South Africa’s bowling line-up holds the key to victory in Australia
Peter Robinson
According to reports out of Australia, Allan Donald can’t wait to get up and at ’em. Well, we hope so. Even if Donald is fit for half the three-Test series only (which presumes he would break down halfway through the second Test) South Africa would be a better team for his presence.
But they can’t bank on him, which is why, as they start their four-day warm-up match against Western Australia in Perth today, the South Africans will have to spend a great deal of time contemplating the composition of their attack for the first Test, which starts in Adelaide next Friday.
When the itinerary for Australia was announced there was a fair bit of comment to the effect that South Africa had been conned into playing in Perth, and that the idea was to have the South African batsmen ruffled up on the fastest pitch in the world ahead of the Test series.
The drawn Perth Test match this week suggests otherwise, and while the Western Australian Cricket Association (Waca) pitch will almost certainly be hard and fast and bouncy, this should hardly strike fear into batsmen brought up on hard, fast and bouncy pitches.
More to the point, South Africa have to unravel their bowling options ahead of the Test series. Allowing that Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis are certainties, with Lance Klusener again to be used as a fifth seamer/slow-medium off-cutter/general cook and bottle washer, the tourists will be looking for two more bowlers along with spinner Claude Henderson.
It is no disrespect to Nicky Boje to say that his wonky knee might inadvertently have strengthened South Africa’s hand. Everything else being equal, Boje would invariably be chosen ahead of Henderson on the strength of his batting, but there are many who would argue that Henderson is the better bowler, more patient and more consistent.
The argument has been irrelevant now, but it will have escaped no one’s notice that Australia have, every now and again, struggled against left-arm spin. Throughout the Perth Test Daniel Vettori always looked the man most likely to bowl out Australia. The Australian batsmen will almost certainly look to get after Henderson in Adelaide, but if he can keep his nerve and if a little luck goes his way, he could play a significant role in the series.
Which brings us back again to the two missing seamers. If Donald is fit, the final choice will come from one of Nantie Hayward, Makhaya Ntini and Steve Elworthy. If the great man can’t play in Adelaide, then perm two of the above three.
Ntini has been the subject of much speculation this summer, the argument being that he has kept his place because of what he is rather than what he has been doing. To be fair to him, he bowled well in the unofficial “Test” at Centurion Park, cutting out many of the bad balls the Indian batsmen had fed on in the first two Tests. The theory for this is just as intriguing: did Ntini pull his finger out because of the selection of Elworthy in the touring party?
Whatever the case, it will be a difficult choice. Personally I’d pick Elworthy because he’s been around for long enough not to be overawed by the occasion, because he swings the ball away from the right-hander and because he’s bowled his heart out at provincial level this summer. And then I’d toss a coin for the other one, assuming that there will still be a place open with Donald out.
The other selection conundrum revolves around Jacques Rudolph and Boeta Dippenaar. If the Centurion “Test” is anything to go by, then Rudolph will fit in at three with Kallis at four and Neil McKenzie at five. On paper, anyway, this gives the middle order a stiffer look, but it will be asking a lot of the 20-year-old Rudolph who would be making his official Test debut.
The argument for Rudolph is largely one of feel: he looked the part at Centurion before being run out, whereas Dippenaar never quite seemed to get himself in during the first two Tests. You can’t really get more precise than that except to point out that Rudolph has scored masses of runs all season, mining a vein of form you wouldn’t expect to dry up without notice.
Can Australia be beaten? Look at it this way, New Zealand nearly managed it and New Zealand don’t have the bowling that South Africa can command. But expect Australia to shift up a gear against Pollock and company. Indeed, it might be a safe bet that Steve Waugh will look back on the Perth Test as just the sort of workout Australia needed ahead of the South Africans. From his perspective, a tough, hard-fought draw will probably have suited Australia’s intentions far better than a runaway win. We shall see.
Peter Robinson is the editor of CricInfo South Africa