playing with a freedom never seen before. As shown by Kieswetter when he steps across his stumps to flick away very fine on the leg side for four. He only just clears Gibbs at cover with a foot-movementless stand and whack off the final delivery, but clear him he does so England have a magnificent 65 from the powerplay overs and all the pressure is on South Africa.
49-1 - Pietersen has another huge swipe and a miss, but then uses his feet to take the fight to Morkel and pulls over square leg for four. A leading edge flies safely through extra cover for two, and then he just stands and delivers, smashing Morkel wide of mid-off for another boundary. A skied edge from the next ball lands short of third man, much to Morkel's frustration, and South Africa look rather flustered.
37-1 - South Africa look a little rattled here, and Smith is flicking through his bowlers. He calls on the control of Charl Langeveldt, and aside from a high bouncer that clears Boucher and runs away for five wides, it works as Kieswetter can't make a meaningful connection with anything.
30-1 - Morne Morkel has enormous feet, which makes it all the more puzzling that he's something of a serial no-baller. He isn't punished by Kieswetter the first time because the free hit is pulled straight up in the air and is caught by JP Duminy at midwicket, but his next delivery is short and Pietersen is quickly back to pull strongly to the midwicket fence. And then he has Kieswetter caught at third man, only for no-ball to be signalled. Again the free hit isn't costly as KP misses with a massive heave, but that's a wicket lost through overstepping. England's luck continues as well, because Pietersen edges the final ball of the over straight through the gap between Boucher and Kallis, who's standing in a second slip position. We're yet to have a dull moment.
17-1 - The Black Caps got some nice zip off the seam earlier - Bond in particular - and Dale Steyn's first delivery easily beats Kieswetter's outside edge. He makes the mistake of overpitching with his second though and Kieswetter throws his bat through the line and cracks it through extra cover for four. Bond and Mills had most of their success bowling well back of a length, and the fast bowlers in this game would do well to follow suit. Pietersen gets off the mark with a cracking shot, driving on the up back past the bowler having had to take some outswing into the equation. The sign of a man in good nick, and he absolutely crunches a wide one through extra cover for four more to put Steyn on the back foot early on.
4-1 - WICKET! England's openers have been a revelation in this tournament having gone out with a license to thrill, but both are big fans of pace on the ball. A couple of nudges for singles and a sweep for two get them underway, but then Lumb plays back to one that just skids onto his pad, and Aleem Dar has no hesitation in giving him out lbw. Hawk-Eye has that hitting the top of leg, so it's a fair decision. Kevin Pietersen is struck on the front pad first up, but Dar signals that it was going down the leg side. Still, there was some serious turn there.
Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter, having presumably sung both anthems (let's just get those jokes out of the way as soon as possible) are out in the middle, and Graeme Smith has sprung a surprise by throwing the ball to Johan Botha.
We saw in that last game that this pitch is a bit slower than what we saw in Barbados yesterday, and as Graeme Smith says it just looks a bit "tacky". Spinners had a good effect in the earlier game and England will feel that they have the best spinner on the park in Graeme Swann. With Michael Yardy in the line-up they also have two full-time spinners to South Africa's one (Johan Botha). Of course you can send your thoughts in to Tristan.Holme@teamtalkmedia.co.za and fire up a debate.
Graeme Smith (capt), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher (wk), Albie Morkel, Dale Steyn, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel, Charl Langeveldt
Michael Lumb, Craig Kieswetter (wk), Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood (capt), Eoin Morgan, Luke Wright, Stuart Broad, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann, Michael Yardy, Ryan Sidebottom
Paul Collingwood has won the toss, and England will have a bat first up. Both sides are unchanged from their last outings.
That really was a marvellous game - just what Twenty20 is about - and there's no reason why we can't have another one of those now. Both England and South Africa have lost one match in the tournament so far, and both come into the game on the back of confidence-boosting wins. The Proteas have generally had the better of England in ICC events over the past four years, but of course that changed during the Champions Trophy last year when England knocked them out on home soil.
We've just seen an absolute cracker between Pakistan and New Zealand, which the Kiwis clinched by one run off the final ball. Once I've recovered my nerve I'll be right with you.