England walked into the Test series with South Africa with a fair measure of confidence. They had beaten New Zealand by an innings and nine runs in the third Test to take a comfortable 2-0 series victory against the Kiwis, a result that cemented their place as the fourth-best Test playing nation.

South Africa arrived as the second-best Test nation in world cricket, with a batting line-up and a bowling attack that would offer England their strongest challenge since losing the Ashes.

At first it all went to plan. England, were sent in to bat after losing the toss, but had little problem with the much-hyped South African pace battery.  Some regarded the Proteas' bowling arsenal as the fastest attack since the West Indian team of the 1980s.

All but one bowler conceded more than 100 runs. The South Africans had no answer to Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell, who both recorded massive centuries in what was a 286-run fourth-wicket stand. This cemented the innings, despite poor efforts by Micheal Vaughan and Paul Collingwood, and England declared at a mammoth 593 for eight.

Cricket maxim states that a team cannot lose if they score beyond 500 in their first innings.

South Africa crumbled in their first innings, with only a century to Ashwell Prince saving some face for the tourists. Six batsmen scored single-figure innings. The balanced and controlled pace attack of the ever-threatening Ryan Sidebottom, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad combined for five wickets, while Monty Panesar again proved his class as an international spinner, taking 4/74.

It was at this time that it became clear the Proteas were clearly overawed playing England at Lord's. They were sent back in to bat with two full days remaining. The game was England’s to lose. Vincent Barnes, the South African assistant coach, agreed, saying: “With the media building up our pace attack, we believed our own hype.”

But the England attack could not put the Proteas away. It is unfair to blame the bowlers entirely for this - the South African top order was a different operation than the meek wall that had keeled over on the third day. The top three batsmen, Graham Smith, Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla, scored centuries to guide their team to a typically dogged draw, characteristic of the stubbornness exhibited by this South African team.

It was the sixth straight Test that had ended in a draw at Lord’s, the last game forcing a result being the remarkable Ashes match in 2005 where Australia won by 239 runs. It was a surface that many commentators remarked as being benign, where the all-out pace of an Andrew Flintoff could have been the deciding factor. Indeed, he has now been drafted into the 12-man squad for the second Test in what may be an impressive comeback for the imposing quick.

Vaughan kept his fields on attack for the bulk of the last two days and the combination of bouncers and line from the England attack was impressive, but could not break the Protea’s resistance. It was the 10th time the South Africans had saved a Test after having to follow on 38 times in their history, better than any other nation. Furthermore, the last three occasions the English have forced the Proteas to follow on, they have not been able to complete a result.

With another three Tests to come, enough was shown from both outfits to suggest that this could go down as a classic series. England are a far more intimidating beast at home, but this is a South African team that will stay in the series even if they are being outplayed. With Flintoff likely to be drafted in – probably at the expense of the out-of-form Collingwood, it will be interesting to see how the Lancashire all-rounder does on his return to the national side.

REMAINING TEST MATCHES: Second Test, at Headingley, Leeds, July 18-22. Third Test, at Edgbaston, Birmingham, July 30-August 3. Fourth Test, at the Oval, Surry, August 7-11.