Johannesburg — There are only three days of play possible in this Test.
The rain washed out the first day and the death of Queen Elizabeth II saw day two cancelled. But any concerns that too much time was lost for one of the teams to win this match and series, were evaporated by circumstances in which ball totally dominated bat on Saturday.
The mood before play was predictably sombre, with soprano Laura Wright’s rendition of the two anthems — including the reworded English one — echoing around south London.
The cricket was the main sporting attraction in England on a weekend in which the usually dominant Premier League had taken a postponement to show respect for the departed monarch. So Ben Stokes’ side took it upon themselves to provide entertainment for a nation in mourning, and their bowlers got a big helping hand from South Africa’s flimsy batting line-up.
The solemn mood that preceded the day’s play would have been matched in the Proteas dressing room as yet another awful batting display gave England an enormous advantage.
Some of that advantage disappeared in the final session, with South Africa’s bowlers, led by Marco Jansen, once again keeping them in the game.
It was expected that South Africa’s batting would be bad in this series. It has been for a long time, but in the run that has put them into the top two of the Test Championship table – during which they won nine out of 11 Tests in 15 months – it was understood that the batters had to do just enough to keep the side in the game, because the bowling was so good.
‘Just enough’, that’s all. The Proteas don’t need 500 – a total they haven’t passed since December 2020 – they don’t need 400 – a mark they’ve only passed once since December 2020 – they just need enough – as in 250, that’ll do.
Instead, in 10 out of 24 completed innings in the last two years, South Africa has failed to notch up 250, and in the same period have scored less than 200, eight times. The batters simply aren’t doing their jobs in the most basic fashion, to help out one of the great bowling attacks this country has produced.
Everything from too much limited overs cricket, to a lack of domestic first class matches, and poor quality seam bowling locally have been thrown into the mix. Test pitches in South Africa are too difficult to bat on, Aiden Markram lacks confidence, there’s too little experience.
We all know the excuses for what is wrong, but far too often it feels like those excuses have allowed the batters room for continued failure. Where is the ‘tough love’ given to Kagiso Rabada at the Wanderers in the Test against India, when his bowling wasn’t up to standard?
Instead we had Saturday and another desperately poor performance. South Africa will turn what look like helpful conditions for the bowlers, into downright unplayable ones, such is the lack of confidence and the flimsy techniques.
Dean Elgar left a big gap between bat and pad for Ollie Robinson to bowl him, Keegan Petersen was dismissed with another poor bit of judgement – as was the case in the first innings at Old Trafford – while the rest were tentative against good England bowling from Robinson and Stuart Broad, who bowled the right lengths consistently.
Khaya Zondo with 23 and Marco Jansen, who top scored with 30, were the only batters to offer any semblance of resistance. They were also two of the four changes made to the side that lost in Manchester, and again the issue about not playing at least a two-day game – which was offered by the ECB – in the lengthy break between the second and third Tests was raised.
South Africa opted for golf and go-karting as part of time off spent at the Belfry golf club, staying true to a policy that’s been adopted by previous generations of Proteas, who have felt that being mentally fresh was better preparation for a Test than playing a tour match.
But even those great teams struggled in the match after a long break – South Africa in 2007 lost a home Test to India, in 2012 the team hung on for a draw in Adelaide and in 2017 lost at The Oval.
Jansen picked up four wickets, as England batting with their new ultra-aggressive style sought to put a seal on the match on the first day.
Instead, they opened the door for the Proteas. Are the batters good enough to build on the work of their bowlers? You wouldn’t bet your life on it.
Scorecard
SA 118
England 154/7
Bad light stopped play
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