Not a few people would love to see David Terbrugge opening the bowling for South Africa in tandem with Steve Elworthy — if only to provide the country with the most articulate pace attack in the modern game. None of that ”I’ve been working hard and it’s coming out nicely” from either of these two.
Sadly, this doesn’t seem likely to happen. Like their predecessors, the current national selectors seem fixated by the flecks of grey that now adorn Elworthy’s temples. If he couldn’t get a game in East London last weekend, when Shaun Pollock, Allan Donald and Mfuneko Ngam were all unavailable, then it would appear that nothing short of a court order will get him back into the side.
Terbrugge, the self-styled ”angry matchstick”, did play, though, and picked up a five-wicket haul in the Bangladesh second innings. His success should do wonders for his confidence, although it may not guarantee him a place in the second Test team. Terbrugge’s career has been dogged by injury, at one point earning him an unwanted reputation for being ”too fragile” to really succeed. Of course, next to Ngam, Terbrugge is a veritable man of steel, but the redhead could do with an extended run free from stresses and strains.
Whether he gets a game in Potchefstroom, however, is open to question now that Pollock is back in the team. In many respects, starting with the colour of his hair, Terbrugge is something of a Pollock clone, blessed with the same virtues of line and length, especially now that Pollock has lost the sharpness of his earlier years.
The question that arises, though, is whether South Africa will field two bowlers of such similar properties in the same attack. Against Bangladesh, of course, the pairing may be of little consequence, and Terbrugge surely deserves another shot ahead of Nantie Hayward who, to be blunt, bowled rubbish in East London.
But Hayward does possess genuine pace and there will shortly be bigger fish to fry in the form of Sanath Jayasuriya’s Sri Lankans. On previous visits to South Africa Sri Lanka have struggled to cope with the pace and, particularly, bounce of local pitches. This time around they seem to be resigned to the fact that South African groundsmen are unlikely to feel sorry for them and prepare turners. As a result, they’ve packed their squad with seamers, leaving the spin duties in the hands of Muttiah Muralitharan with Russel Arnold and Jayasuriya himself to provide support.
Ngam and Donald, as mentioned, are not available, but lest we should fret that South Africa is completely lacking in gunpowder, let us remember Makhaya Ntini. It is worth remembering that just under a year ago Ntini seemed to be in the Test side under sufferance.
Eventually the then selectors grasped the nettle and dropped him, whatever the mutterings from high places, and his omission proved to be the best thing that could have happened to him.
When he came back, Ntini was significantly closer to the stumps on delivery and he appeared to have a far clearer idea of what he was trying to achieve. He has scarcely looked back since. Ntini was the outstanding South African bowler in East London last weekend and, in the absence of Donald and Ngam, it is clearly time to entrust him with the new ball on a regular basis.
Border president Ray Mali complained recently that whenever critics talked of Ntini, they dwelt on his fitness and stamina and seldom on his skills. Mali has a point, but it is also true that Ntini’s fitness and stamina were, for quite a long time, his outstanding attributes.
Now, though, he looks to be a more complete bowler. He also has a fine record against Sri Lanka, counting Aravinda de Silva (twice) and Jayasuriya among his first four Test victims. It may well be time to leave Hayward to find his form, bank on Pollock and Terbrugge’s steadiness and trust Ntini to provide the cutting edge.