Capetown : There is a breath of fresh air breezing through South African cricket at the moment and it has been personified by the events of the last few days in the second Sunfoil Test match at PPC Newlands.
Rookie fast bowler, Kagiso Rabada, summed it up perfectly at the end of day one when asked if he felt pressure in coming into the Castle Lager Proteas starting XI as a replacement for Dale Steyn. “I see it as an opportunity,” was his confident response.
There was more to follow when two other junior members of the side, Temba Bavuma and Chris Morris, seized the moment during today’s fourth day to share a seventh wicket partnership of 167 that both broke an 88-year-old record against England as well as the ground partnership record.
Hashim Amla may have laid the foundation for South Africa’s strong showing with his fourth Test double century (202 runs, 707 minutes, 477 balls, 27 fours) with the able support of AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis in successive partnerships of 183 for the third wicket and 171 for the fourth.
But the Bavuma-Morris partnership – South Africa’s third best ever for the seventh wicket and the best since unity – had to be seen in the context of what had happened immediately beforehand. Amla, Du Plessis and Quinton de Kock had all been dismissed in the space of 22 balls for the addition of just 10 runs and England still held a very useful lead of 180 runs.
It was a pressure moment if ever there was one but Bavuma, in particular, batted like an old hand. There were 11 boundaries in his first 50 runs and, apart from one inside edge off Ben Stokes, they came across the board with quality strokes.
He was dropped on 87 but by the time he reached his maiden Test match century and his 12th overall he held the Newlands faithful firmly in the palm of his hand. He finished unbeaten on 102 (148 balls, 16 fours). This has followed his centuries for South Africa A against Australia A (away from home) and a strong England Lions team at home which has made his success at this level a natural progression.
One of the wonderful aspects of cricket is that size does not matter and it can indeed be an advantage when you have two such opposites as Bavuma and the lanky Morris batting together. It can really make a mess of a bowler’s length as there is a need for adjustment every time the strike is rotated.
Morris played his part (69 off 111 balls, 10 fours) and it must have given him some satisfaction to see some of the England bowlers go for three-figure analyses after the punishment he had endured earlier in the match.
In the end the Proteas finished two runs behind England when Amla made an astute declaration to give his quicks a six-over burst at the England openers. There is a lot more to Amla’s captaincy than has been apparent to some so far. He made an inspirational declaration to set up the series win in Sri Lanka shortly after his appointment.
The last thing Alastair Cook would have wanted was to bat for 6 overs after having been in the field for more than 200 overs. England finished the day on 16 without loss for an overall lead of 18 runs.
Courtesy : CSA media