Neil's England Tour Diary - chapter 5
MONDAY, 12 SEPTEMBER
Over 5 000 people turned up at The Oval to witness the 25-minutes of cricket which were required to see England demolish South Africa by nine-wickets to win the series 2-1. Those who reached their seats in time got to watch opener Alex Less dropped twice in the space of the first ten balls of the day before Kagiso Rabada trapped him lbw. But it was all academic.
Win or lose there is always a ‘deep breath’ sense of readjustment after every test series but, this time, there was an added conundrum: when, if ever, will this happen again? South Africa is not scheduled to tour England again in the next five years, by which time, who knows what state test cricket will be in. Outside the Big Three, of course. The Ashes will be fine and India can, and will, play the duet as often as obscenity will allow. Five-test series all round.
The thing is, the Proteas have been winning international 100m sprints for 18 months hopping on one leg. The batting has been proportionally appalling to the bowling brilliance. Rabada, Ngidi, Nortje and Jansen represented as potent an attack as South Africa has fielded since 1992. That I can say with personal confidence having seen them all. In terms of variation, seam and spin with Maharaj, it is certainly one of the strongest attacks ever since the days when they played the game in flared trousers and hob-nailed boots.
South Africa came into the series with justifiably high hopes, leading the World Test Championship standings and, following the stunning Bazball ‘burst’ victory by an innings and 12-runs at Lord’s, realistically contemplating a return to these shores in just ten months for a one-off match against Australia.
But now, having lost the last two tests by such swingeing, embarrassing margins, it is not just the WTC points table which matters, it is the shattered confidence of the batting line-up. On current form, having failed to pass 200 in their last four innings, it would be ‘awkward’ to see South Africa anywhere near the Test Championship final.
But as quickly as sport changes for the bad, it does so in the opposite direction. Two tests ago the Proteas were awesome. Now they are terrible. A win at the Gabba, in Brisbane, in mid-December, and they will be brilliant again. (Hard as that is to imagine.)
SUNDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER
In terms of overs bowled, this will be the shortest three-match test series, with results in all three games, since 1896 and the third shortest ever.
To say the batting hasn’t been great would be generous and forgiving – but also, perhaps, a little uncharitable to the quality of the bowling. It wasn’t the bowlers’ fault that the batsmen were hopeless.
The pitches in all three tests have had a bit of ‘life’ in them but, apart from the first morning at the Oval on Saturday, it was nothing that quality test batsmen couldn’t have coped with.
Apart from Joe Root, whose quality and class is unquestioned and for whom the Proteas bowlers saved their best deliveries, only Ollie Pope has consistently displayed the technique to cope.
His two half centuries was double the tally South Africa managed throughout the series – Sarel Erwee’s fine 73 at Lord’s the only one. The best batsmen in South Africa can score one 50 in three tests? Unfathomable.
When South Africa were dismissed for 118 on Saturday at the Oval, the management offered up batting consultant Justin Sammonds for the post-match press conference. Modern cricket’s equivalent of the human sacrifice. Nonetheless, and to his great credit, Sammonds did not attempt to put lipstick on the pig.
“On the day they were better than us and throughout the tour that’s generally been the case,” he said. “What we’ve been missing is partnerships but for that to happen individuals need to make their starts count, which hasn’t happened on this tour. We know we haven’t been good enough as a batting group, but we are working hard to get to the standards we need to get to,” Sammonds said. Commendable honesty.
South Africa have now been dismissed for under 200 in four consecutive test innings, the first time that has happened since India spun them out on hilariously dusty, cracked pitches in 2015.
At least there was an ‘excuse’ that time. Here, England delighted in lining up six slips. “We know you’re going to edge it, we’re just not sure which one of us you’re going to edge it to.”
SATURDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER
It was England cricket’s ‘Mandela Moment’. The sound of 30 000 people painstakingly observing a minutes silence in a major capital city is deafening. It is irrelevant what anybody’s thoughts are about Royalty, Monarchy and colonialism, it was just an extraordinary 10-minute build-up to the start of the day’s play. The start of the match, on day three.
South Africa’s top order looked overwhelmed and under-cooked although even Stuart Broad admitted that conditions were heavily weighted in the bowlers’ favour on a pitch which had ‘sweated’ under covers for much of the preceding 48 hours.
Even before the tour started the itinerary looked peculiar. There was nothing for nine days between the second test at Old Trafford and the third, at the Oval.
Months ago I asked what was planned and never received a direct answer. During the tour the answers remained oblique. The Proteas issued a belated, one-paragraph statement after the Old Trafford test which said the squad was staying together and would take “a break in the West Midlands.”
Perhaps they were concerned that “a break at the luxury Belfry Golf Resort” might sound indulgent. But at no stage did they suggest a cricket fixture might have been an option.
Nasser Husain revealed on television commentary that the Proteas had turned down the offer of a two-day practise match. Another former England captain, Andrew Strauss, said: “Maybe they thought a two-day (non first-class) match wasn’t worth it. But if it was me I would have wanted some time in the middle before a test match of this stature.”
But the Proteas have been given a ‘life’, a second chance, thanks to some magnificent fast bowling from Marco Jansen and two brilliant deliveries among many very ordinary ones from Kagiso Rabada and a ‘jaffer’ from Anrich Nortje to dismiss Joe Root.
England were 84-2 at tea and poised to bury their visitors. The series was there for the taking. But that isn’t how ‘Bazball’ works. They went hell-for-leather and now South Africa have a glimmer of hope.
How about Kevin Pietersen on TV. One of England’s greatest ever run-scorers sounding more and more South African by the minute. He suggested South Africa’s batters had been ‘unlucky’ because they had ‘nicked everything’ whereas they might have reasonably expected to play and miss a lot more.
The magnificent photograph of Dean Elgar’s dismissal was taken by colleague Adam Collins. There are a few of us around the world who try our hands at broadcasting and writing, but I suspect he’s the only one who does both – and takes amazing photographs.
What a day we have in prospect tomorrow.
FRIDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER
A number of pundits and news houses have used the word ‘unprecedented’ to describe the situation the UK finds itself in following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which is obviously nonsense. Lots of Monarchs have died before her. But the last one, her father, passed away 70 years ago so its fair to say the traditional protocols and rituals are a bit rusty.
In centuries gone by there was a compulsory 10-day period of national mourning after the death of a Monarch but that appears now to have interpreted as 24 or 48 hours of actually shutting things down followed by the wearing of black armbands and, where appropriate, other black clothing as a mark of respect.
The ECB insures all of its fixtures against loss of income except in the case of acts of terrorism and, you guessed it, the death of a Monarch where insurance is not available. They would have stood to lose around £4 million if the test had been cancelled. So yes, pretty much everything does come down to money these days.
The ECB also asked Cricket South Africa if the Proteas would mind staying on in England for an extra 24 hours to make the test four days rather than three but the request was politely declined. Six members of the test squad will be flying with the rest of the white-ball specialists to India on 23 September and every hour at home in between tours was sacrosanct.
The ECB issued a statement in which they explained the situation: “We have been in discussions with Cricket South Africa but they have to fly home on Tuesday to spend a precious few days at home before heading to India and Australia.” There were, inevitably, those who questioned whether the use of ‘precious’ referred to the time or the players themselves.
CSA Chief Executive Pholetsi Moseki confirmed that the players had been consulted and were instrumental in the decision to fly home as scheduled. Good news for Aiden Markram, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen, for sure, but possibly not so much for Dean Elgar and the other test ‘specialists’ who won’t be flying to Australia for their next series until around 8 December.
