South Africa v England: 4th Test, Day 5 - Humilliated By Rabada

 

South Africa v England: 4^th Test, Day 5

Humiliated By Rabada

 

January 29^th  2016

 

Sometimes a performance is so awful, so utterly bad that a few days perspective is required. This one has to rank with the 51ao in the Caribbean in 2009 and the worst of the thumpings in the 2013/14 Ashes.

For the seventh time in eight series, England have lost a final Test. In one case, the series was long gone. In two more – like this one – it had been won. In the rest, it was still live. But for the propensity to lose final Tests of series, England would now be the #1 side in the ICC Test table and probably by a clear margin. It has cost series defeat against Sri Lanka in 2014. Series wins evaporated against West Indies and New Zealand in 2015 (both costing a lot of ranking points). It cost the chance to share the series in the UAE and clear leads (3-1 v Australia and 2-0 against South Africa, became much narrower 3-2 and 2-1 margins).

It is not as if there was nothing riding on the game. Even if it were not for ranking points, the fact that probably only four of the side for the 4^th Test have their places secure should be an incentive. The four: Cook, Root, Stokes and Broad know that, barring injury or calamity, they will line up v Sri Lanka in May. For the rest, even Jimmy Anderson, things are not so clear.

If one thing has become clear in South Africa, it is that Steve Finn is back to his very best and will be in the first-choice side. That leaves a maximum of one seam spot, coveted by Anderson, Woakes, Footitt, Jordan, Plunkett, Willey, Topley and quite possibly one or two more. Chris Woakes has not made the transition from good county all-rounder to Test wicket-taker. When your captain admits that quite possibly a mistake was made with team selection and that Footitt should have played, you know that you have a problem. Woakes may yet come, but he is struggling to convince so far. It would be a huge surprise if he were in the squad against Sri Lanka.

In the same way, Jimmy Anderson’s place is much less secure than it was two months ago after a fine tour of the UAE. A seemingly minor injury. Two games missed, including a warm-up. And it took time until the fourth morning of the final Test to bowl anything like he can and then only for one spell. When a player who is near the end of his career has trouble coming back from injury you know that Father Time is about to call “time”. There were already people suggesting that he might miss this Test to rest him for the summer (although, seeing his lack of effectiveness on this tour, that may have just been a polite way of putting things). If Jimmy Anderson does not make a good start to the new season – and that means with Lancashire too – then there are those who will argue that he is no longer worth his place. It is not impossible that the Sri Lanka series could be his last. However, people have been predicting the end of Jimmy Anderson’s England career for a couple of years now.

More surprising is to think that Moeen Ali’s position is now much less secure. Having started the tour in spectacular style: 17-8-34-1, 13-4-26-0, 14.5-4-77-6, 25-3-69-4 & 26-9-47-3 (14 wickets at 18.1), he ended it with 52-14-155-0, 16-4-50-1, 25-5-104-2 & 17-3-60-0 (3 wickets at 123). Meanwhile, Adil Rashid, sent to the Big Bash League to learn, had made waves with a fine display of bowling, taking a lot of wickets with excellent economy and showing control and variation. Second highest wicket-taker, second lowest average of bowlers who took at least 5 wickets, third best economy of bowlers who bowled more than eight overs, fifth best strike rate of bowlers who took at least five wickets. And some handy batting cameos. If Adil Rashid starts the season well, he could put real pressure n Moeen Ali’s place, particularly with a tour of India coming up.

At the top of the order, Alex Hales has failed to convince. Few expected him to. His great run-scoring feats for Nottinghamshire last season were mainly down the order. Before this tour you felt that, surely, Nick Compton would be more likely to make a success of opening, with Hales at #3 or, better #5 and James Taylor at first drop. It was always asking a lot of a rookie to open in South Africa. Despite some battling innings, Alex Hales has been caught in two minds, as he was early in his ODI career, as to whether to block or to bash and has ended up doing neither. It probably did not help that his captain had an awful time in the first two Tests, rather that offering solidity and security from the other end. Trevor Bayliss has now, finally, suggested that a mistake was made and that Compton should have opened to protect Hales from the new ball. Sri Lanka have the seam attack to make life uncomfortable for England and Hales may find no relief, but he needs a breakthrough innings and quickly.

After a solid start to the series, Compton’s star has waned too. Forget the fact that without his 85 in the first Test the Root and Stokes fightback might never have happened. The progression: 85, 49, 45, 15, 26, 0, 19, 6 is his millstone. Six starts in eight innings, but only one fifty. Decreasing returns through the series. And a tendency to get out trying to play shots when his method of grinding the bowlers down was working so well. As through his Test career, Compton has struggled to convert starts into scores and, as criticism of his slow-scoring grew, he allowed it to get to him and he became visibly less certain and less secure. Most likely Nick Compton will open against Sri Lanka in May and will have two Tests to secure his place. At 32, time is no longer on his side.

James Taylor is another who has gone from more to less: 70, 42, 6, 27, 7, 2*, 14 & 24. His runs made a vital contribution to the 1^st Test win, he missed out in the 2^nd Test run-feast and, thereafter, seemed to play more as a specialist close fielder. Brilliant catches win matches, but runs are needed too and Gary Ballance is lying in wait. Fans have waited four years to see Taylor back in the side, but will have been disappointed that he could not seal his place for once and for all.

And, of course, what of Jonny Bairstow? Another to dip a little with the bat after a fine start – a common thread on this tour – 41, 79, 150*, 30*, 45, 0 & 14. Despite not taking a single dismissal in the 2^nd Test, he ended the series with a record number of dismissals for England in a 4-Test series. However, he also dropped or missed about another half a dozen chances. It speaks volumes for how many nicks were going behind, but it also left fans wondering if someone else might have taken them. Missed chances cost England a possible win in the 2^nd Test and two misses by Bairstow in the 4^th Test almost certainly condemned England to defeat. The job of a wicket-keeper is probably the most unforgiving in cricket: the ‘keeper may have to make 500 takes in an innings, but all the talk will be of the one the slid out of reach for 4 byes, or the edge that just trickled out of the gloves after a full-length dive.

