Over-stepping the mark a common failing
Congratulations on your sterling contribution to the Proteas’ Test series whitewash of the West Indies which, from a bowling point of view, was only overshadowed by Kesh Maharaj’s hat-trick.
But while guzzling champagne in the dressing room after the win on Monday that sealed the series win, I hope you took time out to reflect on what has, sadly, become a common failing of fast bowlers – the no-ball.
In their second innings in the second Test, the West Indies were chasing an unlikely target of 300plus for the win.
You guys took a couple of early wickets and the result looked a foregone conclusion, then, with the hosts reeling, you trapped Kyle Mayers stone dead lbw before he had scored.
The problem was you had overstepped, and Mayers and West Indies opener Kieran Powell went on to forge a decent partnership that at one stage looked like putting their side in command.
When I was at school, we had a cricket coach who had an absolute meltdown whenever one of his bowlers delivered a no-ball.
He became so frustrated with what he rightly dubbed “something totally unnecessary” that he decided any bowler that overstepped the mark, even during practice, would get “six of the best” (obviously before the days corporal punishment in schools was outlawed).
After being “jacked” a couple of times for transgressing during my Grade 10 year (as were all of my bowling team-mates), the message finally got through and when I reached my matric year and played in a team that comprised the majority of those players from two years previously, we went through an entire season without bowling a single no-ball in a competitive match.
We finished as runners-up in our league that year, only as a result of winning a play-off match by a single run, but had we conceded a no-ball or two, the result would have been very different.
I’m not suggesting coach Mark Boucher get himself a bamboo cane, but maybe he should introduce hefty fines for any bowler who over-steps the mark.
It’s something worth thinking about.
Guy Hawthorne