Yesterday evening, after the abandonment of play, I left my mobile phone on the train. As soon as possible I borrowed a friend’s phone and called my number. Kate answered. Kate is a South African, recently relocated to Woking. Kate said she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving a phone on the train and set about attempting to locate its owner, and then I called.
Kate was working from home today so she gave her husband, Barry, the job of meeting me at Woking station to make the exchange – my phone for a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. Barry was on a tight schedule between dropping their son at school and making a meeting. My train to Woking was cancelled. A lot of trains in this country are cancelled. Barry couldn’t wait.
But Kate, Barry and me persisted and would not be deterred. Eventually, we met at their new house, much later than had been arranged. Thank you, Kate and Barry!
THURSDAY, 8 SEPTEMBER
Ben Stokes said before the start of the third test that he would be prepared to be innovative and use imaginative tactics, such as premature declarations, to help force a positive result in the event of significant time being lost to bad weather.
Dean Elgar said before the test that he didn’t think that would be necessary, no matter how much rain fell. “There’ll definitely be a result, the way these two teams play, there will be a winner and a loser,” Elgar said.
There is an 80 per cent chance of rain throughout the second day, as well, but that may not be the reason there is no play at the Oval. The passing of Queen Elizabeth II has not been officially announced at the time of writing, but it is widely understood that the Monarch’s 70-year reign is over and that it will be followed by 10 days of mourning.
That means the cancellation or postponement of almost all national events including the second day of the test and possibly even the third day, on Saturday. There is speculation that England would be keen and prepared to play a four-day test starting on either Saturday or Sunday but that would mean the Proteas delaying their departure from London, scheduled for the day after the test on Tuesday 13th, to Thursday 15th.
The Proteas white-ball squads are due to fly from SA to Mumbai for their T20I and ODI series on 23 September, so there is, in theory, enough logistical wriggle-room and player willingness to get the test match played, never mind the £4 million the ECB would lose if it is abandoned completely.
What must Khaya Zondo be thinking? He now has two test caps which have involved being in the field for 70 minutes and fielding two deliveries.
What a day. Rarely has a rain washout been so busy.
TUESDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER
The extraordinary quirk about Keegan Petersen’s test career so far is that he has been dismissed in single just once in his 16 innings to date. In no less than nine of those innings he has passed 20 but has just four half-centuries to his credit with a highest score of 82.
Most players find it hard work ‘getting in’ at the start of their careers. For Petersen the problem is more ‘staying in’ and it’s one he is acutely aware of.
“It’s all mental, getting starts and then getting out. I’m still trying to figure it out but, trust me, I’m not trying to get out when I get to all those double figure scores,” Petersen told a press conference at the Oval in London on Tuesday. “I’m trying to get to triple figures and hopefully that will happen for me soon.”
Like the rest of the test squad, Petersen took a week off after the three-day defeat to England in Manchester and did not touch a bat – “Thankfully not!” – although, like everybody else, he did not reveal any details about how he spent his time: “A couple of days with time to ourselves just to see how we’re going to go, just time away from the game,” he said.
He will have at least one new member of the middle order with Rassie van der Dussen’s place going to either Ryan Rickelton or Khaya Zondo and possibly two if Aiden Markram, with just 36 runss in the first two tests, is also replaced: “There is plenty of depth in the squad so whoever comes in for Rassie will be perfectly capably of doing the job.
“I hope (the third test) pans out differently and we get to play for five days, I think that’s what the public wants to see! A series decider is very exciting, there’s a lot on the line for both teams so I’m expecting a really exciting contest,” Petersen said while insisting that the prospect of qualifying for next year’s World Test Championship final was not on the team’s collective mind.
“We try and focus on the immediate future – if get ahead of yourself you will find yourself wanting at some stage, so it’s one game at a time.”
It was pointed out to him that, from the side lines at least, the series appears to have been played in a competitive but friendly spirit, unlike many others between these teams in the past.
“I think it’s been played in a pretty good spirit but let’s and see what happens this week!”
SUNDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER
Gone are the days, fortunately, when the Momentum Proteas received scant recognition for the achievements, either as a team or individuals, but that doesn’t mean to say we shouldn’t take the time to remind ourselves of their successes. This was another week in which to celebrate South Africa’s ‘golden’ couple, Dane van Niekerk and Marizanne Kapp - as well as the best fast bowler in the game, Shabnim Ismael.
National captain van Niekerk was the Player of the Tournament at last year’s ‘Hundred’ as she captained The Oval Invincibles to the inaugural title and was the leading run-scorer with 259 at an average of 43 and a strike rate of 106. She also took eight wickets in seven games with her leg-breaks.
Van Niekerk returned to the Surrey franchise this season for the defence of their title but there was a twist. This year the teams were able to sign four overseas players to compete for three places in the starting XI. The Invincibles signed New Zealand batting star Suzie Bates as their ‘wildcard’ with Kapp and Ismael filling the other two places.
Having played almost no cricket for six months in the build-up to the tournament it was no surprise that van Niekerk wasn’t at her best but she did play in three games for the Franchise, captaining the team, before Bates was the preferred overseas player, and captain, including the final. It was to her great credit (but no surprise) that van Niekerk accepted the decision with grace and magnanimity.
The Invincibles retained their title thanks in no small measure to van Niekerk’s wife, Kapp, player of the match in the final, and Ismael who enjoyed a stellar tournament and claimed 2-12 from her 20 balls in the final at Lord’s against the Southern Brave. Kapp was outstanding, as almost always, taking the new ball (1-19 in 20 balls) and then seeing the team over the line with an unbeaten 37 from 33 balls for five-wicket victory with six balls to spare.
Van Niekerk’s outstanding contribution to the domestic and international game saw her named as one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year for 2021 and she was finally presented this week with her leather, hand-bound copy of the famous Almanack by editor Lawrence Booth.
For a variety of reasons the Momentum Proteas’ tour of England did not go well earlier in the summer but that is not to say the women’s game does not have a bright future – or that the current squad does not still boast some of the best cricketers in the world with plenty of runs and overs left in the tank.
FRIDAY, 2 SEPTEMBER
South Africa’s test squad are soon to emerge from their secret escape to the West Midlands and will once again be in communication with the rest of the world.
The reason for the elongated period of inactivity between the second and third tests was the ECB’s desire for the attention of the nations’ cricket lovers not to be distracted from The Hundred, which reaches its conclusion on Sunday.
Quinton de Kock and Tristan Stubbs have been involved, and Faf du Plessis was captain of the Northern Super Chargers. Tabraiz Shamsi was involved, too, and his team – the Trent Rockets – even made it to Sunday’s final. But Shamsi left early to play for the Guyana Amazon Foresters in their first game of the CPL, so he won’t be at Lord’s on Sunday.
A quick glance through the internet at ‘West Midlands Escapes’ reveals an array of relaxing, team-building activities the Proteas might have enjoyed.
Marston-upon-Wym Priory Lodge and Spa offers a modest nine-hole golf course but a variety of other, less physical but more ethereal activities such as Yoga and, indeed, a beginners course on flower-arranging. There was a weekend programme of talks on English history during the Tudor and Stuart period this weekend.
It is unlikely the Proteas stayed in Marston. There were no doubt more suitable locations for their time-away. Perhaps we will find out one day, or possibly not. Never mind.
Back to training on Saturday. Although, they are training at a school facility so it is closed to media. Which is peculiar because it’s school holidays. Never mind.
In other news, England’s Jonny Bairstow injured himself so badly on the golf course this morning that he has not only been ruled out of the third test at the Oval on Thursday, but also the T20 World Cup in Australia in November. He will possibly be out of action until the new year.
WEDNESDAY, 31 AUGUST
In the vacuum created by the Proteas’ retreat to their ‘escape in the West Midlands’ there was the press conference with T20 League Commissioner Graeme Smith to keep us busy today confirming details of what we now know is called the SA20. It’s a short and snappy name, catchy. It works. An example of marketing aficionados getting it right.