However, in consolation, Jonny Baitsow can point to how questioned Alec Stewart was, both as a batsman and as a wicket-keeper early in his career. Idem Matt Prior. And for poor GO Jones, after being condemned constantly for his glovework initially, it was the drop-off in his batting that did for him in the end. Jonny Bairstow has cracked the batting side of things: he now has to polish the work with the gloves, or someone else may have them in India, if not before.

For South Africa, things are nothing like so black as they appeared two months back. Cook settled into the opener’s role and, with Elgar, seems to have fixed the problem at the top of the order, at least for now. Hashim Amla is gloriously restored to batting form. Bavuma was under tremendous pressure, but has responded brilliantly, although his career average is still only around 30. And Rabada looks likely to lead the attack for at least ten years. There are also hints that Dane Piedt may supply a spin option that will help South Africa win where seam is not the answer to all situations. It is not hard to imagine that South Africa will, within a year, be ready for another assault on the #1 position in Test cricket. There are plenty of reasons for South Africans to feel optimistic about their team again, provided that the selectors learn from their mistakes.

As for England, if they could fix the problem with the opener and get some consistency, they could just become very special.

Day 5, to South Africa.

South Africa v England: 4th Test, Day 4 - England Being Embarrassed

 

South Africa v England: 4^th Test, Day 4

England Being Embarrassed

 

January 25^th  2016

 

Although the route is not the one that anyone would have predicted, South Africa ended Day 4 within touching distance of victory as England started well, with Jimmy Anderson's best spell of the series, but faded into impotent inadequacy. 

It is well within the bounds of probability that South Africa will wrap up a thumping victory before Lunch. What is more, it will be deserved and England can have no complaints. The selection was flawed – did the selectors really not see the danger of an attack with too much sameness if an aggressive quick in Steve Finn was replaced by a typically English “length and line” seamer? Had the South Africa of the 1^st Test turned up, it might not have mattered: South Africa though are an infinitely better balanced side now. It has taken four Tests, but the selectors have a good opening pair, Hashim Amla is gloriously restored to form and the attack is better balanced. With better starts, the lower middle order and tail are facing less fresh strike bowlers and are taking advantage. Take the case of Temba Bavuma. Plenty of South Africans had given up on Bavuma after the 1^st Test, but he has responded with 102*, 23, 0, 35 & 78*: not bad for a player who most fans wanted to consign to the dustbin as useless.

South African fans are complaining that they have played with the handicap of their three best bowlers missing. That is as maybe, but the bowlers have done their job, save in the 1^st Test. However, the injuries – and this time it is Abbott who may be unable to bowl again – are largely self-inflicted. A four-man attack has meant huge loads on the strike bowlers: Rabada has bowled 105 overs in what is effectively just four and a half innings; Morkel, 146 overs; Abbott, 66 overs in 3 innings. The attack is being driven into the ground and to injuries by an excessive load.

If England escape with a draw, it will be down to a mixture of bloody-mindedness and a crazily delayed declaration in the face of uncertain weather. AB de Villiers looks as if he will get away with it, but he has set England the 5^th highest chase in Test history – a history of 2200 Tests. No side has ever chased more than 336 in South Africa (that as far back as 1950) and the highest successful fourth innings chase at Centurion has been 249. To set England 382 with rain threatening, was to offer a get out of jail card. At one point it even looked as if South Africa had looked at the weather and given-up on pushing for a win. Had South Africa batted with more urgency when England had almost given up trying to take wickets and only aimed to slow the scoring, the match could even have ended today.

When rain and the delayed declaration finally allowed South Africa to have a go, a pitch that had seemed as flat as a pancake two hours before suddenly became a minefield as South Africa exploited the nervous uncertainty of batsmen playing for their careers. The cynics expected Alex Hales to fail again - it was telegraphed - but for Police Constable Kengisto Rabada to send down Nick Compton for driving without due care and attention was just a bonus. Compton's decline and seeming mental disintegration as the series has progressed have been depressing to watch.

However, as in the 2^nd Test, a major factor in the turnaround in fortunes from the 3^rd Test has been that chances were offered in the first innings, not taken and the misses have been severely punished, leaving England on the ropes even before South Africa batted again. None of the chances was especially easy, but the consequences were pretty eye-watering.

Batsman	Missed On	Scored	Cost of miss
Hashim Amla	5	109	104
Stephen Cook	47	115	68
Quinton de Kock	28	129*	101
Total Cost			273

All three centurions were missed – de Kock more than once, first by Ben Stokes. South Africa should not have reached 300, let alone nearly 500. Instead of a deficit of over 130, England should have been looking at a modest first innings lead. At this level you have to take half chances and the best ‘keepers, such as Alan Knott, made half-chances as offered by Cook and Amla, look easy. As if to ram home the message, South Africa have pocketed a couple of really good ones, although themselves offering a few lives.

Plenty of England fans are willing to hang Jonny Bairstow on the nearest hook. However, it is also true that he has pocketed twenty dismissals in the series (nineteen catches and a stumping), which is a record for England in a four-Test series. So, if you add to that the ones that he has missed – about a third as many as he has taken – you get a measure of just how many chances the England bowlers have created (or the South African batsmen have offered). It rather suggests that the fundamental problems affecting the South African batting have been improved, but not completely resolved: the pitches have not offered so much lateral movement as to justify an average of getting on for four edges to the wicket-keeper per innings.

England need Root and Taylor to see them through to Lunch on Day 5. Taylor needs a score to cement his place. Whatever happens, the strike bowlers have to be seen off because, with Abbott injured, ABdV will have then to fill in a lot of overs with Duminy and Elgar. As more rain threatens the afternoon, the more the overs of lesser bowlers, the better the chances of escaping. For their own self-respect and the respect that they want teams to have for them, England have to fight their way to an honourable draw. It is hard though to come out and fight when you have surrendered the initiative so thoroughly for four days.

Day 4, to South Africa.

