Once again that old cliche was ringing in my ears today: only judge a pitch when both sides have batted. So let’s do that. Conclusion? It’s flat. Not quite Newlands flat but flat enough. Although Nick Compton might beg to differ. Ahem. I missed the last hour of play but I’m assuming that shooter was an aberration.
Only five wickets fell on the first day and only seven fell today – the majority of which were tailenders or batsmen totally out of form. Quentin De Kock played beautifully and showed just how good the surface was. He hit through the line with aplomb and was basically able to pick his spots.
De Kock is a glorious player to watch. I really enjoyed his innings. He reminded me a bit of Ben Stokes at Cape Town – although a little less destructive and a tad more elegant. If I was a South African selector I’d stick with him for the long haul. Which means they probably won’t. Logic is a stranger to South African selectors. Just look at Stephen Cook. Where on earth has he been? Only a twit could possibly think Van Zyl is a better test opener.
Talking of ludicrous misjudgements of selection, England have made their own howler in this series. When we got our turn to bat today, Alex Hales had the perfect opportunity to finally make some runs and look comfortable in test cricket. The pitch should have suited his style beautifully – it allows batsmen to play their shots and won’t expose technical frailties.
Unfortunately however, Hales did what Hales has been doing all series: he got out to an awful shot and threw away his wicket. It was really sad to see. Today’s debacle was possibly the worst dismissal of the lot: he was caught in two minds and lobbed the ball to gully / point. He wasn’t leaning into the shot so it was hardly a surprise.
I don’t like getting on England players’ backs. We all want them to succeed. I’d love nothing more than to see Hales smash a breathtaking hundred in the second dig. But I just can’t see him succeeding at this level. Every time he’s actually survived the new ball, he’s just looked poorer and poorer the longer he’s batted. It’s not like he’s getting out to good balls either – anyone can cop a top nut early on – he’s beating himself through poor judgement and technique.
Talent alone isn’t enough at this level. Just ask a former England player who once made a test century at Centurion, Graeme Hick. You can ask England’s current batting coach too. In my humble opinion, Hales is the worst of all the openers we’ve tried since 2012. Carberry looked the best, followed by Lyth and then Robson. That’s not exactly a list you want to be last on.
I’m sorry to be so blunt, but none of the commentators on TV are prepared to call it as it is. I’m guessing they like the bloke too much on a personal level to be objective. Marcus Trecothick described his innings today as ‘a great fifteen’. Talk about clutching at straws. Even Atherton refused to admit what most people are thinking: that Hales looks totally out of his depth.
Anyway, enough about individuals. There’s still a test match to save. Can we do it? You bet we can. However, it will probably require daddy hundreds from England’s key men, Root and Cook. We all know that Root can score runs anywhere, but I sense that the skipper will be the wicket South Africa want most.
When pitches are flat, and offer very little for the seamers, Alastair Cook is a master at cashing in. He’s made a career of it. He’s not always the most secure on surfaces that expose his less than perfect technique, but on flat decks he’s peerless. His super human record in Asia, but somewhat less than stellar statistics in England, are no coincidence.
I said on day one that I expected Cook to score runs on this deck. I saw nothing today to question that. As soon as he arrived at the crease he looked like he could bat until Monday. And I think he probably will.
Cook has insane powers of concentration. He hasn’t scored any runs in this series, but I wouldn’t bet against him almost singlehandedly saving this game to round off a great tour for his side. Then again, according to Bumble the whole England side are just knackered and have ‘nothing left in the tank’. Hmmmm. My personal view is that we couldn’t polish off the tail today because it’s a flat pitch and we’re missing both Finn and Wood.
Let’s see if our batsmen are willing to throw in the towel tomorrow. I suspect we’ll put up a good fight but hey, this is England we’re talking about. It’s daft to make predictions.
James Morgan
The difference in instinctive shot selection between scoring at 10 an over and scoring at 3 an over are just so, so different, that its a miracle whenever anyone is able to make the switch. Hales was always going to fail, just like Morgan and Buttler failed before him.
I think the only people who can succeed across the board are those that
a) naturally score at a run-a-ball, so that the switch up to 8 an over for short format or down to 4 an over for test cricket isn’t too great
b) are absolutely world class players on top of their game
‘Only 5’ and ‘only 7’ wickets in a day?? It’s a test match not a bloody white ball game. The wicket isn’t as good as the last games but it’s not ‘flat’. The bowling was poor by England and SA weren’t that much better, hence the runs. McGrath, steyn at his peak would have taken many a wicket on this.. Neither side has a genuine world class performer to do that.
Starting to sound like you want biffing and wickets tumbling which is what white ball is for.. Not red ball
I’m a test purist pure and simple. I like an even contest between bat and ball. England’s attack contains 2 bowlers in the top 5 of the ICC test rankings. I think they qualify as world class. There’s also Morkel at 12.
There was precious little swing and not a lot of movement off the seam. Not a lot of pace or bounce either. That makes it a good batting day in my view. I think the wicket is flat … at the moment. It might deteriorate though.
The swing and to a lesser extent the seam movement is more a result of the kookaburra ball than the pitch, isn’t it?
The kookaburra ball certainly plays its part because it goes soft so easily. However it’s not doing much when it’s new either, which suggests the pitch is pretty good. We’ll see what happens if there’s more cloud cover today. It was sunny in day 2. As we often see at Headingley, cloud can change the dynamic.
To be fair to Trescothick, he did qualify his ‘great 15’ by saying that those types of scores aren’t going to be enough to keep him in the side, and that he needs to be at least getting to 40 or 50 to give them a reason to keep him in.
I was never convinced that Hales was an option as an opener, and was getting his chance because of the failure of all previous options. After watching his dismissals, it seems to me that it’s the timing of that front foot trigger movement that’s the problem. As the bowler releases he plants his front foot down the line of middle and off which means that he’s going with his hands only. Iain Bell has the same trigger but makes it earlier so he can ‘go again’ with the front foot to the line of the ball. Still not sure he’s the answer, but think his problem is as curable as Bairstow’s left foot shuffle behind the sticks.
I only saw the evening session and the bounce was definitely up and down – Compton’s was an absolute shocker and wasn’t the only one. Wouldn’t say it’s a completely flat track and England will have to bat well to get near the Saffer total.
I agree Hamish. If the selectors had real faith in Hales they wouldn’t have waited so long, and tried so many other batsmen first, before giving him a go. You’re spot on re: Hales playing with his hands. He often thrusts at the ball rather than letting it come to him.
Judging from some of the balls today, variable bounce is becoming an increasing problem. Batting last is likely to be a tough proposition.
Cracking contest in the BB so far at the end of the first innings.
Pietersen 74 off 39. Hmmmm. Bet that’s piqued a few people’s interest.
Indeed, and he claimed not have been in the best of form…. Khawaja is now making it look easy.
Stars need a wicket.
Pitch not looking so flat now.
KP is the most popular English South African in Australia right now. Khawaja though is batting phenomenally well. Good game for the bbl final. Massively successful tournament.
The pitch certainly hasn’t been flat today. Partly though SA have hit their straps with the ball in a way that England largely didn’t when they got to bowl. Rabada looks a fine bowler. If SA had sorted out their opening positions earlier in the series and not mucked around with the wicket-keeping role, De Kock’s injury pre-Joburg notwithstanding, we have have seen a more competitive home team. That said I’m still pleased with the way England have played for most of this series. It is largely a team playing the type of cricket that you really want to see, the performances of certain players excepted.
Agreed. Batting looked much harder today. As I mentioned in the day 3 report, batting is always harder when there’s cloud cover, poor light, and the floodlights on. But yes, I think South Africa have bowled a lot better than England. Still think it’s a decent surface – 480 plays 340 suggests it’s decent enough for batting – but there’s clearly some deterioration now.