20 January
PAKISTAN SHOW WHY THEY ARE THE GAME'S ENTERTAINERS
If you caught the back end of South Africa and Pakistan's opening one-dayer on Saturday, you would have noticed just why Pakistan remain one of the game's most entertaining teams.
They are capable of the truly sublime, but they don't really like to do boring. Given the choice, you almost sense that they would far rather win a thriller off the last ball, instead of cruising home with overs to spare.
They love living on the edge, which is why they can easily slip through the gears and reach the high notes. On Saturday, they didn't have to push that hard to beat South Africa by five wickets. In fact, they could have won by seven wickets if they wanted to.
The difference that Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have made is already apparent. It's a bit like South Africa regaining an AB de Villiers and JP Duminy in the middle of a tour.
They bring class and composure to a team that can still be skittish, and their calm stroll to a target of 267 also illustrated where the 50-over game has gone.
A run a ball is barely a par score, especially on a good track. The best teams in the world knock that off in their sleep.
In order to really put a team under pressure, you have to set them a total beyond six an over - and do from the very start of their innings.
For all the wonderful work that Hashim Amla and Rassie van der Dussen did, one of them had to then hit the turbo chargers, and leave Pakistan for dead.
The fact that South Africa scored at about five an over throughout their innings, never really accelerating, indicates that Pakistan were the ones in control of that innings.
Their bowlers were not fazed by the occasional boundary, because the Proteas never really kicked on for a period of time.
The lessons from Port Elizabeth would have been absorbed, and Faf du Plessis was the first to say that they had been beaten by the better team.
Sometimes it is actually good to lose, especially so early in the series. The Proteas will go to Durban, and they have to find a new game-plan.
The motto in modern ODI cricket is adapt, or die.
An innings cannot simply meander to its conclusion. It must hurtle along, with batsmen constantly red-lining the scoring rate.
Pakistan started like a house on fire, then calmed a bit, before their classy middle-order applied the finishing touches. The entertainers got the job done, in their own, unique manner.
It's now over to the Proteas to respond.
Durban is the venue for the second match of the series, but players were greeted with ominously grey skies on Sunday.
It would be a terrific shame if Tuesday's game was affected by weather, because the tourists have a strong fan base in Durban.
It is their only stop there on this trip, so let's hope the sun pops in, and attracts a decent crowd to Kingsmead.
18 January
GIBSON IS THE RUM TO SOUTH AFRICA'S COCA-COLA!
The last thing the South African cricket team should be concerned about is whether or not a quality coach like Ottis Gibson will still be around beyond the rapidly approaching World Cup.
Faf du Plessis found himself having to address that question on the eve of the first one-dayer with Pakistan in Port Elizabeth, and he would certainly be the first to canvass for the Bajan to stay exactly where he is.
When he originally signed on for the Proteas job, the popular West Indian was handed a two-year contract, and 18 months of that deal have already flown by. His impact upon his team has been best illustrated in the 'mongrel' that they have shown in test cricket. Once again, South Africa have become a very hard nut to crack in white clothing.
That continues a fine tradition since re-admission, but another big reason why Gibson was summoned back to a place he calls a 'home from home' is the elusive World Cup.
Try as they might, South Africa have never quite got over the line in the showpiece event. Regardless of how richly talented, or how thoroughly drilled and dominant they have been in the years preceding a tournament, they can never quite play their best cricket when it matters most.
One of Gibson's hallmarks as a coach has been the level of trust he places on his players. Even when there were growing concerns about some of his batsmen, especially, Gibson has shrugged off speculation about the axe as nonsense. Not on his watch, he says.
The bowlers have also loved having him as their mentor. Dale Steyn, who has seen plenty of coaches in his professional career, even wondered why it is usually batsmen who get the head coaching gigs around the world. Trust a bowler to question that long accepted logic!
All jokes aside, however, Gibson's influence on his team has been massive. He has convinced his batters to wear a few on the body in test cricket, in order to get the best out of their embarrassment of pace riches.
He has then pushed those bowlers to be even better. Kagiso Rabada, currently the best bowler in the world, remarked recently that he felt that he was only operating at about 70% of his capability.
"He's bowling at 145km/h, at 70%. I would love to see his numbers when he gets up to 100%," Gibson quipped.
He is laid back, and has introduced a bottle of rum into the dressing-room. At the end of matches, that is.
But he cracks the whip routinely, especially on his bowlers. So, unless South Africa have an absolute meltdown in the English summer, the smart money should be on Gibson sharing a few more seasons - and rum and cokes - in the South African dressing-room.
The Pakistan tour has moved to Port Elizabeth, for the start of the ODI portion of the trip. With the World Cup on the horizon, expect the tourists to be a lot more competitive in this format, especially as Duanne Olivier cannot bombard them with bouncers all day.
