James Anderson coaxed Gautam Gambhir into miscuing a pull shot that landed safely and Sidebottom came inches away from bowling Rohit Sharma via an inside edge.
After a similarly aggressive response, Herschelle Gibbs fell in the sixth over of South Africa's reply, miscuing a flick at Corey Collymore shortly after slog-sweeping him for six.
After Joel Ward replaced Utaka, Reading forward Jobi McAnuff found space but flashed a right-foot drive over the crossbar before David Nugent fluffed a chance to double Pompey's lead by miscuing his volley from 12 yards out.