England's record-breaking run of victories threatens to come to an abrupt halt in the second Test against South Africa after a dismal batting performance in their final match of a triumphant year.

Having propelled themselves to No 2 in the world rankings then fully justified that status by hammering South Africa by seven wickets in the opening Test, England were expected to complete 2004 in style.

But instead of taking the momentum gained from the first Test triumph into the traditional Boxing Day fixture at Durban, they handed South Africa an opportunity to take control of the second Test and possibly inflict England's first defeat in over a year.

Put in to bat in sweltering and humid conditions more akin to Sri Lanka, where they suffered their last Test defeat just over a year ago in Colombo, England struggled to cope with an uneven pitch and produced a series of ill-judged shots to hasten their demise to 139 all out.

It was their lowest first innings total since scoring 135 against West Indies at Lord's four years ago and the first time they have failed to reach 200 since being dismissed for 173 against South Africa at Lord's last year.

South Africa overcame the loss of captain Graeme Smith to reach 70 for three by the close after losing two wickets in the final seven overs of the day.

Having shown remarkable consistency over the last year to set an England record of eight successive Test wins, it was something of a surprise to witness the top order failing so spectacularly on the opening day.

Eight different players claimed centuries this year and England's lowest first innings total previously in 2004 had been the 226 they recorded against West Indies in Barbados.

They recovered to win that match and the series, to underline just how potent their batting line-up had become.

They struggled to repeat that yesterday, however, against the new ball attack of Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini and handed a great opportunity to South Africa to claw their way back into the five-match series.

From the moment Marcus Trescothick fell in the tenth over, getting an inside edge to novice wicketkeeper AB de Villiers, England's batsmen seemed to lack the determination and resolve which has helped them out of many a tight situation over the last year.

Mark Butcher followed eight overs later, chopping on to his stumps.

Andrew Strauss, man of the match during the opening Test victory at Port Elizabeth, played an uncharacteristic loose shot and drove left-arm spinner Nicky Boje to mid-off.

Given the opportunity to regroup over lunch, England instead suffered a middle order collapse, which all but ended their hopes of battling towards a competitive total after losing four wickets in 11 overs.

Graham Thorpe can probably excuse himself from criticism after being given leg before to Pollock's superb first delivery after lunch, but he was followed by a succession of ill-judged shots to accelerate England's demise.

Both Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones fell after mis-timing attempted pulls and captain Michael Vaughan was given leg before after walking across his stumps to seamer Ntini to leave England's lower order exposed to the pace and promise of young fast bowler Dale Steyn.

Encouraged by an early blow to Ashley Giles' upper arm, which caused him to suffer back spasms and prevented him from entering the field when South Africa began their reply, Steyn subjected Warwickshire's left-arm spinner to a sustained burst of short-pitched bowling.

Giles was hit several times and physio Kirk Russell was twice forced to come on to the field to administer treatment.

Giles' 71 minutes of defiance was ended when he also holed out in the deep and earned Steyn a deserved wicket.

Pollock cleaned up the final two wickets after tea in successive overs and the consequences of Steyn's working over of Giles soon became clear.

The injuries prevented the spinner from bowling and giving England's quartet of fast bowlers relief from the intense heat.

Steve Harmison struck an early blow by tempting Smith into edging straight to Flintoff at second slip.

The catch saw the Durham paceman equal Ian Botham's England record tally of 63 wickets in a calendar year, set in 1978.

It also gave England encouragement that they could perform a miraculous fightback.

But Herschelle Gibbs, one of four changes in South Africa's line-up, was determined to make his mark on his return to the side.

The man who pulled out of a contract with Durham last summer successfully frustrated the tourists for an hour and a half.

Then seven overs before the close he was bowled shouldering arms to Matthew Hoggard.

England were given a final bonus in the closing minutes with Harmison striking again to remove Jacques Rudolph.

He had looked the most dangerous of the South African batsmen, but went for 32 to a disputed catch by Thorpe at short leg.