South Africa's four-pronged attack and Bairstow's familiar demise... TEST TALKING POINTS

NICK HOWSON: The highlight-reel of a first Test continues with Michael Holding sending a message to Dom Sibley and an epic passage of play

Epic morning

As you will undoubted of noticed, The Cricketer is using the barren period between Christmas and New Year to review the rollercoaster that was 2019. We should be done by the end of next year.

It has been one of the best years for Test cricket I can remember, punctuated by some epic sessions along the way.

From Kusal Perera's fabulous rearguard in Durban to Jofra Archer and Steve Smith jousting at Lord's, we have been treated to some fabulous passages of play.

The 93 minutes which saw England attempt to fend off South Africa's probing attack just before lunch at Centurion on the second morning of this match is certainly up there with any period of play seen this year.

Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander were at their ferocious best, bounding in time after time and getting everything out of a pitch just doing enough with the new ball.

England's own front-line seamer attack will surely have regrets over their own display, give the success the pair's spell yielded.

After Rory Burns and Dom Sibley went cheaply, Joe Denly and Joe Root settled in nicely, batting away the opening pair and getting to lunch without any further damage. They accumulated runs which could be key in the final outcome.

Amid another horrible England collapse, they were two rare positives - an indication there is a willingness to soak up deliveries, an ability to absorb pressure and a desire to build an innings.

The only problem is the rest of the team don't seem to be able to replicate that philosophy or play to a situation.

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Michael not Holding back

"I'm in total agreement with Paul Reiffel," Michael Holding said on commentary. "Referring it when he knew he hit it. 

"I don't think that is cricket. You know you're out, head to the pavilion. 

"I've said it for donkey's years. And I'll continue saying it. If you know you're out, go to the pavilion.

"Don't try and say 'I might get away with it, it's a thin one'. Go to the pavilion, you're out."

Sibley was on the receiving end of the verbal onslaught from the former West Indies quick after refusing to walk during England's first innings.

The Warwickshire opener was eventually given out once South Africa opted to review his edge behind off Rabada.

Indeed, Sibley didn't even wait for the replay before starting his walk towards the pavilion, once Faf du Plessis had called for the technology. He knew he'd nicked it.

And when he turned back upon receiving some advice from partner Joe Denly, he got both barrels from umpire Paul Reiffel, whom he had essentially duped.

Batsmen walking is a debate which will never reach a suitable conclusion, and it is obvious that as a bowler in the pre-DRS era which camp Holding is in.

Some say the umpire's decision is final, others insist you must uphold the spirit of the sport. Neither are right, neither are wrong.

^{Michael Holding was stinging in his criticism of Dom Sibley}

South Africa's deceptive depth

Despite losing two early wickets, Denly and Root will have felt confident of building a formidable total after surviving the opening spells of Philander and Rabada, which was broken after 11 overs.

Indeed, a batting team cannot expect to make genuine progress until the front-line seamers of any team are into their third or fourth spell. 

Initially, at least, their patience appeared to have paid dividends. Dwaine Pretorius and Anrich Nortje were unable to create the same movement as their teammates, with an increasingly softening nut.

Though it was Philander who broke that partnership after lunch, it was the pair of debutant Pretorius and Nortje who burst the match open as the middle-order were swept aside.

Both men suddenly yielded something from the deck. Denly and a confused Jonny Bairstow went in successive overs before Nortje had Ben Stokes caught behind driving.

Though the innings was bookended by the brilliant Philander and Rabada, the key passage of play was dominated by their understudies. And if the relatively inexperienced pair continue to learn quickly as the series continues, England have a pace attack to contend with that will not wilt.

Vernon Philander was at his very best on the second morning

Bairstow suffers a familiar downfall

It has been illness and injury rather than current form which has seen Jonny Bairstow reinstated in this England Test team after he was dumped following the Ashes.

He was kept on in New Zealand after an ankle injury to Denly, though was rightly not required during either Test after the Kent man made a full recovery.

Retained for the South Africa series, illness ruled out Jack Leach, Chris Woakes and Ollie Pope, allowing the Yorkshireman to reclaim his place, seemingly completely on reputation.

Typically for a player returning with a revised technique but with little opportunity test it in a live environment, Bairstow played with a scrambled mind.

It will come as no surprise to his detractors that his brief spell at the crease ended on a familiar way, with his stumps all over the place. The scoreboard had barely been troubled, either.

It cements both his position in the top five of players to have been out bowled and the feeling that his Test career has little time remaining.

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