It is extraordinary that players appear to have the final say on where, when and how many games they play in the three leagues which overlap. The BBL, the UAE’s ILT20 and the SA20 have signed up the same players.
Smith said, possibly through gritted teeth, that discussions were ‘ongoing’ but that players would be allowed to make decisions which made them most ‘comfortable.’ He is an administrator, now, and he needs to speak politicalise. He does it well. What he does even better than any of his contemporaries is fail to disguise the ‘real’ him. Without actually removing the mask.
It is a players’ market. All of those below the “Super, Mega, Platinum” categories can now, it seems, pick and choose between leagues, not just before and after, but during. Jumping from one team to another, in different competitions in different countries, may be of wonderful, short-term, financial worth to the players but concerns about the authenticity of the tournaments are legitimate.
Still, England have named an unchanged squad for the deciding test against the Proteas starting in eight days time at the The Oval and the Proteas have… who knows. They are in the ‘West Midlands.’ They are on an ‘escape.’
TUESDAY, 30 AUGUST
The occasional three-day test match is an occupational hazard of the sport – in fact, it’s the nature of the sport. But two in a row to start England’s marquee series of the summer is far more than merely inconvenient. The Lord’s test was actually over inside two playing days and only managed to reach the third day because rain reduced the first day to 32 overs.
Unfortunately, cold and hard financial analysis of the impact of three-day tests adds plenty of fuel to the fire of those saying the format has no place in today’s world of small margins and marginal gains. Maybe not in this country, at least not with the Ashes. But that is the reason England haven’t played Bangladesh in a test match here for something like 20 years.
When South Africa beat England by an innings and 12-runs at Lord’s two weeks ago the players were given a green ticket to celebrate how they pleased. If they wanted to go away and see friends they were free to do so. Their only commitment was to be back at the hotel in time for the 11am departure to Manchester.
Following the innings and 85-run defeat at Old Trafford captain Dean Elgar said that “…time away from the game can be a very good thing…” and suggested that the team would be doing exactly that – as individuals. Instead they opted to stay together as a group and spend a ‘getaway in the West Midlands.’
They are an extremely fortunate and unusual squad if that was a unanimous decision. On most occasions there are at least a handful of players and support staff desperate to get away from the same faces, at least for a day or two. If the decision to stick together was a surprise, the decision to be secretive about the destination and their plans for the ‘getaway’ was a concern, reminiscent of bygone tours when South African teams under pressure on tour would become withdrawn and uncommunicative. Often that behaviour was prompted by insecure management rather the players themselves. Hopefully this is not history repeating itself.
On the upside of the Old Trafford hammering, it left a glorious sunny morning (apparently Manchester has five per year) on Sunday to go for a long, leisurely canal run. Altrincham has a magnificent coffee shop serving fresh croissants on the canal. Should you ever find yourself there.
SATURDAY, 27 AUGUST
Perspective is extremely important at all times but especially after such a heavy defeat. It has been impossible to ignore, for example, the comments made by some of my professional colleagues in a different sport about the Springboks’ loss to Australia just three weeks after humbling the All Blacks. Steady on fellas!
A week after humbling England by an innings and 12-runs at Lord’s, South Africa’s cricketers were belittled by an innings defeat themselves at Old Trafford. Margins of defeat at elite sports level are just as likely to be tiny as they are huge.
The Proteas didn’t lose a wicket between lunch and tea as Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen’s fractured finger defied England’s pace attack but the collapse after tea was seismic. Suddenly all is lost and there is no hope? No. The batting frailties were always there, always acknowledged. Mostly acknowledged, anyway. Maybe not by the team.
Petersen is a fascinating prospect. In 16 test innings he has failed to reach double figures just once. So he is good at making starts. He looks stylish, for sure, but that means nothing when it comes to substance. Ugly big scores are far more valuable than aesthetically pleasing small ones.
