A day on which the sun shone, the supposedly batsmen-friendly North-Easter blew, and the pitch didn't offer too much assistance. 18 wickets fell in one day at Kingsmead. Madness.

Add to the equation the small matter of the world's top-rated Test teams doing battle and it's hard to believe what transpired in Durban. However, in reality it was perhaps a simple expression of the fact that despite what many a former seamer will tell you, sometimes cricket really is a bowler's game.

Of Monday's 18 wickets only a handful were a result of top-class deliveries, with bowlers rewarded for maintaining a good line and length rather than trying to produce wonder deliveries every time they ran up to the crease.

This is well illustrated by the trials and tribulations of Shantha Sreesanth, who simply seemed to be trying too hard as he hurled in a mixture of short, full, wide and straight deliveries. There was no rhythm or rhyme, just an attempt to get a wicket with every ball, rather than playing to a plan and out-thinking the opposition.

Much of Monday was a case of bowlers remaining patient, while batsmen failed to do so. Of course, some batsmen will consider themselves unlucky, Alviro Petersen and certainly Jacques Kallis fall into this category, but for the most part the batsmen did not shroud themselves in glory.

Interestingly, AB de Villiers remarked at the press conference that day two was an example of how Test cricket should be: there was always something in it for the bowlers.

And, on such a day, when the thirst for runs left many unable to resist temptation, 18 wickets fell, all 22 players had a chance to bat and for once it was the bowlers who had their day in the sun.