Stuart Broad clearly likes leading the England attack. He did it spectacularly to blow Australia away at Trent Bridge last summer when Jimmy Anderson was injured and now he was superb again just when he was most needed.

Broad relished the extra responsibility handed him here by Anderson’s absence to give England the edge in this first Test with bowling every bit as good as that which earned him eight wickets against Australia and clinched the Ashes.

How important Broad was to an England team who lost six wickets in an extended morning session to finish at least 50 runs short of where they wanted to be overnight, with South Africa bowling them out for 303.

Stuart Broad leads the celebrations after taking the important wicket of AB de Villiers on day two

Broad took three of the four South African wickets to fall in Durban on Saturday as he led the attack

Broad clenches his fists as he roars with celebration after De Villiers edged to Jonny Bairstow

Broad produced the sort of magic that saw him take eight wickets at Trent Bridge during the Ashes

And how brilliant Broad has been throughout a year in which he has now taken 54 Test wickets and reached heights that he has rarely touched before after England had wisely left him out of the one-day side post World Cup.

Trevor Bayliss came very close to reinstating Broad to the limited-overs team for this tour but when he can remain fresh enough in an overcrowded calendar to bowl like this then it is surely best to preserve him for the ultimate form.

This was an eventful and highly entertaining second day of a series which is already living up to the hope that these teams would be evenly matched even though South Africa are still ranked No1 in the world and on their own patch.

There was controversy too over the latest in a long line of disputed decisions over low catches that technology confuses rather than clarifies which for a while reprieved South Africa’s best batsman in AB de Villiers.

Broad was at the centre of everything from the moment he joined with Steven Finn in a last-wicket stand of 36 that took England beyond 300 after a lower order collapse had threatened to undo their hard work of the first day.

Morne Morkel, innocuous on day one, found his wings to back up his partner in crime Dale Steyn with three wickets in six balls and Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes in consecutive deliveries, with Broad just averting the hat-trick.

But it was when Broad, who hit five fours in his 32, had a ball in his hand that the game came to life, Stiaan van Zyl leaving the second ball of the innings and losing his off-stump and Hashim Amla edging a beauty to Jonny Bairstow.

The South African captain, under pressure after a dismal tour of India, had already lived a charmed life, seeming to edge Broad behind on one only for England not to review Aleem Dar’s not out decision and being missed by a diving Bairstow off Anderson’s deputy Woakes.

Dean Elgar acknowledges the applause from the crowd after bringing up his half century as hosts recovered

South Africa opener Elgar steps on to the front foot on his way to reaching 67 not out at the close of play

Nick Compton reached 85 on day two as he capped his return to Test cricket with an impressive display

Yet Dar’s apparent mistake was nothing compared to the umpiring debacle that allowed De Villiers to escape on 11 when all evidence and every bit of cricketing logic suggested he had been cleanly caught by Ben Stokes in the gully during an impressive spell by Steven Finn.

Stokes was almost too honest for his own good, suggesting he was not sure he had collected the ball diving forward and sowing a seed of doubt into the minds of Dar and his on-field colleague Rod Tucker.

But there was absolutely no excuse for third umpire Bruce Oxenford to get it so spectacularly wrong when he and everybody in cricket knows that television pictures foreshorten images and create doubt over clean catches.

Compton eventually fell when he was caught behind off the bowling of Morne Morkel (centre)

Ben Stokes (left) was the first England batsman to perish on Sunday morning, falling for 21 off Morkel

Moeen Ali was dismissed for a duck as South Africa made light work of England’s lower order

Morkel, who took four first-innings wickets, celebrates dismissing Chris Woakes for a duck

It is time that the on-field umpires, who have a much clearer view of these incidents, regained the courage to make decisions themselves or go back to the good old-fashioned idea of taking a fielder’s word for it. They invariably know if a catch is clean.

The incident looked to be decisive, with De Villiers hitting Moeen Ali for six and moving smoothly to 49, but with the Test slipping away from England Broad returned to claim the main man for the eight time in Test cricket.

Lovely bowling it was too, aiming wide at De Villiers and shaping the ball into him before a little leg-cutter took the edge and found its way to Bairstow.

Moeen, who had taken six wickets against South Africa A in the last warm-up, had offered little threat until he got o the act with an absolute beauty that went through Faf du Plessis’s gate and shaved the off bail.

Broad produced a handy 32 not out as he put on a last-wicket stand of 36 with Steven Finn

Steven Finn put up a stubborn resistance as Broad added runs before eventually falling for 12

Broad (not pictured) dismissed South Africa opener Stiaan Van Zyl for nought with second ball of the innings

Broad (second right) celebrates after taking the wicket of South Africa captain Hashim Amla

It was just enough to remove it, to the relief of Bairstow who was in a poor position to complete a stumping and had an indifferent day as keeper after hitting a perky 41 earlier while all around him struggled and Nick Compton fell 15 runs short of what would have been a richly deserved home-town hundred.

England’s poor judge of a review was to cost them again when Stokes apparently had Dean Elgar lbw on 58 yet did not contest Dar’s not out decision.

Elgar survived to reach 67 by the close in company with Temba Bavuma who, at 5ft 3in, is surely the only man in world cricket shorter than England’s James Taylor.

South Africa ended an extended day on 137 for four, still 166 behind, but England just about have their noses in front, no thanks to the officials and their own timidity over the marginal decisions that could decide this even contest.