England were 150 for six by mid-afternoon, with Flintoff and Stuart Broad the men hoping to kickstart a recovery.

The hosts were three down in awkward conditions by lunch, after opposing captain Graeme Smith had put them in under heavy cloud cover.

The slowness of the pitch was offset by significant movement off it, and openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss were necessarily watchful against the new ball.

They had to contend with the determination of Dale Steyn and first change Morne Morkel in particular, as South Africa's much-touted pace attack sought to make up for their false start in the drawn first Test at Lord's.

It was when Morkel began duties up the hill from the Football Ground end that England began to find things difficult.

Cook was the unfortunate victim when umpire Billy Bowden judged he had got bat on a ball from Morkel which appeared, from video replays, to merely flick his trouser leg on the way for a catch behind down the leg-side.

Michael Vaughan had made just two at Lord's and was captaining his country in a Test match for the 50th time, on his home ground where he made a comeback hundred against West Indies last year.

This time, he went for a seven-ball duck when Steyn got the ball on a testing line and length and found the edge of a forward defence for a regulation catch at second slip by Smith.

Two wickets had therefore fallen in only 10 balls, for the addition of one run.

The scene was set for Kevin Pietersen, who might have gone lbw for four to Steyn when he walked across his stumps - but after umpire Daryl Harper had applied benefit of the doubt, England's number four was soon hooking the same bowler for six.

Strauss' progress was more sedate but convincing until Morkel thought he had him via a 'catch', claimed at third slip by AB de Villiers.

The batsman hesitated, and a third-umpire referral confirmed the ball just carried but was then grounded by De Villiers.

There were no such doubts two overs later when Morkel got his man, with a little extra bounce from round the wicket for a routine caught-behind.

England lost a fourth wicket in the first half-hour after lunch, and this time it was their biggest.

Pietersen played some outrageous shots on his way to a near run-a-ball 45 - which included several dismissive whips to leg among his seven fours.

Having made 28 from only 16 balls in the afternoon session, however, he paid for over-ambition when he drove at a length ball from Steyn and edged to Smith at second slip.

Bell's survival therefore became crucial, with Tim Ambrose already at the crease - batting at number six for the first time in a Test - and Flintoff in next.

It was still more so when Ambrose, after an encouraging start, got a compliant edge behind as soon as Ntini went round the wicket to him.

Flintoff entered the fray to cheers around the ground and got off the mark with an aerial fence between the slips and gully for four down to third-man.

Bell and Flintoff's partnership of 27 ended when Bell played a full-length Kallis delivery on to his wickets and departed for 31.