CRICKET SECOND TEST:THE SOUTH Africans are in utter disarray. Bad light and then steady drizzle intervened once more at Kingsmead chopping 17 overs from the day, but by that time a combination of Graeme Swann's jack-the-lad canniness, Stuart Broad's capacity for golden spells of destructive pace and nothing short of panic in the home ranks had reduced the Proteas' second innings to a shambolic wreck.
Mark Boucher, a terrier, will return this morning to resume battle, but Morne Morkel is with him now, and the scoreboard reads 76 for six: England are into the tail and with 156 still needed to avoid an innings defeat – an unthinkable situation two days ago – no rain forecast and 98 overs to play, it is surely a matter of time only before the bags can be packed and Andrew Strauss’s men can head for Cape Town and the new year with a priceless lead in the four-Test series.
It is the beauty of Test cricket that passages of inspired play on the one hand, or incomprehensible brainstorms on the other, can set in motion a chain reaction that can decide what at first appear the tightest of matches. If this Test, despite South Africa’s first-innings deficit, seemed, to those who know the ground well and see only a pitch that plays well from the first day to the last, to be heading for a draw, then a madcap hour either side of the tea interval knocked that notion back.
The wind, harbinger of bowling fortunes so it is said, had shifted 180 degrees from the dry nor’easter of the previous day, but that surely does not tell the story.
Rather, South Africa appeared to succumb to the pressures of a total against them, the inability of their bowlers to dominate and expectations of a nation that had seen them rise, albeit briefly, to the top of the world rankings.
They had seen Ian Bell follow Alastair Cook with a classy century, and the ignominy of a declaration when at one time they might have expected an advantage themselves. And then the rabbits had got caught in the headlights.
Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince had added 27 for the first wicket in reasonable comfort against attacking fields, when Strauss called up Swann for the 10th over of the innings. Such a knack has the off-spinner acquired for taking wickets in his opening over that it is a wonder he is not employed in one-over spells, and once more it did the trick as Bell picked up the sharpest of catches at silly point. Thus did Swann become the first England spinner to take 50 wickets in a calendar year.
His second over brought more success, when Hashim Amla drove airily at a nicely flighted delivery that turned out of the rough created by Morkel’s endeavours from round the wicket, and bowled him. England went into tea in the highest of spirits.
South Africa’s twin peaks, Smith and Jacques Kallis, emerged after the interval and suddenly the task was put in perspective. This pair are immoveable objects, a brace of all-timers in the South African pantheon.
Kallis faced precisely four deliveries, shouldering arms to the last of them only to find the ball bend in and carry on from the seam to send his off-stump on its gymnastics, an immense wicket for Broad.
Now the lunacy took hold. A vehement appeal for a catch at the wicket from Swann was dismissed and subsequently upheld on review to reprieve AB de Villiers before he had scored, whereupon Smith opted for the chanciest of singles to Luke Wright, substituting for Paul Collingwood (absent with a dislocated left index finger) and would have been out had the fielder’s throw hit.
It made little difference. De Villiers played no stroke at Broad, who was getting a little reverse swing, and was deemed lbw. The inevitable referral, born more of hope than confidence, showed the ball shaving the off-stump, the decision therefore upheld. Harsh, perhaps, but thems the rules.
JP Duminy, having seen his predecessor’s demise, considered playing his first delivery, thought better of it but too late, and dragged the ball on to his stumps. Broad had claimed three wickets in 15 balls, and not a shot offered for any of them.
Boucher played the hat-trick ball comfortably enough but was sufficiently caught in the moment to run a heart-stopping single.
Still England were not finished for the day. Smith, who had played spin so well in England, propped forward to Swann, around the wicket, played outside the ball and saw Aleem Dar answer the bowler’s impassioned appeal in the affirmative. The South Africa captain had little choice but, forlornly, to seek confirmation and, once more, by a smidgeon, it came. In 11.5 overs, South Africa had lost six wickets for 23 – from 27 without loss to 50 for six – control of their destiny and, the fullness of time may show, the series.
Guardian Service
