South Africa v England, Day 3:

South Africa Start to Fall Apart at the Seams

 

December 28^th 2015

 

One of the major questions going into this series was just how serious the South African decline was. Since beating Sri Lanka away in July 2014, 1-0 in a 2-match series by dint of hanging on for a draw in extremis in the 2^nd Test, they have not beaten a major opponent: but then, they have not played many. Zimbabwe were seen off in a one-off Test in August 2014. The West Indies were beaten in South Africa 2-0 (3 Tests) over Near Year 2015. Rain meant that the series in Bangladesh in July-August ended in a soggy 0-0 draw, although Bangladesh, worryingly, took a big first innings lead in the 1^st Test. And only rain saved South Africa in India from a 4-0 whitewash, although 3-0 was bad enough.

South Africa were almost out of sight in the ICC Test Championship in mid-2014, but are in real danger of slipping as low as third or fourth after this series.

If Australia do not trip on the cadaver of Caribbean cricket and seal a 3-0 win and England win this series 1-0, South Africa will drop to third in the rankings. A 3-0 win for England would send South Africa down to fourth. And a 4-0 win which, two weeks ago, would have led to anyone predicting it being certified insane, will drop South Africa to fifth.

With the side looking divided, short of confidence, rumours surrounding the imminent retirement of two key players, the captain in an unprecedented slump, injuries to bowlers, misfiring batting and fielding and some perplexing selections, it will take a turnaround of Headingley ’81 proportions to save this series.

If Days 1 & 2 were fairly close, Day 3 has been utter rout.

It is 12 innings since South Africa passed 248 (a score made against Bangladesh). Take out the home Tests against the totally uncompetitive Zimbabwe and West Indian sides and the South African batting has been alarmingly fragile since the second innings of the 1^st Test v Sri Lanka in July 2014. England are effectively 261-3 and the pitch is beginning to misbehave and take sharp turn even for the occasional spin of Dean Elgar, who must now be worrying that he will also be asked to keep wicket and drive the team bus in the 2^nd Test, as well as scoring most of the runs and doing a significant amount of bowling.

It took just two balls for Stuart Broad to end the South African fight-back of Day 2 and, at 137-5, it was just a matter of how big England’s lead would be. The one batsman to show any fight was Dean Elgar, helped by Dale Steyn to add 54 for the eighth wicket and keep the lead to a little under one hundred.

Since then, it has been one-way traffic, despite a little rush of excitement when Alistair Cook failed again. Alex Hales showed the discipline that suggests that when he finds the right mix of defence and attack he will do a fine job, before giving it away when the hard work had been done and a maiden fifty looked there for the taking.

Dale Steyn is injured. He has bowled 23 deliveries and that was enough for him to confuse generations of statisticians by twice starting an over and failing to complete it due to shoulder pain: once after two balls and once after three. The fact that a scan has been inconclusive and the injury is put down to “shoulder stiffness following a heavy bowling load in the first innings” will be music to Alistair Cook’s ears. South Africa now face a tricky decision as to whether or not to bowl him tomorrow and risk him breaking down completely with the first two Tests back-to-back or, effectively accept that this match is lost and try to get him ready for the 2^nd Test.

With Steyn unavailable, Morkel and Abbott are closing in on 40 overs each in the match, with a new ball due soon and the likelihood that there will be no one else to take it. South Africa know that they will have to bowl at least 25 more overs before any declaration and will face the dilemma as to whether to use occasional bowlers and risk the scoring rate sky-rocketing, or further tire Morkel and Abbott in an attempt to delay the declaration.

With plenty of time available, Nick Compton was at his sadistic best. Statistically, 49 from just under three hours does not look like much, but it caused over after over of frustration as the bowlers wasted their strength trying to shift him. His efforts have put England in an almost invulnerable position, with the luxury of knowing that there are power hitters with the ability to score quick runs against an increasingly exhausted attack.

Expect half an hour of consolidation in the morning, followed by around twenty overs of attack and a target of at least 380-400.

Day 3 to England

Key man so far: Nick Compton (although Stuart Broad is running him close)

Key man on Day 4: Moeen Ali, who may well be called upon to hit some quick runs and then to play on the South African difficulties when the balls turns.