Proteas up against it in series decider

PE pitch not up to speed as hosts bid to draw level with Islanders

SPEED kills but swing thrills. South Africa, by virtue of their status as a proud pace-producing nation, would normally take the former whenever you offer it to them. But failing that, they are more than happy to settle for the latter.

Today, the Proteas will be looking for one of those two evils to utilise against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Port Elizabeth.

The coastal venue has not had much in terms of speed in recent years, unless the groundsman leaves a liberal sprinkling of grass on the surface. Then the ball has been known to jag about and put the hurry on batsmen of all skills. The Australians of 2018 were met by a barrage from Kagiso Rabada on a St George’s Park pitch that had a bit.

It had a lot, actually, so much so that the man who ultimately settled the contest and levelled the series was one Abraham Benjamin de Villiers. His century in PE was a thing of terrific control, disarming genius and permanent class.

De Villiers was fuming from what had occurred in Durban in the previous Test, when a ball had been dropped on him, and a loss inflicted on his team. Revenge was thick in the air and the Proteas muscled their way back into the series in memorable fashion.

There was a lot going on even before a ball had been bowled the last time South Africa’s oldest cricket ground staged a Test match. There was the issue with the masks, inspired by an ugly spat between David Warner and Quinton de Kock. There was a lot going on.

This time, there are no masks. Well, if there were, the tourists kept them on until the last rites on the final day in Durban, as they mugged the Proteas in broad daylight. Stick ‘em up, they said, as they rumbled South Africa with a quite astonishing display of bravado.

That is gone now and South Africa know that they are up against it in this final Test. This is the eternal danger of short, sharp series. It is hardly worth calling a series crammed into a fortnight a series when you consider that an Ashes or an English tour to these parts stretches out for nearly two months.

These nibbly things, in-and-out jobs, are good as long as you are on the right side of them. Get caught off-guard and you are suddenly playing for your very existence. That is what has happened to South Africa as they find themselves behind the eight-ball.

They can see that Sri Lanka have the option of playing for time and tide, but that is a field littered with booby traps. If you play not to lose, you tend to end up losing. If you play to win, you might get away with a draw.

Cricket always rewards positivity, as Sri Lanka themselves showed at Kingsmead. The tourists hardly have a care in the world, and it is South Africa who have to adjust.

Vernon Philander is absent, which means one of Theunis de Bruyn, Zubayr Hamza or Wiaan Mulder must take his place. All bring different things and varying degrees of form to the crease.

All of them will also know that they have no time to settle. They have to hit the ground running and play their full part in a serieslevelling performance. The window is trying to shut on South Africa’s proud record at home and they have five days in which to bash it wide open again.

By kill or by thrill, they have to prevail by the Bay this week. Anything else would be distinctly unpalatable.

Play in Port Elizabeth starts at 10am today.