South Africa v England: 4th Test, Day 3 - South Africa's Young Lion Sets Up A Win

 

South Africa v England: 4^th Test, Day 3

South Africa's Young Lion Sets Up A Win

 

January 24^th  2016

As in the 3^rd Test, South Africa batted again on Day 3 with the chance to set up a chase and a win. Then, it ended catastrophically. This time though the starting point has been radically different and the momentum is all with South Africa. South Africa should end Day 4 on the point of victory thanks to a big first innings lead.

It is a salutary thought that had it not been for injuries and the “racial quota” Rabada would not have played in this series. With 16 wickets at a strike rate of 37.1, only Stuart Broad has more wickets in the series, although at a far inferior strike rate. Here, he has set up a winning position. At 20 years old and with twenty-three caps and 41 wickets behind him (5 Tests, 10 ODIs and 8 T20s) the potential of Kagiso Rabada is frightening. He started at well over 90mph but after 29 overs, was struggling to pass mid-80s: if South Africa bowl him into the ground, as England did Jimmy Anderson at the same age, they risk losing an authentic gem. It is not hard to see that he will be the natural replacement for Dale Steyn and quite capable of leading the South African attack back up to #1.

At 177-2 in mid-morning, the follow-on looked like a mere formality and England were thinking about parity and a near-certain draw. Cook and Root were both accumulating sublimely and centuries were approaching. Cook fell straight after drinks, but James Taylor bedded in quietly with Root and all seemed lovely in the English garden.

However, you always need to hold your breath in case the house of cards batting order collapses in a heap. Today, someone in the dressing room must have sneezed. At 208-3 you would have backed 400 minimum. At 211-6, the follow-on was looking alarmingly possible.

Just as in the old “It’s a Knockout” (Jeux Sans Frontiers) on television, England had the option of playing the Joker. In England’s case it is Ben “at Dunkirk I would have lead an assault on Berlin” Stokes. However, you know that if you keep relying on the Joker sometimes you are going to fall flat on your face and look very silly. If England rely on Ben Stokes to get them out of trouble every time, they are going to look absolutely daft when it fails – even Superman has his off days. Thirty-three runs from twenty-nine balls, twenty-six of them in boundaries, including the standard abuse of Dane Piedt as he went down the track to wallop him into the distance. Next over, second delivery with the new ball, one whack too many against a very fine Rabada delivery ended the fun.

Both Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes – regarded by many as a batsman who bowls – needed a score having managed just sixty-eight runs between them in seven innings. Just as the partnership started to look promising, the increasingly occasional spin of Duminy broke the stand. Edge to de Kock that looped up off the ‘keeper’s knee to Elgar at slip. Woakes owed England a fifty at least and this innings will have been insufficient to get him back into credit.

With Moeen batting better than for a long time, Stuart Broad decided to bat sensibly when possibly having a swing and trusting his good eye might have worked better against Duminy and Piedt. As soon as Rabada came on he did swing and almost got away with it, as a huge top edge only just failed to clear Cook on the boundary. Moeen deserved a century, or at very least, a red-inker, but went down all guns blazing trying to reduce the deficit.

Starting 133 ahead, South Africa had the pressure of setting a target. In the 3^rd Test it went disastrously badly. Two wickets with the new ball and there could have been tremors of near-panic in the dressing room. England cannot complain about their start: Jimmy Anderson has bowled a lot better and took a wicket with his eighth delivery. At 9-1 came perhaps the critical moment of the Test: Amla went after a Jimmy Anderson outswinger, edged and a flying Alex Hales at second slip could not hang on. Had it been 9-2, the door would have been open. Stephen Cook though is a calm presence and helped Amla to see out the storm. Why South Africa persisted for so long with makeshift openers when Cook has adapted so fast to Tests is one of life’s little mysteries.

There is just a hint that Moeen Ali may be a handful on the ‘morrow. He posed plenty of questions in his two overs before bad light brought a premature end. England though need something pretty devastating to get back into the match. The lead is 175. ABdV has to decide when to declare: the betting is that it will be before Tea and that England will be challenged to survive four sessions to break their sequence of Final Test calamities.  

Day 3, to South Africa.

South Africa v England: 4th Test, Day 2 - South Africa’s Best Day of the Series

 

South Africa v England: 4^th Test, Day 2

South Africa’s Best Day of the Series

 

January 24^th  2016

 

South Africa, undoubtedly, have had their best day of the series. Day 3 will show whether or not they can convert that into a consolation win.

Barring a calamitous collapse – something that England’s uncertain batting line-up cannot rule out – South Africa will need to bat to set a target on the fourth day. It is not impossible that, if the batsmen can avoid the odd stinker of a delivery – the one that got Nick Compton almost rolled along the ground – England can get close to parity. If that happens, the draw will have to be favourite, but South Africa will recall with a shudder how badly setting a target in a near-parity situation went for them in the 3^rd Test.

Resuming at 329-5, South Africa were in real trouble at 336-7 inside the first half hour. All logic suggested that they would be limited to 370-380 at very best and probably 350 and that England had a chance to make up for some dreadfully deficient play on Day 1. One has learnt though that in this series things are never so simple. De Kock and Abbott added a round 50. Piedt and de Kock a demoralising 82. More chances were missed and England, in general, looked utterly defeated.

The chief sufferer was Moeen Ali, who came in for some fearful punishment as de Kock shepherded the tail towards a massive total. Even the fact that Ben Stokes took the last three wickets was scant consolation.

This match has done more than anything to push the case for Mark Footitt. The attack, lacking Steve Finn, had a depressing sameness. That bit of devil that Chris Woakes is missing to convert a very good county bowler into a wicket-taking Test bowler is just missing. Jimmy Anderson is bowling better, but is still nowhere near where he was in the UAE – difficulty coming back from injury, as he had when he returned for the World Cup, is a sure sign that a great career is coming to an end. Jimmy Anderson undoubtedly has one more summer in him, but next winter must be more uncertain and the summer after that more still. Jimmy Anderson has been far from his best and four wickets at sixty-five each has not been an unfair reflection of his results.

