Neil's Diary: SA v Sri Lanka

Losing by an innings and 10 wickets suggests Sri Lanka were thrashed to the point of humiliation but somehow it never really felt that way during the course of the two test matches.

Even at their lowest ebb, when South Africa were marching to 600 at SuperSport Park against the friendly, part-time bowling of Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne, they were to be admired for their resilience and pride having lost four frontline bowlers to injury.

The tourists dominated their hosts on the first day of the series, winning all three sessions comfortably. Had Dhananjaya de Silva not sustained a bizarre injury which forced him to retire hurt on 79, he might have scored 140 and Sri Lanka’s total of 396 would have been closer to 500.

Which is not to detract in any way from the performances of the Proteas. Every team suffers misfortunes and it is up to the opposition to cash in as ruthlessly as possible.

As much as Faf du Plessis’s 199 will remain in the memory and as well as Dean Elgar batted for his man-of-the-series award, it was the returns of the four-man pace attack which should encourage for the future. They had just 61 test wickets between them before the first test and yet they more than doubled that amount with another 37 between them.

Anrich Nortje claimed a career-best 6-58 amongst his 11 for the series and Lutho Sipamla’s 10 wickets in his first two tests was outstanding. If he maintains his ability to ruthlessly knock over potentially stubborn tailenders, his value to the team will increase exponentially.

Wiaan Mulder’s batting ability was never in doubt – he is good enough to bat at number six – but his nine wickets in the two tests far exceeded hopes, never mind expectations. Lungi Ngidi’s seven wickets was the lowest among the quartet but the 4-44 in the final innings of the series did as much as anything to seal the 2-0 win.

The Proteas have an extra two days of rest and relaxation at home, outside the ‘bubble’, to contemplate a daunting trip to Pakistan. They leave on 16 January for two tests and three T20s. Not only will they be in a Covid bubble, but a militarily controlled security bubble, too.

Sri Lanka were trying to bring their chartered flight forward by 24-hours but are still scheduled to fly to Colombo on the 8th before back-to-back tests against England in Galle starting on the 14th. Extraordinary schedules are just part of the new normal.

4 January

Batsmen are genetically modified not to praise the bowlers who take their wickets. It is important for them to retain the belief that they are in control and it was their mistake which led to their downfall.

So it was the natural order of events for the Proteas to believe they had missed an opportunity to take complete control of the second test after losing their last nine wickets for just 84 runs.

As is also the case, the truth is usually more nuanced and the Sri Lankan bowlers deserve enormous credit and praise for their fightback, particularly left-armer Avishwa Fernando and his right-arm namesake, Asitha.

Both bowled a full length and found bountiful swing, inviting the batsmen to drive and occasionally paying the price with a boundary – but with the reward of seven wickets between them.

Dean Elgar suggested that the Proteas batsmen had “mentally relaxed just a little bit” having appeared to be in complete control of the match at 218 for one with a lead of 73 runs and nine wickets in hand, despite warning each other that “momentum can shift very quickly in a test match.”

Sri Lanka lead by just five runs with six wickets in hand – but their captain, Dimuth Karunaratne, is still at the crease with an unbeaten 91 in the company of a fine batsman in Niroshan Dickwella (18*).

The next two batsmen in are both all rounders who have scored a half-century apiece in the series already. Should they do so again, and the captain makes a substantial century, an extraordinary upset is a possibility. If a distant one.

After the first day it looked all-but impossible, and that view was recorded here. If saying so results in gleeful finger-pointing then nobody could be happier than the person who wrote those sentiments.

Test cricket is made for comebacks and upsets because it provides second, third, fourth and fifth chances, unlike the other forms of the game, and they are increasingly being taken by players who refuse to recognise ‘history’.

What better than to start the third day of a test match with both teams dreaming of victory and new fans, converted to the game by T20 cricket, tuning in to see what all the fuss is about.

This photo has done the rounds on social media but is a worthy reminder of how quickly fortunes change. Steve Smith is still one of the top three batsmen in world cricket but a lone fan in New Zealand, where the hosts are playing Pakistan, wittily reminded the world of how quickly fortunes change after two lean test matches for the former Australian captain.

3 January

As comprehensively as Sri Lanka won the first day of the first test at Supersport Park last week, the hosts bounced back to dominate the first day of the second test at the Wanderers in an even more dominant fashion. And yet, the Proteas won that game by an innings shortly after lunch on day four so nothing is certain in test cricket.

At least, most things aren’t certain. This as an occasion is one of those where you can be certain that there is no way back – not even, you suspect, if Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi are both injured in the second innings when Sri Lanka come back again. Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma will probably have enough runs on the board to bowl the tourists out a second time with a little help from Lutho Sipamla and Keshav Maharaj.

The ‘story’ of the series so far from Sri Lanka’s point of view has been the almost unprecedented slew of injuries in the first test which left them dishevelled and disillusioned coming to the Wanderers. From South Africa’s, it has been the rise and rise of allrounder Wiaan Mulder whose interventions with the ball have been crucial in both games.

He took the third, fourth and fifth wickets in Sri Lanka’s first innings in Centurion to finish with 3-69 and then the third and fourth in the second innings.

Today he took the second, third and fourth wickets to reduce Sri Lanka from 71-1 to 84-5 at lunch at which point he had the remarkable figures of 3-2-1-3. Quixotically, when Mulder had Kusal Perera caught by Aiden Markram at gully, Sri Lanka’s total of 71 was the lowest ever in a test innings in which a player had been dismissed for 60 or more. The 40.3 overs in which they were dismissed for 157 was also the shortest first innings ever at the Wanderers.

Mulder also made a handy 36 in the first test but there are no doubts about his batting ability at the highest level. It was his ability to carry his weight as a fourth seamer which bore scrutiny. His eight wickets – so far – have provided as much evidence as could have been hoped for.

With tests against Pakistan later this month and three against Australia – if they arrive – the Proteas are in for a heavy workload. It was sensible to rest Kagiso Rabada for this match although the temptation must have been high to play him on his home ground.

Faf du Plessis is in glorious form, Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma are desperate for more runs and then, of course, there is Markram. It is almost impossible to see the Sri Lankans working their way through that batting line-up without conceding a deficit of at least 200 and, if things go poorly for them, South Africa could bat for most if not all of the second day, perhaps even into the third, for a lead of 300+.

What a relief and joy it is to see the Proteas playing positive, winning cricket again after a year of such misery, on and off the field.

2 January

‘Beware the wounded cricketer’ goes the popular saying. Unless you have seven of them before start of a test match in which case they are less likely to defy the odds and produce a fighting innings or bowling spell while carrying an injury.

The tourists have lost their two top scorers from the Centurion test, Dinesh Chandimal (85) and Dhananjaya de Silva (79) and will also be without their two opening bowlers, Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara. The most experienced seamer in the squad, Suranga Lakmal, has also been ruled out.

Batsman Oshada Fernando is also a doubtful starter and leg-spinning allrounder, Wanindu Hasaranga, who claimed 4-171 and made a fighting 59 on debut last week, is also battling to overcome a leg injury.

Lahiru Thirimanne, 31, is one of the game’s great survivors having played 35 tests as a top order batsman having scored just once century while averaging a distinctly under-whelming 22.6. And South Africans think Temba Bavuma has under-performed… Thirimanne may well have drawn another short straw being recalled to the starting XI against a Rabada-reinforced pace attack at the country’s most fast bowling-friendly venue.

When Sri Lanka Sri Lanka’s selectors picked a 23-man squad they were obviously expecting injuries and hoping to cover all their bases, but it wasn’t just for the two tests against the Proteas. They leave on a chartered plane immediately after the Wanderers test and will be transported from Colombo to Galle for the first of two further, back-to-back tests against England. Four tests in just under a month.

And because the bio-secure bubble they entered at Irene Country Club is being ‘transported’ back to Sri Lanka, it cannot be broken with new players entering – unless they are placed in quarantine in Sri Lanka now and somehow manage get sufficient training into their arms and legs in order to be fit for a test match. Highly unlikely.

For the home team the only pressing questions appears to be whose place in the starting XI Rabada takes. Lutho Sipamla is the ‘junior’ but his six wickets at Centurion should be enough to keep his spot. Lungi Ngidi was struggling with a mild thigh strain before the first test so may be rested if it is still sore. Otherwise, given how comfortably the tourists played the wicketless Keshav Maharaj at Supersport Park, the hosts may decide on an all-pace attack.

Although there are another 60 World Test Championship points at stake, it is not unkind to suggest that CSA’s Operations Team will be hoping – just as much if not more – for a clean bill of Covid-health for both teams. Sri Lanka may just be hoping for a clean bill of health full stop.

29 December

Sri Lankan coach Mickey Arthur is a member of the ICC’s Cricket Committee which commands the greatest respect among players of any committees in the game.

Arthur is an unapologetic upholder of the traditional values of the game and so when he says he will be instigating a discussion on the possibilities of injury replacements in test matches, it is worth paying attention.

Arthur holds test match cricket in higher esteem than anyone I know. He knows that the physical toll of five days of cricket is as much a factor in the result of the contest as batting and bowling.

Filling in for injured teammates has been an intrinsic part of the game for well over a century. Introducing substitutes would remove that element of the contest and fundamentally change the nature of the competition.

If substitutes are allowed just for the pandemic era, the precedent will have been set and may be difficult to rewind. Three of Sri Lanka’s four injuries appeared to be ‘conditioning’ injuries caused by a lack of long-form match practice but who determines whether a groin strain or hamstring tear is coronavirus-related? If we can’t have neutral umpires we certainly can’t afford to have neutral doctors.

“We put our test players into a bio-secure environment and loaded them up (with training time) before the Bangladesh series which was then cancelled so we had to let them go home and de-load them,” Arthur said. “Then the South Africa series was on-off, and then on again, so we did our best to reload the miles and overs in their legs, but clearly it wasn’t enough.

“Nobody can be sure how long this situation will persist so it must be worth considering having substitutes. We scored almost 600 runs in this test match and the contest might have been very different if we hadn’t lost all but one of our entire bowling attack. Injuries are part of the game but this was extreme and nobody wants to see the integrity of the game compromised,” Arthur said.

All that said, no credit should be denied to the home side for their innings and 45-run run victory after losing all three sessions of the game on the first day. It was a dramatically powerful fightback for the home side and a traumatic collapse for the visitors.

A final thought to all the people who are making the series possible and, hopefully, putting a smile on the faces of fans or, at least, providing a welcome distraction.

The two squads, with staff and management, number over 70. They will remain in their ‘bubble’ at Irene Country Club throughout the tour with no access to family.

A similar number of staff will also remain on-site with no chance of returning home. With the recent lockdown regulations, they won’t even be able to raise a toast to the New Year. Although no mention was made by President Cyril Ramaphosa about champagne regulations within bio-secure environments.

Finally, it won’t be remembered as much as the result of the test match, but it is worth noting the Proteas’ pre-match gesture in support of Black Lives Matter. It should have been agreed and finalised before it was, but at least it happened. It was important.

Here’s to seeing Kagiso Rabada back in the starting XI in the New Year and a cracking Wanderers test match.

28 December

An extraordinary day, perfectly surmised by the statistic that Sri Lanka became the first team in test history to have five bowlers with ‘part overs’ in their analyses with four having to complete an over on behalf of injured colleagues before Vishwa Fernando claimed the final wicket with the first ball of his 32nd over.

Having started the test match with six frontline bowlers, four seamers and two spinners, the tourists had just two remaining at one point. No wonder coach Mickey Arthur has encouraged the ICC to have the discussion around injury replacements – at least while the Coronavirus has the world in its grip.

It wasn’t clear after three days how many Sri Lankans will bat tin the second innings and, therefore, how many wickets the Proteas will need to wrap up victory, but it will be less than 10. Perhaps as few as seven.

It may seem unprecedented but, as is always the case in the 140 years of test cricket, there is almost always a precedent. And worse.

In 1971 the West Indies beat India at Kingston, Jamaica, by claiming just 11 wickets in total. A recently re-laid pitch offered hideously uneven bounce – and pace – and three of India’s top order batsmen were felled. Opener Anshuman Gaekwad spent two nights in hospital after being hit on the head and Brijesh Patel was also felled by a bouncer. Gundappa Viswanath was caught off the ball which broke his finger.

India’s captain, Bishen Bedi, claimed that both he and fellow spinner, Chandrasekhar, had hand injuries – before they had even batted – so politely declined to put their lives on the line. In the second innings five batsmen failed to appear and India were ‘all out’ for 97 despite losing only five wickets.

So today’s injury carnage was mild.

Talk of test match ‘credibility’ is bordering on the hysterical. There are literally hundreds of examples of teams entering a contest with a four-man bowling attack and losing two, or even three of them to injury. Physical durability is, and always was, one of the major points about playing a cricket match over an extended period of time. Just four years ago South Africa were required to use Temba Bavuma and Stephen Cook as bowlers in a test match against Australia at the WACA in Perth when Dale Steyn’s shoulder broke down on the first morning.

Faf du Plessis may get another chance to score a test match double-century, but he will never get a better chance, because fewer better chances have ever existed. When he has retired he will look back with bemusement and humour on his 199 rather than the frustration and disappointment he so clearly displayed in the moment.

