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.