Proteas back-up bowlers can ‘learn a lot’ from KG
JOHANNESBURG: Kagiso Rabada had been earmarked as the spearhead of the South African bowling attack from the moment he blew away the Australian kids at the Under-19 World Cup in 2014.
However no one could have anticipated that role being thrust upon him less than two years since he made his Test debut. Rabada is just 22, in Bloemfontein he’ll be playing his 22nd Test and he will be the South African attack’s leader.
It will probably be like water off a duck’s back for the man himself, but it is indicative of his rapid ascent as an international player and of course the plethora of injuries that has befallen fast bowlers in South Africa.
Duanne Olivier would normally be just a “squad” bowler, but he is playing in his third consecutive Test, Dane Paterson got a call up, because well, there’s no one else in South African cricket right now.
Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Chris Morris are in various stages of their recovery, Morne Morkel is out of up to six weeks with an abdominal muscle tear – that’s 214 Test caps missing from Bloemfontein.
So Rabada then, with those 21 Tests, the most experienced bowler in the squad, it is to lead, and according to Olivier, playing his first Test in his home-town, someone he reckons he can learn from.
“Obviously KG is there leading the attack, we can learn a lot from him, and Faf and the other players we can learn a lot from them. I don’t feel like there is massive pressure on me or the rest of the guys,” Olivier, who has played just four Tests, said yesterday.
Leadership sits well with Rabada. He’s taken 44 wickets in Tests this year – the joint second highest in 2017 despite many feeling he hasn’t bowled at his best. Of course believing a 22-year-old can operate at his best every time he plays is impossible, but such is the standard he has set, that it is what many have come to expect from him.
What Rabada has shown in his short Test career is when his captain has demanded his best he has been able to deliver; the fourth Test at Centurion against England and the Perth Test against the Australians the outstanding examples.
But in those two matches he had Morkel, Kyle Abbott and Philander as partners, in Bloemfontein, he is the main man.
Olivier may not feel like there is a lot of pressure on him or the other bowlers, but that is in fact the case. It can’t all be left to KG. Olivier may well share the new ball with Rabada, with Wayne Parnell, fresh from an injury himself, who last played a first class match in April, and who has got just five Test caps to his name, set to replace Morkel in the starting team.
A lot will also once again be expected of Keshav Maharaj, for whom South African cricket fans, so quick to admonish a spinner, have grown increasingly grateful. His ability to hold the game will be vital, and if the pitch in Bloemfontein spins, he is a key weapon.
As for that pitch at the Mangaung Oval – don’t expect it to be the fast bowler’s graveyard that the Cape Cobras and Knights encountered in a Sunfoil Series match two weeks ago when six centuries and a combined 1 190 runs were scored in two out of three innings that the match lasted.
As the first Test in Potchefstroom unfolded last week, the South African camp had requested updates on just what to expect in Bloemfontein and were sent back pictures of a grass-laden pitch. “This wicket looks totally different,” Olivier answered when asked to compare the Test pitch with the one he bowled on a fortnight ago. “There’s normally ‘tennis-ball bounce’ here in Bloem. Day one will be slow and then it will quicken up on day 2, 3 and 4.
Meanwhile, Morkel’s absence has also opened the door for Paterson to impress new coach Ottis Gibson as part of the Proteas one-day squad for three ODIs against the Bangladeshis starting on October 15. The 28-year-old is highly regard in local circles for his “death bowling” skills, an important element in the limited-overs game.
SA ODI squad: Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada