Tim de Lisle: Hussain makes the difference as a bad pitch provides great entertainment

It takes something special for South Africa to lose a Test match. Before Monday they had been beaten in only eight Tests out of 51 since their last series in this country: five to the marauding Australians, one in the Caribbean when they had already secured a historic series victory, one against England when Hansie Cronje declared to secure a leather jacket for his wife, and one in Sri Lanka, just after Cronje's downfall, when Muttiah Muralitharan tied them up in knots. In matches that matter the South Africans have gone down only to a great team or a great player. Before Monday.

At Trent Bridge the only near-great player they were up against was Michael Vaughan, who made six runs in two innings. Instead, South Africa were beaten by a coalition of several forces. Some were bigger than either team: the toss, which was worth 50-100 runs to the team batting first; the pitch, which, through not being level, became a leveller, and the crowd, who were passionate and partisan. Say what you like about the policy of encouraging fancy dress, the average English cricket fan is clearly less inhibited when he arrives at the ground in a wimple.

Some of the forces were exerted by, or upon, individuals. There was the way Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain took responsibility on day one, atoning for their soft dismissals at Lord's with grit, nous (Butcher taking guard outside his crease) and selective aggression. There was the forthrightness of Ed Smith and Alec Stewart, in their first and 131st Tests respectively, which carried England to 450 rather than 360, and then James Anderson's ability to bounce back from a bad start, which limited South Africa to 360 rather than 450.

There was the injury to Gary Kirsten, who had twice seen South Africa to 360 for 1, never mind all out, and the uncharacteristic hesitancy with bat and ball of Jacques Kallis, perhaps impaired by the death of his father. There was the extra bounce and improved accuracy from Steve Harmison, which twice undid the dangerous Herschelle Gibbs. And there was the law of averages, which Graeme Smith said he did not believe in - but maybe he does now after copping the worst of many lbw decisions and walking on his stumps rather than on water.

The real difference between the sides lay in the first-innings lead. A man-of-the-match jury more expert than the public would have acknowledged as much by giving the prize to Hussain, whose bad-wicket skills allowed him to survive for about 100 balls more than anyone else in the match. But the viewers could not resist James Kirtley, and you could see why.

In the first two Tests England's green attack had mostly bowled like dopey teenagers. Kirtley looks young too, and runs in to bowl like a 10-year-old on sports day competing in the 100 metres, flicking his heels up so high that if he ever needs a kick up the backside, he will be able to administer it himself. He even had his mum there to watch. But Kirtley bowls like an old pro, patient, probing, easily locating an off-stump groove for both right-handers and left. Although his lbw against Smith was a gift, he had part-earned it by becoming the first Englishman in the series to plant doubts in his mind. Last week the full chorus of raucous, old Yorkshiremen - Illy, Closey, Boycs and Parky - was yelling for discipline from the England bowlers. This week we can look forward to them admitting that it came about when the selectors replaced a Barnsley lad with a public schoolboy who plays for Sussex.

While Anderson and Harmison tried yorkers and bouncers, Kirtley emulated Shaun Pollock in deciding that there was no need for variations as they were being supplied by the pitch. "I was just trying to hit the top of off stump," he said afterwards. In which case he failed; with his skiddy trajectory, it was the bottom of off stump that was in danger.

Not all of England's out-cricket was transformed. Vaughan's field placings were still tentative, with the man at square leg often 80 yards too far back, allowing Mark Boucher to stand outside his crease and prod forward. Run-out chances went begging, Ed Smith's interest in history extended to using a fielding method from the 1960s, and Butcher dropped yet another chance (the two slip catches smartly taken by Marcus Trescothick are the only ones England have held in the series). But here the up-and-down bounce helped them out again; this was a game of straight balls, and England took 11 wickets with them to their opponents' six. The old South African habit of aiming outside off, instilled by Cronje to keep the runs down, had the same effect on the wickets.

As usual, a so-called bad pitch made for great entertainment. Monday was a perfect day to be an England supporter, capped by the recall of Martin Bicknell, which has happened at last despite being advocated countless times in this column. Bicknell may have made his first-class debut when James Anderson was three, but in the 10 years since he last played a Test he has been second only to Andy Caddick as a county new-ball bowler. He will bring all the qualities that Kirtley brought, plus more swing, better batting and even greater know-how. Have the selectors finally gone sane?

Tim de Lisle is editor of Wisden 2003

timdelisle62@hotmail.com