Just a fortnight after the new director of Cricket South Africa Graeme Smith appointed Mark Boucher as the head coach, the Proteas opened their World Test Championship account. South Africa staged a brilliant fightback in the Centurion Test and beat England by 107 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the 4-match series. It was their first Test win after a 10-match losing streak. Chasing a mammoth 376-run target, England looked good to achieve the unthinkable but suffered a batting collapse. Losing their last 7 wickets for just 64 runs, the visitors were bowled out for 268. With 30 points from 4 games, South Africa climbed to the 7th spot on the World Test Championship.