Loyalty had a lot to do with picking Anderson and Woakes in the same side, but many fans feared what would happen and have been proved right. Footitt or Jordan might have been erratic, but either can produce an unplayable ball from nothing. Woakes is proving steady, but little more: even if his pace has increased, it is still not high enough to get away with doing very little with the ball.

All through the day the maligned South African tail and Quentin de Kock backed up ABdV’s words with solid acts. Finally, South Africa, more by luck than by judgement, seem to be getting their side right. Their team is nowhere near as bad as it was painted: it was desperately short on confidence and England have been fortunate enough to have players who have exploited that but, when things have gone better and the confidence has started to flow, South Africa have shown flashes of what they are capable of still. England remain dreadfully inconsistent and pretty awful in the final Test of series over far too long for it to be down to chance.

Several England batsmen need an innings on Day 3. Alex Hales appeared to have decided to play his natural game and hit the ball if it was there to hit. For a time it worked, but he needs to learn judgement. Sir Geoffrey was furious about his dismissal – perhaps a little unfairly so. Nick Compton got a real stinker of a ball but, when people look back at the tour in six months time they will see another start and another dismissal. His returns have declined progressively through the series. Crease occupation has not produced runs. There is a real case for swapping Compton and Hales in the order and letting the former see off the shine and the latter play with more freedom, but the knives are out for both. Cook, Taylor and Moeen are all short of runs in the series. With Adil Rashid doing great things in the Big Bash League – yes, T20 is not Test cricket, but he is getting runs and a lot of cheap wickets, which speaks volumes for his improving control – Moeen knows that his place at #8 may not be secure much longer. Even Jonny Bairstow knows that while he misses chances he will need a lot of runs to compensate and, in this Test, his deficit is well over two hundred runs: there are plenty of questions about his right to the gloves and only the even greater doubts about Jos Buttler keep him safe for now.

Day 2, to South Africa.

South Africa v England: 4th Test, Day 1 - Another Dose of England Final Test Blues

 

South Africa v England: 4^th Test, Day 1

Another Dose of England Final Test Blues

 

January 23^rd  2016

 

England have not avoided defeat in the final Test of a series since the 2014 series against India. And in six of the last seven series, stretching back to 2013/14, England have lost the final Test.

It is an amazing story of woe. In the 2013/14 Ashes the series was long-gone when Australia applied the coup de grace with a 281 run win. Since then, defeat to Sri Lanka cost a 1-0 series defeat at home in 2014. Defeat to the West Indies led to the series being shared, as it was after defeat to New Zealand. Defeat to Australia allowed the Australian to claim, as in 2013, that the better side had lost the series. Defeat to Pakistan in the UAE cost England the chance to share a series that they had not really deserved to lose 2-0. And now, when Alistair Cook should have been licking his lips at the prospect of a 3-0 away victory over the former #1 side in Tests, England are already in a fight to save this game.

The Australian side of the 1990s and early 2000s made a habit of winning the series and then allowing England a token victory in the final Test. They were so good that they could get away with it. England 2016, are not.

England were, apart from one moment of genius from James Taylor, awful in the first two sessions. The marginal pick – Chris Woakes – took a dreadful pasting. The bowlers have been much of a muchness in pace (Ben Stokes marginally the quickest) and one does wonder what difference Mark Footitt would have made to the attack who have offered Hashim Amla so much width that 80% of his runs have come through the covers or through mid-wicket. What many fans feared has come to pass: in his third match back after injury, Jimmy Anderson still looks a shadow of the bowler who tormented Pakistan in the UAE and, rather than being able to toss the ball to Steve Finn to re-gain control with a quick wicket or two, Alistair Cook has been landed with a bowler in Chris Woakes, who is struggling as much or more. Jimmy Anderson has at least been fairly economical, if unthreatening. Chris Woakes has been both unthreatening and expensive.

In an eerie echo of the 2^nd Test, two chances have bounced off Jonny Bairstow’s gloves: both quite difficult, but perfectly catchable. The first might have better been Alistair Cook’s and it could well be that Jonny Bairstow’s fingers just pushed the ball out of Alistair Cook’s grasp, stopping the captain from cleaning-up the miss. The second was also tipped around the post and was reckoned to be an easier chance.

As in the 2^nd Test, it was Hashim Amla who profited. The first drop, with Amla on 5, would have made South Africa 54-2. The second at 122-1, saw Cook dropped on 47. They cost England a total of 172 runs.

A post-Tea fightback saw South Africa slip from 237-1 to 273-5. Take 172 from that and South Africa would have been in deep trouble again.

The match is still not lost for England. An early wicket on Day 2 would make things interesting. Two early wickets would bring England right back into the match. But England have to take them first and then make a better fist of dismissing the tail and batting themselves.

Day 1, very definitely, to South Africa.

 

South Africa v England: 4^th Test, Preview

South Africa Look for Solace

 

January 22^nd 2016

 

In many senses this has been an odd series but, when you have just lost the series with a quite miserable collapse and are changing the side every game in an attempt to make it competitive, seems to be an odd time to criticise the weaknesses of the opposition and how their attack is struggling.

Thus far in the series South Africa have put up scores that include 214, 174 and 83, while not yet bowling out England for under 300. It says a lot for South Africa’s situation that a fading attack has proved so superior to their own. Although South Africa’s attack has been unfortunate with injuries, in the 1^st Test, in which England lacked their own attack leader, but South Africa had theirs, England took a significant first innings lead and went on to win by a small matter of 242 runs.

What must be particularly galling is that AB de Villiers has been right in most of his remarks. Jimmy Anderson has looked a shadow of the bowler in the UAE. England can’t put on any kind of decent opening partnership. Nick Compton is being questioned at #3. James Taylor at #5 and Moeen Ali at #8 have hardly scored a run and Moeen is not bowling sides out after a wonderful start against South Africa A. Yet, a dysfunctional side is 2-0 up, looks back at what might have been in the 2^nd Test if chances had been taken and are (albeit narrow) favourites to win the series 3-0, although the bookies rightly wonder if we will see a repeat of the final Test in the Ashes series where England relaxed and were annihilated.

