Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – South Africa cooked the English “goose” in a merciless display that saw them snatch the initiative to a spectacular degree on day three of the third Test at a stifling Newlands here on Tuesday.

GALLERY: SA v England

Whether you want to describe the tourists – looking collectively cumbersome for the first time in the series toward the close of play – as sizzled in a 36 deg C microwave or subjected to a more gradual form of bubbling torture on the stove-top, the effects were pretty much the same.

Nor was the heat over once play had ended: Andy Flower, the England coach, then had to face a media bombardment minutes after Michael Owen-Smith, the Proteas’ media officer, confirmed that they had lodged a complaint with the match referee over the state of the ball.

It is thought that the furore was sparked when pace bowler Stuart Board allegedly “trod” on the ball in the field – it was captured on television -- potentially scuffing it in a manner believed to sometimes enhance the art of swing bowling on pitches otherwise unresponsive to it.

Flower claimed to an incredulous pack of reporters, most of them English, that he had no prior knowledge of the South African report to the match referee.

“The umpires and match referee haven’t said a thing to us,” he said, before spinning the line that any possible action by Broad may have been nothing more harmful than “stopping” the ball.

“I have seen many tall bowlers stop the ball with a foot … there is nothing sinister about that.

I don’t know yet whether our opponents are casting aspersions on us.”

Of course the incident may not necessarily die quietly because Broad, the son of ICC match referee Chris Broad, has already earned mild controversy recently for his animated challenging of umpires on the field.

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar -- a known provocateur at times, it is true -- has already ruffled feathers by suggesting that the younger Broad is immune from censure for on-field petulance because of his father’s position in the game.

And there is some “history” of ball-tampering jiggery-pokery in Tests between these countries, after the infamous Mike Atherton dirt-in-pocket affair of 1994.

Away from the sideshow, the aces in the Test are suddenly very firmly held by Graeme Smith, sadist-in-chief on 162 not out as the Proteas went about their second-innings business at a rollicking rate and with an efficiency that rendered the England attack – limited as it has been all series to four specialists – unusually toothless in the unrelenting sunshine.

It looks very much as if South Africa, 1-0 down and fired-up now for the equalising win at this happy stamping ground, will be the ones dictating what target England will have, with ample time remaining in this contest.

The Proteas lead by a swollen margin of 330 runs with eight wickets in hand and, unless the tourists continue this game’s strong trend for first-session carnage with the new ball on Wednesday, their near-misery in the field may be extended significantly as South Africa set them something well-nigh beyond winning capability.

And then it will be a question of whether the hosts themselves are able to get through England’s batting-heavy line-up all over again on a pitch that is not yet showing major signs of any mischief.

Still, temperatures are expected to dip to altogether more comfortable mid-20s for the remainder of the match, which would be welcomed by a South African seam attack looking rejuvenated thus far in the encounter and not needing any extra motivation for a further 10 wickets considering the series position.

You would think Smith will seek a minimum of four and a half sessions to bowl England out, and by that time it is possible the Proteas, if they avoid a sudden clatter of wickets, will sport an irresistible lead in the region of 480 or more.

South Africa’s most inspired day of the series was marked primarily by the record-breaking second-wicket blitz of 230 runs in as many minutes -- and at a bang-bang tempo of 4.22 to the over -- by Smith and Hashim Amla, who was dismissed just five runs shy of his third century against these foes and second in this series.

It was a hugely satisfying display for both batsmen: Smith is within reach of a third double century against England and first on home soil, while reaching three figures meant his first “ton” in 13 Test knocks.

He is warming ever more menacingly to the series after beginning it with a duck at Centurion.

Amla, meanwhile, was able to thoroughly erase memories of his last Test against these opponents at Newlands, in the 2004/05 season, when he was a rigid rookie in his third appearance for South Africa and was roughed up by Andrew Flintoff and company in innings of 25 and 10 and dropped for the next Test.

How blissfully the wheel can turn.

As for Smith, Flower, when given a belated opportunity to talk on matters not related to alleged skulduggery, grudgingly conceded: “Graeme Swann troubled him … but he fought off those troubles.

“He is a tough opponent.” He got that bit right …