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CRICKET: Jon Swift
THERE is no real mystery about an umbrella being turned inside out by a sudden, unexpected gust of wind. Cricketing fortunes surely must work on this same inverted parabola.
So it has been with the current test series against Sachin Tendulkar’s Indian tourists that reaches its finale at the Wanderers this weekend. The errant winds of the game which blew South Africa into the doldrums of a first series defeat since re-admittance on their tour of the subcontinent, have shifted to a new quarter at home.
And, in this vein, it is surely only the foolish who still believe that the Earth is flat and that there is nothing new under the sun. For, if David Johnson can start to reconstruct a bowling career on the flat Springbok Park wicket against Free State after it had seemingly sunk without trace on a Kingsmead track made for seamers, anything is surely possible.
So, too, Anil Kumble who has laboured long and hard at his craft on tour with little success. While he would be the first to disclaim ownership of physique such as that of the mythical Hercules, he has, like the god of legend, had to get his hands dirty in an attack that has been one of the singular weaknesses of the Indians.
Four years ago, when India first toured this country, Kumble was beginning to emerge as the fine international bowler he has subsequently become. The South Africans were forced, on that occasion, to treat him with more than a little circumspection. This trip has been less fruitful, and yet, throughout, there has been the feeling that Kumble will come good. The Wanderers could just be the venue for the start of that renaissance.
It is worth restating the obvious to say that in Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath, Tendulkar has two fine seam bowlers, a pair worthy of opening the bowling for any Test-playing country in the world. But, sadly, it has largely begun and ended right there.
If there can be a criticism of Tendulkar’s captaincy – and it is well to remember that he is only 23 and new to the business end of leadership – it has been his reticence to spell his main weapons.
They have shouldered the burden imposed on them with a stoicism of resolve that has been quite admirable, but there remains the thought that, even if the back-up had conceded runs during their spells, it would have been a better tactic to have bowled them in short bursts.
This is an even more pressing imperative on the bouncy Wanderers track where the altitude, which was not a factor at either Kingsmead or Newlands, becomes a real concern when the warhorses of the game have to charge in and deliver through two full innings over five days.
Even more especially in the case of the Indians when they have both a triangular series against the hosts and Zimbabwe to follow, and then a date with the rapidly re- emerging power of the West Indians to think about.
For his part, Hansie Cronje has had a far better armoury available to him at the South African helm. Yet, even with what was abundantly available to him, he has re- affirmed his mark as a captain by using his bowling both imaginatively and judiciously.
Certainly, a side which can boast Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Brian McMillan and Lance Klusener is not short of bowling by any standards. And this does not even bring the back-wrenching wiles of Paul Adams or Cronje’s own talents with the ball into consideration.
Examine, for a moment, the individual merits of the four-pronged pace attack during this series. Donald has been at his most impressive and, at times, unplayable; Pollock continues on the path to international stardom, using his height and the bounce he generates to full advantage; McMillan has been the inestimably valuable player he invariably is – having shaken off the malaise of the Indian sub-continent – and Klusener exudes such raw aggression and delivers such pace that you can almost feel the atmosphere fizz.
Klusener has come in for some stick from Tendulkar and the elegantly wristy Mohammad Azharuddin. It is to be expected when one learning his trade faces men who have mastered theirs.
But Cronje is to be congratulated on the way he has used the new man in the side, persevering with him under fire and coaxing him gently when he has begun to gain the ascendancy. Klusener will be with us for some while. His ability with the bat adds to that observation.
The use of bowlers has been the distinct difference between the two captains in many respects, though it is worthy of note that the Indian top order – shuffled as it has been to repair the leaks – has been markedly more brittle than its South African equivalent.
Here, Cronje has been helped enormously by the introduction of Adam Bacher into the side, a selection that has removed, to a large extent, the pressure from Gary Kirsten and Andrew Hudson.
It has meant that there is some much-needed security about the No 3 position and has given Cronje the enviable option of being able to open the innings with any combination of the three at the top of the order.
One also feels that it gave Hudson – a batsman of considered class, despite his unrelenting critics – the confidence to rebuild his form with those marvellously gritty match-winning half centuries at Kingsmead. It is one of those mysteries of cricket that Hudson, the most uncomplaining and gentlemanly of men, should attract such bile from the sidelines. He deserves none of it.
And while the captain is fighting his own battle to come back to form with the bat, renewed faith in the batting above him has doubtless removed a lot of personal pressure as well. Cronje admitted earlier in the week that captaincy does take a huge and unremitting amount of his concentration. Thus, any lifting of the pressure is to be held as securely as an opportunity to McMillan in the slips.
Under Cronje, this South African side is a fine combination suitably bolstered by the fact that players of experience and worth such as Jonty Rhodes and Craig Matthews are there to call on at any time, and a host of as yet untried youngsters wait eagerly in the wings.
It has all made for an intriguing series and, while the Indians may have felt the rough end of this particular stick in the process, has given them the opportunity to blood some fine young players under the fire of the African sun.
Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are both batsmen with futures that will hopefully benefit from this tour and bring them back to South Africa more experienced, rounded and ready for the likes of Donald & Co.
Tendulkar, while the quick-fire loss of the series must have been bitter herbs indeed, cannot be too disquietened by the potential displayed by some of his younger players. For him, there has been the fact that cricket seldom produces the expected. But there has also been the sight of the edge of the elusive and problematic parabola.