It is a little known fact that Petersen is named after Darryl Cullinan – not the ‘Keegan’ part, of course, but his middle name which is also spelt the unconventional way with two ‘r’s and one ‘l’. Petersen’s father was a “huge fan” of Cullinan’s batting style and, although Keegan hasn’t yet lived up to his namesake’s output for the Proteas, he has time on his side.
In other news, there is no reason to go thirsty at Old Trafford – provided it’s an alcoholic beverage you’re after. I probably missed a few bars on a stroll around the ground shortly after lunch but I did count 19, including a speciality ‘gin-and-tonic’ bar and one simply called ‘Wine and Fizz’ which is very Manchester. The equivalent at Lord’s is called a ‘Champagne Bar’ because it sells real champagne, Moet & Chandon, at £95 per bottle. Old Trafford sells Prosecco at £20 per bottle.
FRIDAY, 26 AUGUST
All South Africa have to do from here is bat for the next two days, maybe just five sessions until tea on day four, and they will surely win the game on the fifth day in a glorious vindication of their brave and bold decision to play two spinners and bat first under overcast skies on the first day.
They are just 241 runs behind. They would clear the debt by the close of play on Saturday before notching up the extra 200 runs they would need to defend in the fourth innings.
If they don’t manage to bat for two days and don’t win, then at least they still have the chance to win the series in the third test at The Oval next month thanks to the compelling victory at Lord’s last week.
There was a very real chance they could claw their way back into the game just 45 minutes into today’s play after Anrich Nortje had dismissed both Jonny Bairstow and Zak Crawley with England still four runs in arrears at 147-5 but the two Bens, Stokes and Foakes, were simply too good.
“That was definitely the period of the day, it was a major time in the game,” concurred Nortje after the day’s play. “It’s not going to happen every time that we bowl a team out in a session, or something. But was the ideal time to take some more sticks, there was something happening with the ball, maybe a bit more bounce, whatever it might be. But as the ball got older it definitely became harder [to take wickets].
“ I don’t think we could have done much different, we were trying to hit good lengths most of the time so there isn’t anything else I can specifically think of that we could have done. We were trying to bring the stumps, lbw and nicks into play. We tried to bowl our best balls but, you know, they did bat well…”
They did. They batted very well indeed. The Proteas will need to bat about ten times better to have a chance of avoiding defeat.
It took a little time to settle in to my ‘hotel’ but now it is home. Who needs facilities? Or staff, for that matter. Guests who have paid for breakfast can help themselves to mini-packets of cereal and a jug of warm milk in the morning. Much more convenient than waiting for someone to bring you an egg.
Much simpler to tidy your own room, too. Clean towels are massively over-rated as are plugs for the sink and light-bulbs that work. I can see the business model.
The tram is a delight. They leave my station every seven or eight minutes to Old Trafford. It’s like a bus on railway lines, sometimes through the suburbs, otherwise across and alongside main roads. Cars make way. They have to, they would come second in a collision, and do from time to time.
THURSDAY, 25 AUGUST
A poor day for the Proteas but not an insurmountably bad one. There is nothing worse than a day on which 13 wickets fall and one side is all but out of the contest. It is entirely conceivable that South Africa can bowl England out for around 200 and limit their arrears to 50. Not likely, but possible.
Dean Elgar’s decision to bat first was not based on a masochistic desire to face James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson in conditions tailor-made for seam and swing but on South Africa’s decision to pick two spinners on a dry pitch expected to offer increasing spin as the test match goes on.
“Generally, if you're playing two spinners, you want to bat first,” said Kagiso Rabada after the day’s play. “As you saw, the wicket is becoming drier by the minute and it’s quite slow. You saw Simon was in the game with his second ball which ragged a lot. We're playing two spinners for a reason, it is what it is,” Rabada said.
Earlier Rabada top-scored with 36 resilient and classy runs, displaying the ability which has promised so much more with the bat than he has managed to deliver. One day he will surely score the half centuries, maybe even a hundred, of which he is capable. “Lack of application…” he offered as a reason for his failure to do so thus far.
It is not his job, of course. He is taking wickets more quickly and cheaply than most fast bowlers in the history of the game. He could bat at number 11 and average two rather his actual average of 11 and still the first name on the team sheet. And he was in no mood for the ‘blame-game’ today. “There’s no reason for finger-pointing, it’s energy sapping.”
“Our batters know what they have to do, none of them are getting out on purpose. There's quality in our line-up, but it's a young one. It’s about gaining experience, they know what they've done wrong. As a team, we’re backing every player to do his best. If it doesn’t come off, it is what it is and you carry on.
“I can assure you they are taking responsibility. They'll try their utmost best [in the second innings] but the past is past, we have to look forward and apply ourselves better,” Rabada said.
Shaun Pollock has made many astute observations from the commentary box since his retirement and today was no exception as he speculated about why Rabada’s silky manner with the bat has not translated into runs at the crease – throughout his career, both at domestic and international level.
“Part of the problem is that he basically doesn’t play first-class cricket and that’s where you learn about your game,” Pollock said on Sky. “Even club cricket, sometimes I’d play a club game just so I could have a bat and now even bowl.”
WEDNESDAY, 24 AUGUST
There really wasn’t very much fresh or new Dean Elgar could say before the second test at Old Trafford but, nonetheless, he said all the predictable things with vigour and intent, like he meant every word – which very clearly he did.
Asked whether he thought the second encounter might follow a similar path to the first, which ended in an innings and 12-run victory for the Proteas inside two days of actual playing time, he replied: “I know it won’t. It’s going to be a lot tougher knowing that England were hurt and I know they’re coming back with a vengeance against us.”
“I just really hope we can play another solid game of cricket that will give us the best chance to get into a position for victory. But we know we start again with the scoreboard on nought for nought and we’ll have to start pretty well against them.
“What happened in the first test was amazing for us. We played really solid, sound cricket as we’ve been doing the last year. I think our hunger was up there and I think our hunger’s still here. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere and we drive a hard message with regards to that. We really want to play a brand of cricket that everyone loves back home and, hopefully, the rest of the world enjoys. It’s difficult to read the future but I really hope the second Test goes the same way.”
As much as the English media concentrated (understandably) on the home team’s shortcomings at Lord’s, they have also given due credit to the performance of the pace quartet of Rabada, Ngidi, Nortje and Jansen. Elgar was asked again about the ‘luxury’ of captaining such an armoury and offered no reassurances to England’s batsmen.
“I reckon they can get much better. They’re still pretty fresh, which is a nice thing to have. They had a brilliant game, the wicket obviously assisted them as well at Lord’s and you’ve got to take that into account. But you’ve still got to put the ball in the right areas and they did that. Our bowlers are leading our pack at the moment, they’re extremely hungry for success," Elgar said.
“The competition amongst them is brilliant and the way they go about things is amongst the most professional behaviour I’ve seen from fast bowlers. It’s a great asset to have them leading the pack like that. You don’t have to speak to them too much. They just know what to do.”
Many weeks before the series began, Simon Harmer was considered a likely starter at Old Trafford given the ground’s history of assisting spinners but it looks highly unlikely that there will be any changes, even though Harmer is included in the match XII: “You need to back your horses that you’ve been backing for some time now. All you can do is give them the best resources to try and do well. Hopefully, it comes off,” Elgar said, sounding slightly cryptic but looking anything but undecided.
The absolute best thing about my ‘hotel’ is that it is just four stops on the charming tram to Old Trafford. The second best thing is that it is just four stops on the tramline…the third best thing is that it is just a 15-minute walk from my small, brown room to the tram station.
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