Port Elizabeth - Nelson Mandela Bay is a throwback to almost a forgotten time. Up until the present day, the city has a coal-powered steam locomotive running through its dockyard, houses have picket fences and schoolchildren still give up their seats for elders.
It is here in the “Friendly City”, though, where the Proteas find themselves looking for an old-fashioned paceman to contain an ultra-modern, at times even robust, England one-day batting line-up in Saturday’s second ODI at St George’s Park. Captain AB de Villiers was awfully diplomatic in defending his bowling unit’s dismal performance after the Bloemfontein bashing in the first ODI, saying: “I’m not going to be too hard on my bowlers.”
However, it is impossible to ignore the fact that South Africa’s execution with the ball was not up to scratch at the Mangaung Oval.
A consistent line and length was like asking for someone to discover oil in the central city. Likewise the ability to bowl one side of the wicket was an even greater labour.
The cardinal rule of limiting extras in one-day cricket was not adhered to either, with four wides and an inexcusable nine no-bowls delivered during the afternoon.
Such ill-discipline against an English side containing batting mavericks such as Jos Buttler, Joe Root and Ben Stokes to mention just a few will be punished severely, just as the trio did to record the tourists’ highest-ever ODI score (399/9) on foreign soil.
The only pardon the bowlers, especially the new-ball pair of Chris Morris and Marchant de Lange, may receive is that they lack experience at the highest level. Collectively they have only played 13 one-day internationals and would have learnt a great deal about their craft on a billiard-like table that masqueraded as the Mangaung Oval pitch.
It’s unlikely that the St George’s Park centre strip will be a “bowler’s graveyard” – as England captain Eoin Morgan described Bloemfontein – with the coastal wickets traditionally being slower and lower and not as conducive to free-flowing strokeplay as the ones on the highveld.
Nevertheless South Africa will still seek greater consistency from its attack on Saturday, with hopefully a leader that can stand up to take responsibility from the outset.
Morné Morkel is the most experienced seam bowler in the injury-enforced absence of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, but the lanky fast bowler is not operating at full tilt after a strenuous Test season and cannot expect to shoulder an even greater burden.
Therefore, with the Proteas management also still keen to rest young Kagiso Rabada regardless of the state of the series – and rightly so – after the 20-year-old’s Test exertions, the onus will most likely fall on the returning Kyle Abbott.
It is understood that the Dolphins seamer has recovered sufficiently from the hamstring injury that ruled him out of the opening ODI and curtailed his participation in the final Test in Centurion.
Although not vastly more experienced – with 20 ODI caps – the 28-year-old does possess a different skill-set that is sorely lacking in the Proteas attack at the moment.
In contrast to De Lange, who relies on raw pace and banging the ball into often unresponsive surfaces, Abbott regularly aims to bowl a fuller length in order to swing the new ball upfront.
He is also adept at bowling during the powerplays and at the back-end of the innings, where his slower-ball variations come into good effect, while he is one of the few South African bowlers who can deliver yorkers consistently.
The Proteas only arrived in the sea-side city by late Thursday afternoon and were ordered to rest up before the show gets going again.
They will need the recuperation time as there is little doubt that bowling coach Charl Langeveldt will spend a few extra hours with his charges in the nets and in the middle simulating game situations on Friday as the former Proteas swing-bowler is a hard taskmaster who firmly believes in the mantra of “practise makes perfect”.
In an old-school town like PE, there might just be some sound logic in a back-to-basics approach, with a focus on traditional strengths instead of all these trendy theologies.
@IndyCapeSport