If South Africa do win the final Test they will be able to point to an end of their winless streak – their longest since re-admission – and a narrow 2-1 result, pointing out that they finished in the ascendancy in the 2^nd Test, have won the 4^th and that the gap between the sides has mainly been down to bad luck and the prior tour of India. England will know that 2-1 does not reflect the balance of the series and will have been down to sloppy cricket at the end of the series, which has affected them in their four previous series and led to no less than four defeats in final Tests.

England will be without Steve Finn, the go-to man through the series. South Africa continue without Dale Steyn – if he was so badly hurt how on earth did he get called back into the attack in the 1^st Test and almost play in the 2^nd? And look set to make a raft of changes, with Stephen Cook finally getting the chance to emulate his father and open the batting for his country. Rumour has it that four or even five changes may be in the offing, reminding people of the worst days of England in the last 1980s and early 1990s when no journeyman county pro dared move far from a telephone in case he be called-up in the next raft of changes.

Hopefully AB de Villiers will have concentrated some minds. Alex Hales is likely to get the Sri Lanka Tests in May, but desperately needs some runs, as do Cook, Compton, Taylor and Moeen. Even more so, though, Moeen needs some wickets.

South Africa v England: 3rd Test, Day 3 - Tales of the Unexpected: South Africa the Horizontal Heavyweight, or “Vini. Vidi. Vici.”

 

South Africa v England: 3^rd Test, Day 3

Tales of the Unexpected: South Africa the Horizontal Heavyweight, or “Vini. Vidi. Vici.”

 

January 18^th 2016

 

After a fair part of the final session was lost on Day 2 probably most people thought that, with the match cracking along, there would be a result some time on Day 5 or, just possibly, late on Day 4 if there was a clatter of wickets at some point. What no one expected was that the match would be wound up long before the scheduled end of Day 3.

Clatter of wickets there was: no fewer than eighteen in the day. What no one expected was for South Africa to come out like an enraged fighter, determined to gain a first round knock-out, only to end up flat on their collective back doing an excellent imitation of the horizontal heavyweight with a glass chin, sleeping off peacefully on the canvas the encounter with his opponent.

For much of the morning it looked as if South Africa had things under control. Joe Root fell quickly. Moeen Ali added some quick runs but, when he fell, at 279-7, with the South African bowlers looking menacing, it looked as if South Africa would establish a small lead and, with England batting last, had a real chance to build an impregnable position: most people seemed to think that anything over 250 would be a testing target and 220 would give South Africa a real chance. The South African fans were crowing: it looked as if there was every chance that the series would be level at the end of the Test.

What happened initially was a slow change in momentum. With England under real pressure, Jonny Bairstow and Stuart Broad accumulated runs, but the aim was parity, not the lead of 50-80 that many fans believed would be necessary to compensate for batting last. England staggered into the lead but, with the last three wickets falling for fourteen, any dreams of a significant lead were blown away by Rabada and Morkel. However, England had a lead – that had looked unlikely half an hour before – and South Africa had to clear it before building a lead themselves.

With Elgar and van Zyl looking confident, the arrears were erased before Lunch. One ball from Stuart Broad screamed past Elgar. Another from Jimmy Anderson caught him a nasty blow, but the impression was that, as on the first morning, the new ball was being wasted and that Alistair Cook had erred seriously by not giving it to Steve Finn. One South African fan talked about batting through to Tea on Day four and setting 400-450.

Here the value of a good coach came in. Five overs bowled. The ball still new. The senior bowlers not quite getting it right. The deficit still small.

Being Australian, being rude to England players is, one suspects, part of the coach’s DNA. One can assume that the text of his lunchtime pep talk was not “hey, Stuart darling, you need to pitch it up a bit more; see if you can’t for Uncle Trevor.”

Whatever earthy Anglo-Saxon phrases were used, the effect was electric. Stuart Broad’s spell after Lunch was:

……  .4..W.  …1(a drop)..  …..W  ….W. ..W…  ….W.  ……

ABdV’s glorious legions may not know that “vini, vidi, vici” is pronounced “weanie, weedy, weaky” but, faced with Vercingetorix Broad, they translated it as “I came, I saw, I conked-out”. It was a bit like watching Obelix have fun with the garrison at Compendium – there was only ever going to be one winner.

What the poor Rabada made of this, one can only speculate. Having put South Africa in an excellent position with his maiden 5-for in the morning, it was only his efforts with the bat at #9 that saved South Africa from making their lowest score since re-admission… just. Even so, 83ao was a pretty pitiful effort.

From the high water mark of 117-1, half way through the afternoon on Day 1, South Africa have contrived to lose 19 wickets for 279 runs. Things have not improved since India; they have got worse.

In military terms, the South African batting through the series has been the typical “crust defence”: break through the crust and what comes behind is pretty soft. Cynics would say that the South African tail starts at #5 these days and that if one of Elgar, de Villiers and Amla does not make a big score, South Africa are in deep trouble. At 31-4, with all three out, one sensed that there was no way back.

Think not that the win means that all is rosy in the England garden. It is far from it. South Africa though have been too inadequate though to exploit it. There was still time for an England collapse and the top three, who have looked about as solid as the South African middle order, all fell trying to knock off 73 runs.

Alex Hales has turned into the gibbering wreck, whose ODI career suddenly floundered in 2014 until he applied the maxim: see ball, hit ball. He is trying to defend without having the game to do it. An opening stand of 64, with Hales hanging in grimly for a red-inker, promised a ten-wicket win that would have done England’s openers a power of good but, as has happened so often, one top-order wicket brought three.

Alistair Cook’s 43 increased his series average from 12 to the dizzy heights of 17.2. And Nick Compton’s attempt to finish the match with an aggressive shot produced the same result that every attempt he has made at aggression all series. A sequence of scores of 85, 49, 45, 15, 26, 0 shows a downward progression that has to be broken in the 4^th Test.

