Life was a pitch at the Wanderers
at the Wanderers
● An unexplained vagary about deceitful surfaces is their tendency to produce riveting and unforgettable cricket.
This Wanderers pitch will go down in history as one of the most inadequately prepared and will bring Cricket South Africa and the Gauteng Cricket Board punishment from the International Cricket Council.
The pitch tested batting abilities while bowlers were given a rare opportunity to take charge. The bowlers took centre stage — and deservedly so.
India were the rightful victors. They applied better basics, had the requisite patience to outlast South Africa and significantly, kept their Wanderers record intact.
They haven’t lost here in five attempts since 1992/93 and while this triumph came in a dead rubber, they had the necessary resourcefulness and resolve to ambush South Africa on another “greentop”. Their other wins in South Africa (2006 and 2010) came on pitches tailor-made for the hosts.
On a fourth day where only 52 and 70 runs were scored in 48 overs in the first two sessions, India made a dog’s breakfast of what came before with 7/38 in 16.3 overs in the evening session,
Through diligence and fortitude, Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla assiduously worked their way through the first session unscathed. However, once a wicket fell on this pitch, the domino effect was catalysed.
Once Ishant Sharma collected Amla’s scalp, the hosts cascaded from a position where they’d kept India wicketless for four hours to losing 8/53 in 20.5 overs.
The demons paraded themselves consistently but there was less spite as compared to day three, when physiotherapists and the batting gloves were kept busy.
The players were taken off after Elgar wore a Jasprit Bumrah bouncer on his helmet grille and play was called off 19 minutes early.
AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock were victims of the pitches’ treacherously devious bounce.
De Villiers was snared by a Jasprit Bumrah delivery from the Corlett Drive end that spat from a good length.
A shin-height Sharma shooter from the Golf Course end that pitched short had Du Plessis castled for the second time in the game.
De Kock was already in terrible form throughout the series and while Bumrah nailed him plumb in front, first ball with one that jagged back from a crack, buying a run on a good surface would’ve been beyond his capabilities.
The key wicket of Amla, which had nothing to do with the pitch, prised the door open. On some days, his midwicket flick goes either side of the fielder but Hardik Pandya took a good catch.
The 119-run, second-wicket Elgar/Amla alliance spanned four hours and 306 balls but the sluggish scoring rate brought on by India’s unerring adherence to basics meant South Africa were never quite out of the woods.
Amla’s and Elgar batting application was no match for the fastidiousness of India’s bowling. Mohammed Shami may have been the second innings beneficiary but the collective bowling effort guaranteed the success.
It was fitting that Shami was part of the tail-end rally that made South Africa chase the insurmountable 241.