Durban - Faf du Plessis has called on the Proteas batsmen to capitalise on good starts in the final Test against New Zealand following the abandonment of the opener in Durban.
Heavy rain and bad light over the weekend saw play finish early on Saturday, and not a single ball was bowled for the next three days as the game was called off early on Tuesday.
A resurfacing of the Kingsmead outfield in June, as well as bad weather in the subsequent months contributed to the patches around the boundaries not drying up once rain had fallen on Saturday.
Now it’s all about the second Test at Centurion, which starts on Saturday, and stand-in SA captain Du Plessis wants his top seven to convert 20s and 30s into substantial scores. Hashim Amla was the only batsman to go past 50 as all of Stephen Cook (20), Dean Elgar (19), Du Plessis (23), Temba Bavuma (46) and Quinton de Kock (33) got in and got out on a reasonable batting strip.
The Black Caps boast a formidable pace attack in the shape of Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Doug Bracewell and Neil Wagner, while left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner brought good variety later on.
Wagner was the pick of the bowlers in Durban with 3/47 from 15 overs to help dismiss the Proteas for just 263 after Du Plessis won the toss and chose to bat, with Boult taking 3/52 and Santner 2/22.
Elgar, Du Plessis, JP Duminy (14) and De Kock gave their wickets away with rash shots and will have to show greater discipline in Centurion if the Proteas hope to begin their climb from seventh position on the Test rankings by winning at SuperSport Park.
“Winning the toss on a greenish wicket, our opening pair had a really solid partnership upfront against a high-quality seam attack, which was great to see. They were really patient and played with real authority,” Du Plessis said on Tuesday.
“Whatever we got was a pretty good score after we saw how Dale and Vern bowled. But we were very disappointed not getting to about 300 or 350, which was par on a wicket like that. The way we got ourselves into positions where we needed just one guy to bat a bit longer and get a 75 or 100-plus score.”
One plus point, though, was the performance of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander in the 12 overs that New Zealand were able to bat for. They kept things tight on off-stump and beat the bat on numerous occasions with sharp away movement. Steyn then set up Tom Latham by moving it both ways before getting the left-hander to “fish” on off-stump and edge to Amla at slip, and trapped Martin Guptill lbw with an in-swinger to reduce the visitors to 12/2.
“The bowling was fantastic. We were relentless and didn’t give the New Zealand batsmen any free runs, and that’s how important experience is in a Test line-up – to give nothing to hit,” Du Plessis said about the return of the pace spearheads after injuries curtailed their Test seasons last summer.
“Now it becomes a one-off series, which is never how you want to play it. It’s now a decider, and we will go back to the nets. We have done that over the last few days, and it doesn’t rain at all during winter in Centurion – touch wood. So we’re hoping for a good game of cricket there.”
@ashfakmohamed
Independent Media