Yes, England are good, but they are not going to get away with being 40-3, 50-3 or 70-3 in innings after innings for very long.

However, the pressure that South Africa have been put under through the series shows in one telling statistic: England have batted five overs fewer than South Africa in the series, but have scored over four hundred runs more. Despite two second innings aberrations, England have averaged 3.7 runs per over – South Africa have scored at 2.8. In no innings in the series so far have South Africa matched England’s run rate. England have given their bowlers time to work. South Africa have always being struggling to hang on.

South Africa can bemoan the injuries to key bowlers, but it is the batsmen who have let them down. Bavuma, might have score a superb century in the 2^nd Test, but has managed just 33 runs in his other four innings. Hashim Amla scored 201, but has just 64 in his other four innings. Faf du Plessis scored 86 with conditions in his favour, but has only 41 in his other four innings. And poor old van Zyl must be looking enviously at the averages of Cook and Hales in this series as unimaginable riches. A measure of how bad things have been is that England fans look at Nick Compton’s record in the series and suggest that it is not good enough, but his figures are almost identical to AB de Villiers, who is seen as one of the successes for South Africa. Sometimes perspective can be cruel.

Day 3 to England

South Africa v England: 3rd Test, Day 2 - The Test and the Series in the Balance

 

South Africa v England: 3^rd Test, Day 2

The Test and the Series in the Balance

 

January 17^th 2016

 

At 225-7 and having lost six wickets for one hundred and eight, throwing away a position where a match-winning score looked likely, the much-maligned South African tail has produced a handy rescue job. A partnership of fifty-six for the eighth wicket, followed by one of thirty-two for the tenth helping South Africa over the psychological mark of 300 and to a curious statistical quirk: the lowest all-out score by a side in which all eleven batsmen and extras made double figures and, if I recall rightly, the third highest score in which there was no individual fifty.

One suspected that it was a par score at least. You could see reasons why, if South Africa’s bowlers bowled as they could and were backed-up by the fielders, England might subside nervously to 120ao. Then again, there seemed no reason why England should not breech 400 and push on to 500. At 22-2, with both openers gone, the former looked a distinct possibility. At 91-4 England were facing the danger of a substantial first innings deficit on a pitch where winning the Toss has proved to be a big advantage in recent years.

Back in 1985, one cricket writer said of Ian Botham that “at Dunkirk his strategy would have been to march on Berlin”. Ben Stokes is beginning to think that way. One again, his response to a crisis was to launch a glorious counter-attack. The fifty partnership came in thirty-four balls. The century partnership in a more sedate eighty-five. Sadly, Ben Stokes could not see out the day, but Joe Root did, with a valuable century that made sure that England finished the day narrowly on top and with a chance to aim for 380-400. When bad light and rain finished play early, you got the feeling that South Africa were probably cheering the chance to cut their losses and re-group. With fifteen from the nine balls before the umpires intervened, further carnage was threatened.

South Africa need a breakthrough in the morning. England need Joe Root to bat on and for one of Bairstow and Moeen Ali to get a fifty. The match is hanging in the balance.

Day 2 to England… but narrowly. A good day for either side will swing the balance.

South Africa v England: 3rd Test, Day 1: Two Fallible Sides Lacking The Knock-Out Punch

 

 

 

 

South Africa v England: 3^rd Test, Day 1

Two Fallible Sides Lacking The Knock-Out Punch

 

January 14^th 2016

 

It has been a first day of fortunes swinging one way and another. England were poor in the morning, good after Lunch and briefly threatened to be devastating after Tea. South Africa had their foot firmly on the England windpipe at 117-1 but, instead of batting England out of the game, offered to roll over and have their belly tickled.

England’s bowlers only took two wickets, but South Africa ended 267-7 and indebted to a fighting eighth wicket partnership to avoid the danger of being bowled out for fewer than 250 on the first day. The South African batsmen seemed convinced that England’s fielders were as bad as the press had suggested and genuinely seemed to believe that, if they lofted the ball, there was no danger of it ever being caught. Not a single catch went to the slips, but that did not stop an epidemic of batsmen expressing surprise that balls would (a) lodge safely in Jonny Bairstow’s gloves and (b) that he might take advantage of this situation to complete a dismissal. Four catches and an acrobatic run-out later, the batsmen caught on that this was a day instead to lob gentle catches to outfielders such as Hales and Moeen because the wicket-keeper had no intention of missing any.

Do not judge a pitch until both sides have batted. There is pace and bounce, but batting is far from impossible. However, despite every single batsman so far reaching double figures, only one batsman has passed 40 and the top score is just 46.

If South Africa scramble over 300 – with the current pair batting serenely, 350 is not impossible – you can think of reasons why England might fold for 120, or make 500+.

Can either side provide a knock-out punch? We will find out. A result though, looks very likely.

 

South Africa v England: 3rd Test, Preview: South Africa Ring the Changes

 

South Africa v England: 3^rd Test, Preview

South Africa Ring the Changes

 

January 13^th 2016

 

The equation is simple: two Tests left, South Africa cannot afford to lose either and a ground that usually offers a result for the 3^rd Test. A win seals the series for England. South Africa need at least a draw to maintain hopes of retaining their #1 ranking after the series, pinning everything on winning the final Test.

The South African selectors have responded with a raft of changes – probably two in personnel and one in batting order, with de Kock presumably taking the gloves and opening to continue the openers hokey-cokey.

South Africa are emulating England by going in with a 4-man pace attack. This though has been at the price of dropping Dane Piedt – the highest wicket-taker on either side in the series – and entrusting spin duties to JP Duminy and/or Dean Elgar. While Duminy is no Joe Root, neither is he a front-line spinner at this level, with 36 wickets from 33 Tests, an average of 8.3 overs bowled per innings and just one over in this series so far. With very hot conditions forecast and at an altitude great enough that oxygen debt significantly degrades stamina, South Africa are betting everything on their pace attack blasting through England’s batting: if someone digs in and the bowlers tire, there will be no one to take on Moeen Ali’s role of blocking up an end to rest the seamers.

