Johannesburg — Rain at The Oval on Thursday gave the Proteas batters at least 24 more hours to ponder how they would do a better job than they did in the second Test against England two weeks ago.
Before it was covered up because of the incessant rain, former England players Mark Butcher and Kevin Pietersen – who are part of the Sky Sports commentary team – said the pitch looked like a belter.
Ben Stokes had won the toss and chosen to bowl, presumably to put South Africa’s weakness under more pressure in what would have been tricky conditions given the cloud cover, and to keep with his team’s own preference for batting last.
The Proteas fiddled with their batting unit, with three of the four changes made to the team from the one that lost in Manchester involving that department.
One was enforced, with Ryan Rickelton replacing the injured Rassie van der Dussen.
Another saw Wiaan Mulder – initially named as Van der Dussen’s replacement in the squad – leapfrog both Lutho Sipamla and Glenton Stuurman to earn a starting spot after Lungi Ngidi was left out with what the team’s management described as “a mild hamstring muscle injury”.
Marco Jansen was the fourth change, a far more understandable one, in place of Simon Harmer.
Mulder’s presence lengthens the Proteas batting line-up, but Ngidi’s misfortune is a huge blow affecting the team’s major strength – their bowling attack.
While Ngidi has only claimed two wickets in the series, he has bowled some excellent spells and is unlucky not to have taken more.
Given the injury, the selectors clearly felt the need to shore up the team’s weakness. Although Mulder’s Test record with the bat is modest – an average of 15 and a highest score of 36 in 10 matches – he has been in excellent form for Leicestershire in division two of the county championship.
In eight matches, he has scored 689 runs at an average of 49.21 and made two hundreds, including a career best 235 not out.
Proteas coach Mark Boucher acknowledged that he was concerned by the side’s problems with the bat, but also advised caution.
“We have to be careful to get over-analytical about the whole thing,” Boucher told Sky Sports in an interview before play was due to start yesterday.
Since last year’s series against the West Indies, the Proteas have scored just three centuries in 11 Tests – with one of those by Quinton de Kock, who has subsequently quit Test cricket.
“Our batting is a concern. But I think that too much talk puts unnecessary nerves in the change-room,” Boucher explained.
Neither he nor the rest of the team’s brains-trust is demanding anything exceptional from the batters.
SA have surpassed 400 runs in an innings just twice in the last two years – one of those being a first innings of 621 against an injury-ravaged Sri Lanka at Centurion in December 2020, and the other the 453 against Bangladesh in Gqeberha in April this year.
However, there is an awareness that they don’t need massive first-innings totals to win Tests because of their exceptional bowling attack.
“Somehow we need to put some runs on the board for our bowling attack, because we know they can take 20 wickets,” said Boucher.
IOL Sport