South Africa v England: 4th Test, Day 5
Humiliated By Rabada
January 29th
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 4th 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 1st Test win, he missed out in the 2nd 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 2nd 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 2nd Test and two misses by Bairstow in the 4th 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.
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