Whilst Dane Piedt has undoubtedly been a surprise success for South Africa, it has come at a cost. His nine wickets have come at 40.7 and at a cost of 3.9 runs per over. Despite his long, wicketless spell at Newlands, Moeen Ali’s seven wickets have some at slightly lower cost (38.7) and at far greater economy: 2.6 runs per over. None of the South African bowlers can match Moeen’s economy and that has allowed England to use him for very long spells in a holding operation (only Moeen on either side has bowled more than one hundred overs so far in the series).

After Moeen and Piedt, the next highest load on a bowler has been the 91.3 overs bowled by Morne Morkel: 22 overs more than Steve Finn, 30 more than Stuart Broad; and 50 more than Ben Stokes. Morkel’s load has been almost crippling in the series and South Africa will contemplate with some horror what will happen if he is added to their injury list due to over-bowling.

Since 2001, South Africa have played 13 Tests at Johannesburg: won 6, lost 6, with just 1 draw.

Eight of the twelve Tests with a positive result have been won by the side winning the Toss.

Win the Toss, win the match.

The margins in the matches have tended to be huge: 3 innings wins, 5 more with margins from 123 to 358 runs. However, two of South Africa’s defeats – both to Australia after winning the Toss – were by the narrow margin of 2 wickets and the one drawn match saw South Africa, set 458 in what turned out to be 136 overs, fall just eight runs short of smashing the record for the highest successful fourth innings chase. when the wicket pair of Philander and Steyn, astonishingly, blocked-out the last three overs, with victory in their grasp!

South Africa v England: 2nd Test, Day 5 - England Struggle and Amla Goes

 

South Africa v England: 2^nd Test, Day 5

England Struggle and Amla Goes

 

January 6^th 2016

 

After dominating the first two days of this Test, England have made a real pig’s ear of the last three, including giving a fair impression of letting South Africa in with a real chance of winning. It has continued the good Test/bad Test sequence of the last year, which cost a series win in the Caribbean, a series win against New Zealand, nearly lost the Ashes and turned a fighting chance of a shared series in the UAE into a heavy defeat.

In reality, there was never any real danger of losing. People talk about how scoring 160 to win in 20 overs is easy now thanks to T20, forgetting that Tests have no over limits on bowlers, no fielding restrictions, no guarantee that the overs will be bowled and no stopping time-wasting.

In the 1^st Test v Pakistan in the UAE, England were set a nominal 99 to win from 19 overs: they got 11. South Africa’s slow over rate during the morning meant that the full number of overs were never going to be bowled, particularly as the sun had given rise to far more bowler-friendly, but darker, conditions. Once England got 150 in front there was not going to be time to get the runs. South Africa were also seven overs behind schedule by Tea. With two overs to be lost to the change of innings and the light fading, there was no chance that anywhere near thirty overs more would be bowled, even without an inventive use of time-wasting.

What was worrying is that a South African team who should not have got close to saving the follow-on, where able to claim that they had finished on top and pushing for a win, despite conceding 629-6 in under 126 overs in the first four and a half sessions.

Compton, Root, Taylor and Stokes all got in…  and got out.

South Africa can claim a moral victory and that their bowlers were far more effective – despite some fans calling this a South Africa “C” side while they were struggling – but, had Amla fallen for 21 (the first of four lives) and AB de Villiers on 5, they would have struggled to reach 300. Sky count one fewer missed chance than TMS (nine instead of ten), but calculated that they were worth 360 runs to South Africa, which would have left South Africa on 267-7.

The importance of the last day was that it allowed South Africa to claim the momentum in the series and to re-build some confidence.

With Dale Steyn to come back and Vernon Philander also possibly available, the South African side for Johannesburg will be strong, more confident and more united as there is nothing like reversing a run of bad results to build unity. Hashim Amla has found his form. AB de Villiers has lost the gloves, du Plessis is in the runs: England watch out!

It seemed an odd time for the predictions that Hashim Amla would not be captain for the 3^rd Test to be proved right. He resigned shortly after the Test finished. Early reports that he had decided to go two weeks ago were de-bunked: it was a decision taken today. It was also strange that when AB de Villiers had threatened to retire if he did not get his load reduced, that he should take on the captaincy when South Africa need to win both remaining Tests to hold onto their #1 ranking.

Suddenly, all the problems are England’s and there is no game before the 3^rd Test (who agreed to this schedule? Surely England would welcome some match practice for Jordan, Woakes, Patel, Ballance & Buttler and some batting practice for Cook, Hales and Compton at least?)

Knives are already being sharpened for Alex Hales. Scores of 10, 26, 60 & 5 have not silenced the doubters. After a promising start, the opening partnerships have fallen away dramatically. It is not ideal to have had opening partnerships of 55, 17, 13 & 3. However, one statistical quirk that has been missed is that Alistair Cook has been the first wicket to fall in every innings so far. When you have an inexperienced opener, losing your captain and opening partner quickly and facing bowlers with their tails up is not ideal.

England do not want another opener crisis. Having set their stall out with Alex Hales, he needs a run to the end of the summer at least. However, unless he can get a century in one of the two remaining Tests, the pressure to drop him may become irresistible.

The other area that pundits are seeing as a problem is Nick Compton at #3. It seems odd when the batsman is averaging 49 in the series and only centurions Stokes and Bairstow have more runs for England, but his manner of getting them – strike rate 37.5 – is said to be putting undue pressure on the rest of the batting (whisper it softly, but Alex Hales actually has a slightly inferior strike rate!)

The fact that Nick Compton has come in three times after both openers had failed and the fourth time in bowling conditions, has not been seen as a mitigating circumstance. He has also got out trying to change gear twice and is seen as too one-paced.

Part of the problem is that, although England desperately need a solid #3, crease occupation needs to produce a commensurate number of runs. Nick Compton is not being very successful at turning long periods at the crease (he has faced more balls in the series than any batsman other than Hashim Amla), into big scores.

