Slow pitches snuffed out the excitement as South Africa took the series against the New Zealanders Peter Robinson
Among a number of attributes, Shaun Pollock is also one of the youngest 27-year-olds you’re likely to come across. All the same, he’s shrewd enough to know when to leave well enough alone.
After South Africa had taken a winning 2-0 lead against New Zealand this week, Pollock was asked what he thought of Australia’s 12-match winning streak and whether his side intended to match it.
Pollock wasn’t having too much of it. “They are the premier Test team at the moment,” he said, “and they’ve shown it with their results. To win as consistently as that, I’m sure every team will strive towards it.”
But he also made it clear that what Australia do is their business and that South Africa have their own priorities. “To worry about what Australia do is the least of our worries,” he said. “The next time we’ll worry about them is when we play them.”
And that won’t happen until the end of next year when the two countries play back-to-back three-Test series against each other. Inevitably, though, Australia have become the yardstick against which all Test-playing nations measure themselves. South Africa’s 2-0 lead against New Zealand took place over the same weekend that Australia beat the West Indies in the second of a five-Test series. Comparisons might be odious, but they’re hard to avoid.
And it’s probably fair to say that despite the edge South Africa held over the Australians in the one-day game this year, Steve Waugh’s side still look the more formidable Test unit. The Australians probably have a tougher top six, notwithstanding the fact that Jacques Kallis is batting better than at any stage of his career, and more variety to their attack.
South Africa’s virtues are well-documented: the discipline and unrelenting pressure exerted by the seam attack and the batting depth provided by the all-rounders. As New Zealand have discovered, South Africa are bloody difficult to bowl out, especially when someone as handy as Nicky Boje comes in at nine.
And yet as much as South Africa are competitive, as much as they have learned to play on the subcontinent more successfully than Australia, there’s still this nagging feeling that the Aussies play, well, more exciting cricket.
There could be a number of reasons for this, high among them being the smooth succession of leadership through the 1990s, from Alan Border through Mark Taylor to Waugh. There’s a consistency there that, thanks to Hansie Cronje, has escaped South Africa. This is not to criticise Pollock, but the fact is that he’s still undergoing on-the-job training.
It might also be true, though, that Australia play exciting cricket because they are encouraged to do so, especially at home. It’s unusual for Australia to play a full day’s Test cricket on one of their own grounds in front of a crowd of less than 10 000. South Africa, meanwhile, have barely scraped together a crowd of 10 000 for any of the 10 days’ play against New Zealand.
Without going into the reasons for this, the fact is that the public is keeping its distance from the South African Test side. And so, judging by the number of blank advertising boards at St George’s Park, are the sponsors.
And this might just be a reflection of the type of cricket that is being played. For all New Zealand’s crippling injury list, the tourists have competed while South Africa have been mostly efficient, with Kallis and Neil McKenzie outstanding in making their centuries.
Yet both Test matches have tended to grind along. The experts have exhausted themselves saying that this is “real” Test cricket, “tough” Test cricket, “absorbing” Test cricket. But it hasn’t been very exciting Test cricket. The reason for this, dare I suggest, is the pitches on which both the first and second Tests were played.
They both started off with some bounce and pace, and then got progressively lower and slower. They weren’t easy to bowl on and they weren’t easy to score runs on. Most alarming of all, the St George’s Park pitch allowed Nathan Astle, a gentle medium pacer whose primary attacking option is to bore the batsman out, to bowl 36 overs for 44 runs in South Africa’s first innings.
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming set defensive fields for Astle and conceded that it wasn’t pretty to watch, but with the lack of firepower at his disposal, you could hardly blame him. But you also couldn’t blame anyone for deciding they had better things to do with their Saturday afternoon.
Before the second Test Allan Donald had pleaded for a faster wicket (well, he would, wouldn’t he?), and he was dead right. Greater pace and bounce would make life more enjoyable for the quicks while encouraging the strokemakers to play their shots. And, other than when new balls were available, they were given very little encouragement in Port Elizabeth. It’s no coincidence that McKenzie got into his stride on Saturday only after New Zealand had taken their second new ball (and a couple of wickets).
Let’s hope the Wanderers pitch is quicker for the final Test starting on Friday. Because if it isn’t, I fear we might get more of the same, creating more and more problems for Test cricket down the line, and allowing Australia to continue their supremacy.
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa