Africa-Press – South-Africa. Bad batting or a treacherous pitch?
It’s the pertinent question on most lips following the second day of the first Test between the Proteas and West Indies, where the post-tea session once again saw the batting teams collapse in a heap.
South Africa lost seven wickets in the last session of the opening day while the visitors, almost eerily, lost the same number 24 hours later.
To compound matters, Dean Elgar’s ill-advised ramp shot off Alzarri Joseph to third man – a carbon copy of his first innings dismissal – sent flutters of anxiety into the Proteas camp, who ended on a wobbly 49/4 that translates into a useful if hardly insurmountable lead of 179.
Is it a case of two Test-starved, underperforming teams simply not possessing the nous to fill their boots?
Not if you ask Anrich Nortje and Jason Holder.
“It’s just the general thing at SuperSport Park,” said the former, who had a small crowd in raptures with a fourth Test five-for.
“It tends to happen that wickets fall late in the day. Maybe it’s the sun, things happening more in the wicket. But it’s definitely happening regularly.
“I don’t really have an explanation. You see the ball is misbehaving now and then. That could contribute to the struggles.”
Whether it absolves them or not, it’s true that Temba Bavuma – who became the fourth player in history to score a pair on his Test captaincy debut – was undone by a beauty from Joseph that climbed before Holder grabbed his 150th Test victim by trapping Keegan Petersen in front with a delivery that kept low.
That certainly does suggest variable bounce.
Holder, who joins the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers in scoring 2500 runs and taking 150 wickets, concurred.
“I didn’t stay too long [as I was out first ball], so I don’t know,” the tall all-rounder said jokingly.
“But as you can see, there’s a bit of variable bounce, a few kept low and some went off. It’s definitely a factor. Both teams, when their batters got stuck in and applied themselves, things went better for you.
“But I don’t think it’s a surface where you bat a lengthy time and feel in. You just have to watch every delivery as closely as possible and play each delivery late too.”
While the Windies have undeniably got themselves back into contention summarily, Holder believes South Africa’s lead of 130 could be priceless.
“It’s still tipped in their favour because they have the runs on the board,” he said.
“You never feel in, so you really have to get accustomed to conditions and pounce on anything that goes your way. The variable bounce sits in the back of your mind. The Proteas are probably marginally ahead. It’s set up to be a good one.”
That the Proteas did manage to establish that advantage was down to the batters managing an improved total of 342 in their first innings.
“It was a nice feeling going out knowing there were a bit more runs on the board and working on gaining a lead. We [as attack] did a good job in the end, we controlled the run rate too,” said Nortje.
But Aiden Markram, looking supremely confident on an unbeaten 35 after his 115, needs to drive the process of setting up a viable target again.
“We just have to try and go with the conditions. You can see things happen quickly here, you have to just focus on the basics,” said Nortje.
“Hopefully, we can come up with a partnership. We bat to No 11. I bat there after all. I’m just kidding. We need to get a decent lead, we’ll take anything, and hopefully, the middle order comes out and stamp their authority, [and] to show what they’re made of.”
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