Durban - AN unhappily lean, two-match Test series, taking place at a time when cricket should be contemplated rather than played, has now turned into a one-off, winner-takes-all affair at Centurion starting on Saturday.
It took umpires Richard Illingworth and Ian Gould just one inspection under blue skies yesterday morning to put this sorry Test match out of its misery. Their negative opinion concerning the safety of the tacky outfield - fatally undermined by 65mm of rain on Saturday night - remained the same so, despite the flawless weather of the last three days, the match was consigned to history.
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis and New Zealand coach Mike Hesson differed on the attractions of this outcome. For Du Plessis it was ‘disappointing’ that a Test series, that should involve the to-ing and fro-ing of momentum over a longish period of time (at least three Tests) had to come down to one match.
“You never want to play Test cricket like that,” he said yesterday.
For Hesson, on the other hand, Centurion represents an opportunity for the Black Caps to clinch their first series in South Africa. “It’s an exciting prospect for us. Everybody’s frustrated about what’s happened over the last few days, but it does set up an exciting contest at Centurion, a ground we experienced this time last year.”
In answer to a question about whether the series was ‘contextless’, Hesson begged to differ. “There’s certainly no lack of context for us, particularly looking at our history over here. Winning a series in South Africa would be a huge achievement for this side so that’s something that we want to do.”
Neither Du Plessis nor Hesson found it politic to question the decision of the umpires not to allow any play over the last three days, but both asserted that the teams had been keen to play.
“I can honestly tell you that we were dying to get out there,” Du Plessis said. “We obviously had New Zealand in a spot of bother at 15/2. On that wicket there was still a lot of assistance (for the bowlers) so it was very disappointing that there was no cricket after the second day.”
Hesson agreed: “I want to make it very clear that both teams were very keen to play. But we also respect the fact that umpires are responsible for ground, weather and light. Even from the time we arrived here, we knew that the outfield was in a poor state and it obviously didn’t cope with the rain.”
Both teams said that they took some positive elements from the match. Hesson said the Kiwi bowlers learned a lot about the right lengths to bowl and the correct seam presentation of the ball. For his part, Du Plessis said he was impressed by the solid batting from his openers, Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar, and some superb seam bowling from Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.
“The guys were relentless in hitting good areas and not giving the New Zealand batsmen any free runs. That underlined what I said before the match, how important experience is in a Test line-up.”
Even if the outfield was a mess, Du Plessis praised Kingsmead curator Wilson Ngobese for his “great cricket wicket, especially at this time of year. There was a bit of movement for the bowlers, and if you knuckled down you could score some runs”. - The Star