CAPE TOWN – JP Duminy has a few favourite grounds around the world. Newlands for obvious reasons ranks highest, but is closely followed by the MCG and the WACA with the two Australian venues always being held close to Duminy’s heart due to the heroics he has performed there in the past.
There’s no doubt though that Wellington’s storied Basin Reserve will be added to that list soon enough. It is the place where Duminy struck his second Test century in the corresponding fixture five years ago and now on the opening day of the second Test against New Zealand he’s achieved his Test career-best bowling figures on a pitch that has traditionally been a burial ground for spinners and a haven for seam bowlers instead.
In fact, Duminy’s 4/47 and his spinning partner’s Keshav Maharaj’s 2/47 was the first time six wickets fell to the spinners in New Zealand’s capital city on the first day of a Test since 1946 when Australian legend Bill O'Reilly – a bowler Don Bradman described as “the greatest he’s ever played with or against” – was still tormenting batsmen.
Duminy is though first and foremost a batsman. Everyone knows it, he knows it, and most importantly he needs to show it during this second Test after a barren spell with the willow thus far on this tour.
But with South Africa utilising an attack that comprises of only three seamers and the specialist left-arm spin of Maharaj over the course of the Test season, there is great value in having the all-round talents of Duminy at captain Faf du Plessis’s disposal.
Since Jacques Kallis’s retirement there was a hope within the Proteas team environment that Duminy could provide the much-needed balance with his off-spinners, but due to the 32-year-old experiencing a number of major injuries and loss of batting form at times it has not developed at the pace they might have wanted.
But that has not stopped Duminy from working tirelessly behind-the-scenes with spin bowling coach Claude Henderson and his beloved Basin on Thursday finally provided the stage on which he could shine.
"It's something that I have been working on for a period of time and unfortunately I haven't reaped any rewards, but I guess it comes down to opportunities," Duminy said after playing a large role in dismissing New Zealand for 268.
"If you look at recent Test matches, our seam attack coupled with Keshav (Maharaj) has been doing really well. I've been getting an odd over here and there so the opportunities haven't really been there. When you look at a spinner, it's got to be a big portion of overs that they have to bowl to get success. (It) was one of those days when I got an opportunity to carry on."
In the past Duminy has mostly been used as a partnership-breaker, or “Golden Arm”, as Du Plessis likes to call him. With this in mind it was clear to see what the plan was when Du Plessis tossed Duminy the ball shortly into the final session. With New Zealand centurion Henry Nicholls and Basin Reserve record-breaking specialist BJ Watling in the process of rebuilding the home team’s innings with a solid partnership for the sixth wicket, the Proteas skipper needed a bit of luck to run his way.
Duminy delivered the breakthrough for his captain with his Midas touch ending the 116-run partnership when he clean bowled Nicholls for 118 after the left-hander had advanced down the pitch.
“There were periods when they played really well and we were probably guilty of leaking a bit in the middle session. But I thought we brought it back nicely and got some crucial wickets at crucial times," Duminy said.
"To come out and play as positively as he (Nicholls) did was probably the way to go on a surface like that. He never backed off, always looked to play his shots. On a wicket like that it was the recipe for success and hopefully we can take something out of that.
"But there are times in the game when things need to go your way, and fortunately for us it happened that way. But I think it comes down to being consistent in a certain area and with that, things will happen for you."
Instead of yanking off the part-timer as he has done on most occasions in the past after achieving the breach Du Plessis decided to persist with Duminy’s off-spin this time around.
“It helps to take a wicket in your first three overs,” Duminy quipped.
The reward for both captain and bowler was two further wickets in Duminy’s next two overs with Colin de Grandhomme being deceived with a wider delivery to be caught in the slips and Watling also falling caught behind. That made it three in three for Duminy which resulted in New Zealand collapsing from 217/5 to 222/8.
But Duminy was not finished yet though and bowled 11.3 overs in total by the time he trapped last man Neil Wagner leg-before-wicket and was obviously very pleased with the execution of South Africa’s gameplan.
"It's probably not a wicket we will think that spinners will dominate on," he said. "The plan we had to try and get wickets was a good one – to try and bowl a wider line. There wasn't a lot of purchase for spinners so I thought our tactics were pretty good."
Duminy has exceeded expectations doing one half of his job. The Proteas will hope there’s plenty of more to come with bat in hand.