Centurion – Graeme Smith’s constant refrain about South Africa being the “hardest place”’ to bat was echoed by the man who’s replaced him at the top of the order in the Test side, though Dean Elgar explained that he’s perhaps a little more comfortable batting at home than the former South African captain.
The first Test against the West Indies will mark just the second occasion that Elgar has opened the batting in a Test on home soil, but the prospect isn’t as daunting for him as Smith used to make it sound when the job was his.
“I echo what Graeme said, but I have done it for eight years at first class level. In that sense I’m a bit more accustomed to opening the batting and a bit more used to the conditions,” the 27 year old said yesterday.
On traditionally seamer friendly pitches – especially on the Highveld – fast bowlers eyes tend to light up. The last Test played at SuperSport Park saw Mitchell Johnson produce one of the great fast bowling displays of the modern era and while the West Indies don’t have someone of that ilk in their line-up, their quick bowlers have been salivating at the prospect of bowling on a surface that provides bounce and, with the new ball, movement.
Jerome Taylor and Kemar Roach are a very good new ball pair, and the West Indies also have some talented young quicks, in Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel and the left-armer Sheldon Cottrell, who picked up a ‘five-for’ in the tour match in Benoni last week.
The selection chairman of the West Indies, Sir Clive Lloyd, believes Cottrell is ready to make a name for himself in the three match series. “He is something different, he’s left-arm, can be very lively, and on these pitches if he swings it and bowls as well as he has been bowling he will give batsmen some trouble,” said one of the former greats of yesteryear
Cottrell has also not been seen by any of the South African players, short of video that was filmed of him in Benoni during the match against the Invitational side. “The factor of the unknown is something we are quite wary about. They don’t have a lot of ‘well known’ players,” said Elgar. “They had two guys pull out, but that presents opportunities for other guys who want to prove a point and play for West Indies.”
Cottrell’s performance in Benoni puts him in the front of the queue for selection for the first Test, with Lloyd stating firmly that lanky left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn would play. “He’s our best spinner, he’s got a lot of experience and he gets the team going,” said Lloyd about Benn, who was involved in some feisty exchanges with the South Africans the last time the teams met in a Test in 2010.
South Africa will assess conditions further today, though they appeared to still be leaning towards playing four seam bowlers and asking Elgar to provide the spin option.
“I’m not a massive turner of the ball, so in that sense I’m maybe a bit limited. My plan is to keep it tight,” said Elgar. It’s not a venue that traditionally suits spin according to Robin Peterson, who struggled against Australia there last summer. “What it does is offer bounce,” he chirped.
There did appear to be a lot of grass on the surface yesterday, but that will be shaved today.
South Africa will likely hand a debut cap to Stiaan van Zyl as a replacement for JP Duminy, who is set to miss at least the first two Tests of the series owing to an on-going knee injury.
Russell Domingo explained at the weekend that while Duminy was making progress with his rehabilitation, the medical staff were being extra careful in light of the World Cup, later this season. “If the guys are available they want to play Test cricket, but we’ve got to realise that the World Cup is a big tournament, that’s two months away and JP’s a big player for us in that format, as he is in every format. We need to assess where he is in the next week or two and then make a decision.”
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