So far, in eleven Tests, Nick Compton has had twenty-one innings. In fourteen of those innings he has got a start – defined as reaching double figures – yet only four of those fourteen starts have becomes fifties. Have a look at the distribution of his scores:

2x100, 2x50, 2x40, 3x30, 5x(10-29).

Five times he has got out in the 30s and 40s without pushing on past fifty.

Nick Compton needs to start capitalising better on the starts that he is getting. His position in the side will be very vulnerable until he does.

His batting average was a more than respectable 47.2 after 6 Tests. However, after three poor matches it dropped down to 31.9, far below what is expected of a specialist and, despite his reasonable returns in this series, has only recovered to 35.4. To make his place in the side secure, he needs to convert 20s and 30s into fifties and 40s and 50s into centuries and to get his average back over 40.

Back in the early 1980s England had a #3 crisis that was solved by calling up Chris Tavaré, who proceeded to score some of the slowest fifties in Test history. At the time, Mike Brearley recounted how, after watching yet another forward defensive from Tavaré, Bob Willis turned round and exclaimed “I do like watching Tav bat!” He was not being sarcastic. The bowlers genuinely appreciated someone playing solidly and allowing them rest and recovery and ensuring that the good work of the bowlers was not wasted. Tavaré responded with two crucial fifties in the win that sealed the 1981 Ashes. Nick Compton needs to give England that solidity.

Day 5 to South Africa

Key Player on Day 5: Jonny Bairstow

It is a bit absurd to say that Bairstow saved England, but at the same time is uncomfortably close to the truth.

There is some small mitigation in that England had by far the worst of the conditions: the only day that the pitch had anything in it for the bowlers was on Day 1 and on Day 5, atmospheric conditions were helpful to the bowlers for at least part of the day. In retrospect though, the declaration of the first innings came at least an hour too early. After their efforts in the 1^st Test, the South African bowlers and fielders needed to be punished for longer to tire them. England were completely on top and should have pushed on further rather than letting the South Africans off the hook by declaring. By batting almost two full days, England could have set their stall on an innings win, knowing that the bowlers had a week’s rest to come, or a short second innings to set up a mammoth target. Similarly, the decision to play Jimmy Anderson remains debatable: he was extremely economical, but lacked fire. True that the conditions would not have favoured Chris Woakes either. However, looking at the fragile catching in the slips, one wonders if Alistair Cook is not wondering that maybe, just maybe, Chris Jordan with his extra pace and brilliant catching, might have been a better choice.

Much will be made of the roasting that the England bowlers got in the field but, one of those odd little statistical quirks that comes up is that, by playing five front-line bowlers, all three of the South African seamers actually bowled far more overs than their England counterparts. Morne Morkel has bowled far more overs in the series so far than Steve Finn and Stuart Broad and Morris and Rabada have bowled almost as many overs in one Test as Ben Stokes has in two.

South Africa v England: 2nd Test, Day 4 - Ten Drops Cost England the Chance to Win

 

South Africa v England: 2^nd Test, Day 4

Ten Drops Cost England the Chance to Win

 

January 5^th 2016

 

England probably needed two wickets in the first hour to keep the match alive. When no wickets fell in the morning session, the match seemed dead. However, with three wickets in 45 balls after Lunch and both not-out batsmen dismissed, there was just a chance of some excitement. South Africa’s tail has had all the consistency of melting ice cream over the last year and there seemed no reason to fear the batting of Bavuma, the last recognised batsman, who South African fans have condemned as a failed batting experiment.

One more wicket and there was a real chance that England could have taken a lead of 120-130 with four sessions left and had a chance to declare mid-morning on Day 5, setting 300+ to win.

Bavuma had other ideas. With Chris Morris, he added 170. Morris fell just before parity was reached, but Temba Bavuma – dismissed by many in South Africa as a “racial quota” pick – became the first black South African to score a Test century. In doing so, as Tatenda Iaibu did in Zimbabwe, he struck a major blow for the indigenous players on whom the future of South African cricket must depend, given that, like rugby, the national side remains white and Afrikaner-dominated.

When Hashim Amla declared finally, with a fourth new ball approaching, Bavuma had his century, the deficit was just two runs and South Africa were the only side who could still win.

At the Close, with six overs gone, the lead is now 18 and, bar an almighty England brain-fade in the morning, England will, most likely, bat out the day. Alistair Cook would not even consider a declaration half an hour before Tea and a chance at knocking over a couple of wickets. After all, 1-0 after two Tests suits England. Romantics will dream of England being 280 ahead around Tea, declaring and having a final burst at the South Africans, but a tired attack would not thank Alistair Cook for trying this.

It could all have been so different. The TMS team counted no less than ten chances missed. One of the most crucial was the dropping of de Villiers on 5, off Jimmy Anderson. Had it been taken, South Africa would have been 96-3 and in real trouble and maybe things would have turned out differently both for him and for England. Whether or not the decision to pick Anderson was the correct one, is open for discussion: he was extremely economical (1-77 from 35 overs), but lacked bite with the new ball. It is a “glass half full” question: Jimmy Anderson will be better for the overs (if there is no injury relapse) and one does wonder if Chris Woakes would have been any more effective on this surface.

Only one of the ten chances missed was a sitter, but you would expect half or two-thirds of the chances to be taken most times. Had that happened, Geoff Boycott believes that England would have won the match: it is hard to disagree with him.

The momentum in this series was all with England for the first seven days. Thanks to dropped catches and South African obduracy, the last two have been massively with South Africa. If this represents a shift for the rest of the series England, facing a stronger attack and a side that has recovered some of its confidence, may face a mighty struggle not to lose the 3^rd Test. It is essential that Alistair Cook and England have a good final day to re-establish some authority. Ideally, Cook will get a fifty and Hales a century in a bore draw and then, on to Johannesburg.

Day 4 to South Africa

Key Player on Day 4: Temba Bavuma

Key Player on Day 5: Kagiso Rabada. The leading wicket-taker in the match, a couple of early wickets for him would cause real nerves in the England camp.