The BBC's Pat Murphy reports from Edgbaston

And Stewart had his predecessor Mike Atherton and Surrey colleague Mark Butcher to thank as the opening batting pair took the side to lunch unbeaten on 67 runs.

After winning the toss, South African captain Hansie Cronje decided to bowl first, as Stewart probably would have done, too.

Mark Butcher drives towards 25 not out

However, the new England skipper shrugged off his first bit of bad luck with a simple comment.

"It's not the end of the world", said Stewart, and he was certainly right as Butcher made his intentions clear with two early boundaries off Allan Donald.

Alec Stewart speaks to the BBC's Simon Hughes after the toss

However, there was still movement for Cronje's opening pair Donald and Shaun Pollock, who looked dangerous on their home county ground as they bowled four consecutive maidens.

Butcher in particular survived one confident Pollock appeal for lbw, which looked very close indeed.

Atherton: back to form

Atherton took eight overs to get his first runs, but appeared to have shaken off the cares of captaincy and the bad form which dogged him in the winter.

He and Butcher saw off both pacemen's first spells, before Cronje brought first Lance Klusener, and then himself on.

The two slower seamers got more movement in the air than the quicker bowlers but could not use it to make a breakthrough, and Klusener in particular was expensive.

Appeal but no joy for South Africa's Shaun Pollock

After 23 overs, Donald was back on, although from the other end of the ground.

The fast bowler who regards Edgbaston as his second home, swapped to the City End. Then, 10 minutes before, lunch unconventional spinner Paul Adams was brought on, and Pollock came back too.

But it was all to no avail as Atherton and Butcher continued their fine start to the series.

Better still, after an overcast morning, the sun came out leaving a good Birmingham crowd confident of England building a good total in the afternoon.

England First Innings

MA Butcher not out 25
MA Atherton not out 35
Extras: 7

Total: 67-0 off 30 overs

To Bat: N Hussain, GP Thorpe, MR Ramprakash, AJ Stewart, DG Cork, MA Ealham, RDB Croft, D Gough, ARC Fraser.

FoW: n/a

Bowling (O-M-R-W):

Donald 8-2-18-0
Pollock 8-4-9-0
Klusener 8-3-26-0
Cronje 4-2-4-0
Adams 2-0-3-0

Teams

England:

Mike Atherton
Mark Butcher
Nasser Hussain
Alec Stewart (captain)
Graham Thorpe
Mark Ramprakash
Mark Ealham
Dominic Cork
Robert Croft
Darren Gough
Angus Fraser

South Africa: