KG has a ball in Bloem
Bloemfontein – Despite taking 20 Bangladeshi wickets in a little over three sessions, an inexperienced Proteas bowling attack shouldn’t be patting itself on the back too much.
Captain Faf du Plessis administered this dose of reality after South Africa thrashed their visitors by an innings and 254 runs in the second Test yesterday here at the Mangaung Oval. And he has a point. A rampant Kagiso Rabada (pictured) claimed a third 10-wicket haul in Tests - he finished with figures of 5/33 and 5/30 respectively – to illustrate his class but the rest of his team-mates profited more from Bangladesh’s pitiful resistance than their own doing.
There were certainly encouraging moments, especially from Duanne Olivier and Andile Phehlukwayo, though it’s probably better not to get carried away.
In fact, Du Plessis isn’t afraid to admit there’s still a gulf in class between the injured trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander and the rest.
“I’ve said it before and I still think it’s fair to say that there’s still a big difference between our top four seamers and the rest,” he said.
“Their quality is world class. They’re the best-in-the-world kind of bowlers. If we’re going to judge the attack that played in this game against them, there will be a gap and rightly so.”
That doesn’t mean Du Plessis isn’t optimistic about the depth the Proteas have started to cultivate, especially in this series.
“For me, it’s important how we can make those guys get better. We need to do it for when the time comes when we have to maybe use two to three of the back-up bowlers,” he said.
“The guys that played here will be looked at in the future. It’s important for them to see that there’s still some work to do but they do possess the quality. We’ve seen already they learn quickly and step up.”