Speaking of Olivier, Pakistan must have thought they had seen the last of him after the third test at the Wanderers. Alas, the Bloemfontein Bone Collector was a late addition to the squad, with Dale Steyn rested.
They simply can't get rid of him!
17 January
Most squads have a ‘bolter’ in the last few months before a World Cup. A player who either produces eye-watering performances in the months leading up to the tournament and makes himself impossible to ignore, or a youngster on whom the selectors are prepared to gamble.
South Africa’s selectors have traditionally been more conservative than most others so the last man to make a late, and successful run for late selection was David Miller for the 2011 World Cup.
Could Rassie van der Dussen, at the age of 29, do the same? Yes – if he is given the chance to play against Pakistan and lives up to his ability.
Christiaan Jonker was given a brief opportunity to stake a claim but his presence in the Bangladesh Premier League now suggests he knows his chance has gone.
Van der Dussen excelled in the Canadian Premier League and again in the Caribbean Premier League before outshining everyone in the Mzansi Super League. He is a hot commodity and has the experience and temperament to shine again at the highest level.
“I am hoping to make my debut,” he said at St George’s Park on Thursday. “I haven’t played an ODI for South Africa, but I have played two T20’s. If that day does come, I hope I can contribute towards a winning cause, that is the most important thing. I also want to feed off the experienced guys, for me it’s a massive honour and privilege to be here. If I can learn and improve a bit that will be the main goal.”
If Van der Dussen does get the World Cup nod it will most likely be in 15th place but the tournament is a long one and the best laid plans can, and often do, change within seven weeks. His (Jozi) star is rising faster than anyone else’s at this stage.
Another retirement. Last week it was Albie Morkel, from all cricket. Today it is Rory Kleinveldt, although only from first-class cricket.
“Finally, enough of the toil!” he said following the Cape Cobras defeat to the Warriors.
Seventeen years in first-class whites is a very long time for anyone, never mind an allrounder. Good on you, ‘Big Show’! (It was never a nickname he enjoyed which is why it stuck.)
He played all three formats for his country and did some extraordinary things for Northamptonshire, for whom he will continue to play in limited overs cricket, as well as the Cobras.
There will absolutely, certainly be a few more big shows from the Big Show. As much as anything is certain in cricket.
16 January
It’s been a tough 48 hours for Mickey Arthur and the Pakistan camp but the signs are there that a successful regrouping is not only possible but likely as the tourists now start their preparations for the World Cup in earnest. As do the Proteas.
The difference between batting in test and limited overs cricket will, I suspect, never be more graphically illustrated than when Fakhar Zaman opens the batting for the tourists.
His record and recent performances in the 50-over game persuaded Arthur and the selectors to give him a crack in test cricket – and he was hopeless. Never looked like lasting an over, never mind making a meaningful contribution.
But whereas he faced the prospect of being mercilessly bounced by Duanne Olivier and Kagiso Rabada all day in whites, he knows that there are only 10 overs per bowler in coloured clothing and that ‘escape’ is eminently more possible – as are boundaries during the Power Play.
It is an obvious but still smart move by the Proteas selectors to include Olivier in the squad for the first two ODIs. Just when some of the Pakistan batsmen might have been thinking “thank goodness we’ve seen the last of him” up he pops again. The scars are unlikely to have fully healed and there’s no doubt about what length delivery Olivier will be concentrating on if he plays.
For Dean Elgar, the bitter-sweet realities of life as a captain (a victory and two single figure contributions with the bat) were exacerbated by the fact that his omission from the ODI squad now looks permanent.
He has made no secret of his ambition to make the squad and compete for a World Cup place. His record in county cricket is outstanding and I have suggested on several occasions that he would have been a smart inclusion.
But Aiden Markram’s recall to the squad in place of the rested Quinton de Kock confirms that he is the preferred reserve opener. Not that Elgar will give up. There are still four and half months to go.
14 January
What a difference 116 years makes. Back in 1902-03 Charles ‘Buck’ Lewellyn claimed a remarkable 25 wickets in three tests against Australia, the most in a three-test series for South Africa.
The top 10, all featuring 20 or more scalps, features some very familiar names. Allan Donald, Brett Schultz, Shaun Pollock, Vernon Philander and, of course, Dale Steyn – four times!
But none had ever threatened left-arm spinner Lewellyn’s place at the top of the list until Duanne Olivier came within a whisker of matching him on the final day at the Wanderers.
Born in Pietermaritzburg in 1876, Lewellyn played for Natal before emigrating to England in 1899 where he played a decade of county cricket for Hampshire claiming over 1 000 first-class wickets and scoring over 10 000 runs.
He never played first-class cricket in the land of his birth again but was persuaded to take the boat home once more in 1902 for the three-match series against Australia.
All test matches in South Africa until the early 1930s were played on matting pitches and there was plenty of assistance for the spinners. Nobody, by all accounts, was expecting quite such a bountiful return from ‘Buck’ but it was in vain as the tourists won 2-0.
Clearly Lewellyn didn’t object to a couple of months on the ocean because the next time he played for SA was in Australia in 1907/08 having boarded the ship in Southampton and docked in Sydney just over six weeks later.
His returns were far less spectacular than the 25 which he delivered in his record breaking series but, once the badly rain-affected Triangular test series of 1912 (played in England) was over, his final tally was still a very creditable 48 wickets at an average of 29.6.
What is far less readily known is that Charles Lewellyn would almost certainly have been classed as Coloured any time after such classifications existed in South Africa. His father was white Caucasian and his mother heralded from the historical island of St Helena in the middle of the Atlantic ocean where the tiny population (still tiny today) came from a rich mixture of cultures and ethnicities.
Lewellyn was often described in his day as a “swarthy gentleman” which, to white readers of the time, was a clear indication that he was a little ‘different.’ His mixed heritage may have been something to deny or at least ignore back then, but today it would have been celebrated.
So here’s a toast to Buck, and his record. Long may it stand and, long may he be remembered.
13 January
Only twice in the last 25 years has the Wanderers pitch become obviously ‘flatter’ during the course of a test match but there were plenty of questions about whether this might become a third example of a pitch, inexplicably, becoming more placid as the sessions and days pass by – despite obvious deterioration.
In 1995 England’s captain, Michael Atherton, batted for almost 11 hours to save the test on a faultless surface which cushioned the landing of every ball which landed on it. No cracks, dry grass, even and predictable bounce, no spin.
Five years ago the pitch was harder, bouncier but just as reliable and trustworthy as South Africa came agonisingly close to chasing down a fourth innings target of 438 on the fifth day against India.
In between times, the Wanderers has behaved the way test pitches ‘should’ – helping bowlers more as the match progresses. Yet the occasional venom from the first two days seemed to have disappeared on the third day and Quinton De Kock, first, then Asad Shafiq delighted in driving length deliveries ‘on the up’ and cutting anything short and wide of off stump. They are not shots batsmen play when the bounce cannot be trusted.
Yet the cracks are there and they have undeniably widened under the hot sun of the last three days. Perhaps the Proteas just got unlucky with a ball which has softened sooner than normal. The second new ball will not be available for another 40 overs on day four by which time, perhaps, Pakistan may only require another 100 runs for an extraordinarily unlikely victory. Unlikely, but possible.
The more likely reality is that the heavy roller between innings had a significant impact in compacting the cracks on the pitch and that, after a night under covers, a refreshed surface will once again burst into life on the fourth morning and batting will once again become awkward and uncomfortable.
But the day belonged to De Kock, and how he enjoyed it. A cricketer so full of trust in his own ability and instincts, powering his way from 77 at lunch to 99 just four overs after the break, suddenly found himself having to answer questions he’d rarely bothered with before. There were three false starts before he finally found the run he needed to reach his fourth test century – but his first for over two years.
Even batsmen as blessed and talented as De Kock can have doubts after 50+ innings without reaching three figures. Of course there are fewer opportunities to score centuries at number seven but he knows half a dozen chances have escaped him in that time. But this was an emphatic way to end the drought.
12 January
It feels like a long time ago that test matches were boring. Or even had significantly long periods of dull play within them. Depending on your definition of ‘a long time’, it IS a long time since it felt perfectly normal to do the weekend shopping or take the children to a sports match for three hours and feel confident that nothing much would have changed. No longer.
Notwithstanding the bowler friendly pitches at Centurion and Newlands, all three test matches have moved forward at a cracking pace and it has just as much to do with captains’ and batsmen’s approach as a playing surface which assists bowlers.
2018 was a year in which very few batsmen, anywhere in the world, excelled. Most struggled. Yet Faf du Plessis (who averaged 24) had the personality and sense of ‘team before individual’ to say it had been “one of the best years for test cricket in during my career.”
“We want test cricket to be at the forefront of the game, it is the greatest format. When the game is moving forward at this pace it is up to the players to keep up,” Du Plessis said after the second test at Newlands.
The Wanderers test has seen 25 wickets fall on the first two days and only (a lot of) rain will see it concluded anywhere near a fifth day. Without rain it may not reach a fourth. But the batsmen from both sides have said it is a ‘good pitch’ and most put their dismissals down to their own errors rather than bowling skill. Which is not so say the bowlers have been lucky. Most batsmen will blame themselves when they have been out-thought.
The brightest future for test cricket is the four-day game – provided pitches are prepared with a positive result in mind. A three-test series is then scheduled and concluded in three weeks rather than a month. The international calendar had to fit into the global domestic T20 calendar. The tail is now wagging the dog, it’s official and cannot be denied any longer.
If it continues to be wagged with such vigorous enthusiasm and produces such engaging entertainment, nobody should be complaining. Traditionalists or anybody else…
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