Sanity descends after 11 crazy days
It was a relentless grind of a day’s play under skies unmarked by clouds and on a pitch that seemed to enjoy making bowlers suffer
After 11 days of wildly swirling swings and roundabouts, soaring and swooning rollercoasters and garish, rackety ghost trains, this series needed a gentle twirl on a soothing carousel. To negate nerves, settle stomachs, mend minds and remind us of proper cricket’s sense and sensibilities.
Newlands got that carousel ride on Wednesday. Stumps were drawn on the second day of the third and deciding Test between South Africa and Australia with the visitors a single run ahead with six wickets standing.
It was a relentless grind of a day’s play under skies unmarked by clouds and on a pitch that seemed to enjoy making bowlers suffer. That was a key difference from Tuesday, when Australia took the second new ball with the floodlights blazing and thick greyness blocking out the blue. Mitchell Starc and those conditions are a nightmare combination if you’re batting — he claimed 4/2 in nine deliveries to end South Africa’s innings for 329.
No such drama played out on Wednesday. In the 10 overs bowled with the second new ball before the close, Josh Inglis and Alex Carey added 44 to their unbroken stand of 145 to put Australia ahead. With similar weather forecast for Thursday it’s difficult to see how the stream of runs will be stopped.
It didn’t help South Africa that their new-ball pair, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen, were off the field for significant chunks of the afternoon’s play. Team management said Rabada had stomach cramps and that Jansen’s back was stiff.
“We always knew it was going to be a tough day with the way the pitch is playing,” Piet Botha, South Africa’s bowling coach, told a press conference. “There was no lateral movement there, so it was always going to be a big effort. I can’t fault the effort. It was there the whole day.
“Maybe if we’re self-critical, we didn’t hit our lengths for long periods. Because once the pitch plays like that, you've got to create some maidens and hopefully create a false shot. If you do that chances might come your way. On a pitch like that you need a bit of luck for things to go your way.”
Were the bowlers grumpy with the batters after South Africa lost 9/126 on Tuesday after reaching 203/1?
“We spoke about it, and we could have capitalised on the opening stand [of 158],” Botha said. “There were a couple of shots that shouldn’t have been played. The way the pitch played today you definitely feel like we should have got more runs. And then we got blown away by the new ball when the clouds came over. I was hoping the clouds would come over today …”
No such luck. And none of the eyeballs-out cricket that took Australia to victory by 214 runs at Kingsmead and helped South Africa level the series with at St George’s Park, where they won by an innings and 31 runs. Maybe that’s what happens when the top two ranked teams in the world clash: the cricket goes feral. Until it is tamed by the conditions and old-fangled application.
Hints on Wednesday of what we saw in Durban and Gqeberha were rare. Before lunch Simon Harmer induced Travis Head to play on and had Marnus Labuschagne caught at slip six balls apart.
South Africa didn’t take another wicket for 31.5 overs. Then Jansen had Matt Renshaw taken behind. Nine balls later Cameron Green edged Jansen to second slip. But those were blips in the narrative; deviations from the utterly straight and desperately narrow.
It was as if the first two Tests were played in bubbles of unreality. Asked about that at a press conference, Renshaw sounded almost as if he missed those heady times: “When you’ve got Jansen bowling an over and then Rabada comes on, and then Harmer’s bowling, you’ve got all of them coming in pretty hard at you. Those are big contests. With the ball, you get a few wickets and then Jansen [the No. 1-ranked Test allrounder] comes in at seven.
“They’re a very good team. We’re in their backyard. It’s tough. We had the luck in the first Test. They had a strong performance in the second. There are a lot of good teams around the world. But this has been a feisty one.”
It has. Even Wednesday, in its own cranky way, like an ancient uncle demanding his desert before he touches his dinner, was crunchy with character. Maybe we don’t remember Test cricket like this. Maybe because South Africa haven’t played a three-match series since December 2022 and January 2023. Maybe we should consult the archive. Maybe we won’t have to — stand by for more of the same on Thursday. It’s the 13th day of this series; good luck for some, less so for others.
