Dale Steyn is set to play the role of the Grinch that steals Christmas from the West Indies when he heads to St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth this week, seeking to re-open the mental scars he inflicted at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Test cricket’s premier fast bowler was in scintillating form at the weekend, ripping through the West Indies in just over an hour to put the seal on South Africa’s comprehensive innings and 220-run win in the first Test.
“I bloody well hope so,” Steyn replied when asked if he felt he’d inflicted any mental scars on the West Indies. “I do like to get in players’ heads.”
Steyn claimed 6/34 in a little more than seven overs of high class fast bowling and is looking forward to helping South Africa wrap up the series in Port Elizabeth when the second Test starts on Friday.
“PE is a slower wicket, it stays a bit low too. I’ve had success there because of my height. I’m a bit skiddier, so when I bowl a bouncer guys tend to play a little bit more whereas at Centurion when you bowl a bouncer guys can get out of the way because of the bounce.”
Not surprisingly Steyn has a very good record at St George’s Park, having taken 21 wickets there in four Tests. His last visit there saw him produce one of the most memorable spells of his glittering career when he blitzed the Australians with a dazzling spell of reverse swing bowling on the fourth afternoon of the second Test last season.
“Hopefully down in PE it will be a similar kind of wicket as when we played against Australia. Maybe (I can) get the ball to ‘tail in’ a little bit,” he said.
The West Indies may be better suited to the pitch in Port Elizabeth than was the case at Centurion where they struggled to come to terms with the bounce. St George’s Park in many respects has a similar atmosphere to what is found at grounds in the Caribbean so Denesh Ram-din’s side may feel more at home.
There are certainly good memories there for them as the only Test victory for the West Indies on South African soil was achieved at George’s Park also in a Boxing Day Test in 2007.
South Africa’s captain Hashim Amla, whose 208 helped propel his side to a massive first innings total in Centurion, is expecting an improved performance from the tourists.
“The wicket is vastly different to the one we had at Centurion. They are a good team, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” said Amla.
South Africa will make one enforced change to the starting line-up owing to Quinton de Kock’s injury. The wicketkeeper will miss the remainder of the international summer after tearing a ligament in his left ankle during warm-ups ahead of the third day’s play at SuperSport Park.
Amla and Russell Domingo may choose to retain the seven batsmen policy that has served the team well for the last two years which would mean a call-up to the starting team for Temba Bavuma or Rilee Rossouw, who was called-up yesterday. That is of course assuming AB de Villiers is happy to continue keeping. St George’s Park with it’s low bounce will likely put more strain on De Villiers’ back so getting him through five days there and then the final Test at Newlands which starts on January 2, will be tough.
South Africa’s selectors were due to name a replacement for De Kock, but who that is will be dependent on De Villiers’ willingness to keep wicket. If he’s not, then the leading wicketkeeping candidates include Thami Tsolekile of the Highveld Lions and Dane Vilas of the Cape Cobras.
The West Indies have called up Kenroy Peters, a 32-year-old left-arm seamer from the island of St Vincent, to replace Kemar Roach, who strained his left ankle in the Centurion Test. Roach will return to the Caribbean to complete his rehabilitation.
He was the best bowler for the West Indies in Centurion and his absence is a major blow for the tourists.
Peters has played 62 fist class matches and taken 190 wickets. He has picked up 13 wickets in five matches for the Windward Islands in the four-day regional competition in the Caribbean this season.
Narsinghe Deonarine has also been called up to replace Assad Fudadin, who broke a finger for the West Indies in a warm-up match in Benoni last week. - The Star