Trailing by 160 runs with only eight ‘official’ wickets left, probably six, maybe five, a Sri Lankan avoidance of defeat will rank among the greatest escapes in history. Unless it rains for the majority of the next two days.

27 December

How times have changed, and not just because of coronavirus. Not only have we quickly become accustomed to national teams having entirely separate squads for test and limited overs cricket, but the criteria for selection to those squads has changed out of most recognition from just a few years ago.

Until very recently it was unthinkable for most teams, but particularly South Africa, to pick a player in a test match until he proved his fitness in at least one first-class fixture, especially if he was returning from injury. These days, nobody thinks twice about selecting on net-form and reputation.

Take Faf du Plessis. Like the majority of the Sri Lankans, he has not played a first-class game for almost a year. In fact, he has only batted in six innings in 2020 – all in the test series against England in January. He averaged 17. The last cricket he played was in the IPL in which he excelled for the Chennai Super Kings.

He was ‘rested’ for all of the Titans games in the 4-day Franchise Series, not because his body needed a rest but his mind did after spending 11 weeks in the Super Kings' strict bio-secure bubble. He needed time to refresh his spirit and spend time with his young family.

He looked superb today against, admittedly, a weak attack missing opening bowler Kasun Rajitha – injured after bowling just 13 deliveries – and spinner Dhanjaya de Silva who retired hurt when batting on the opening day. Still, the former captain was a man at peace and exuding confidence. His unbroken partnership of 97 with Temba Bavuma has left the test match deliciously poised after two days.

The first two days have delivered 713 runs, 13 wickets, 83 boundaries and – the downside to playing test cricket when players don’t have the ‘miles’ in their legs – two injuries which could affect the course of the match. South Africa may yet suffer injuries of their own.

Trailing by 79 runs with Du Plessis on 55 and Bavuma on 41, the Proteas can – and should – earn a first innings lead. But the pitch is still offering generous assistance to the seamers and a collapse or two on either side is more likely than probable. The test is moving forward at a galloping pace and will most likely continue until the finish line. It’s gripping stuff.

So, just how difficult and unusual is it for a player to captain, keep wicket and bat in the top five? There is no measure for it, but no South African has done it before Quinton de Kock since Jock Cameron against New Zealand in 1935. But as I said, 2020 has made all of us look at things in a very different way from those to which we had become accustomed.

26 December

One image of life inside the bio-secure ‘bubble’ will stay with me for man years to come. The Irene Country Club just four kilometres from SuperSport Park is a vast expanse of beautifully maintained real estate with an 18-hole golf course and nature walks boasting some beautiful bird life.

You get the feeling that the designers and landscapers had social-distancing in mind when they planned the open-air dining areas and the comfortable, spacious accommodation. There is also a dam on the estate of significant proportions.

“The boys have been doing some fishing on the free mornings or afternoons when we haven’t been training,” said head coach Mark Boucher. “Normally I like to do my fishing with a mate alongside me but, obviously that hasn’t been possible. We’ve all been sitting next to the dam at a nice, safe distance, talking to ourselves.”

Of all the activities teams have been involved in during the build-up to a test series, I’m not aware of any who have engaged in team fishing. But if you do have to be restricted to a single venue for a week or ten days before a match, the choice between a several hundred acres of greenery with a fishing dam or an extremely comfortable, five-star hotel in Cape Town, it seems likely that the majority of South African cricketers would for the former as keenly as England’s did for the Vineyard Hotel.

From the evidence of the first day’s play, the advantage of such a suitable venue in which to semi-isolate did not translate into an advantage on the field against Sri Lanka.

It was a chastening day for the most inexperienced bowling attack South Africa have fielded in a test match since 1995. Boasting just 161 test wickets between, 110 of which belong to Keshav Maharaj, the hosts fielded four seamers with just 51 reasons to celebrate at test level.

The four-man Sri Lankan pace attack for this test has just 114 wickets between them – making them twice as experienced as their hosts.

The Proteas pace attack bowled poorly, and the tourists middle order, through Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal played superbly on a difficult pitch which will quickly become more awkward as the match progresses, which it will do at a rapid pace. I foresee several significant batting collapses from both teams.

* Cricket lost one of its great people on Christmas Day, and many people lost a dear friend, including me. Much of the day was spent in sombre reflection on the passing of Robin Jackman. I will write my own tribute to him when the test match is over and I have time to gather my thoughts and memories into something fitting.