Proteas’ batters battered

stuart.hess@inl.co.za

Day 3 of 5: Bad Light stopped play

SA 118 | England 154/7

THERE are only three days of play possible in this Test.

The rain washed out the first day and the death of Queen Elizabeth II saw day two cancelled. But any concerns that too much time was lost for one of the teams to win this match and series, were evaporated by circumstances in which ball totally dominated bat yesterday.

The mood before play was predictably sombre, with soprano Laura Wright’s rendition of the two anthems – including the reworded English one – echoing around south London.

The cricket was the main sporting attraction in England on a weekend in which the usually dominant Premier League had taken a postponement to show respect for the departed monarch. So Ben Stokes’s side took it upon themselves to provide entertainment for a nation in mourning, and their bowlers got a big helping hand from South Africa’s flimsy batting line-up.

The solemn mood that preceded the day’s play would have been matched in the Proteas dressing room, as yet another awful batting display gave England an enormous advantage.

Some of that advantage disappeared in the final session, with South Africa’s bowlers, led by Marco Jansen, once again keeping them in the game.

It was expected that South Africa’s batting would be bad in this series. It has been for a long time, but in the run that has put them into the top two of the World Test Championship table – during which they won nine out of 11 Tests in 15 months – it was understood that the batters had to do just enough to keep the side in the game, because the bowling was so good.

‘Just enough’, that’s all. The Proteas don’t need 500 – a total they haven’t passed since December 2020 – they don’t need 400 – a mark they’ve only passed once since December 2020 – they just need enough, as in 250, that’ll do.

Instead, in 10 out of 24 completed innings in the past two years, South Africa has failed to notch up 250, and in the same period have scored less than 200 eight times. The batters simply aren’t doing their jobs in the most basic fashion, to help out one of the great bowling attacks this country has produced.

We all know the excuses for what is wrong, but far too often it feels like those excuses have allowed the batters room for continued failure. Where is the ‘tough love’ given to Kagiso Rabada at the Wanderers in the Test against India, when his bowling wasn’t up to standard?

Dean Elgar left a big gap between bat and pad for Ollie Robinson to bowl him, Keegan Petersen was dismissed