“We’ve got to make sure we’re ready for the challenge, and that we’re ready to enjoy the challenge.” – Enoch Nkwe
Telford Vice | Cape Town
HEAD south-east. In 2,218 kilometres, stop, watch and learn. If an app could guide South Africa — or any non-Asian tourists — to victory in Rawalpindi, that’s what it might tell them to do. But the visitors would arrive at their destination too late. Because the lesson was handed down while Pakistan were building their advantage in the second Test.
Set out as instructed from Rawalpindi, passing through Kathmandu, skirting Bhutan, and you will arrive, after a flight of 11 hours and 50 minutes, in Chattogram, Bangladesh’s second city. It was there on Sunday that West Indies successfully completed their chase for 395, the highest winning fourth innings in all 675 Tests played in Asia.
South Africa don’t need 395 to beat Pakistan and square the series. They require 25 fewer runs. And when your batting is as fragile as theirs has been, more often than not and for too long, 25 extra runs might as well be 250.
More than nine years have passed since South Africa last scored 200 or more to win: against Australia at Newlands in November 2011. Phillip Hughes played in that match. Vernon Philander made his debut. Yes, it was that long ago. Since then they have been dismissed in the fourth innings for 200 or fewer nine times.
The other side of that equation is that, during the same period, Pakistan have they been beaten because they failed to defend a target of at least 200 only once — when England made 277 to win by three wickets in Southampton in August last year. Pakistan have bowled out teams in the fourth innings for 200 or fewer four times.
South Africa will likely avoid becoming the fifth entry on that list. They are 127/1 going into the last day on a pitch that has remained sound by the standard of Test surfaces anywhere, as Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen have proven in their unbroken stand of 94. But if some of those facts sound familiar it’s because the same pair shared 127 before they became two of three men dismissed in the space of 33 deliveries near the end of the third day of the first Test in Karachi. That became part of a collapse of 9/70, a key factor in Pakistan’s seven-wicket win.
“We lowered our intensity,” was how Enoch Nkwe, South Africa’s assistant coach, described what happened as stumps loomed in Karachi two Thursdays ago. “That was an area we looked at and addressed very well. It’s good to see the same two who were in that situation taking full responsibility to make sure the team doesn’t fall into the same situation.”
The visitors’ intensity disappeared down a rabbit hole again on Sunday. Having reduced Pakistan to 76/5 on Saturday, they conceded 222 more runs in the innings. George Linde took 5/64, his first five-wicket haul in only his third Test and from just 26 overs. But it tells the story of how badly South Africa lost their way that he had claimed 4/17 in his first 14.5 overs. Mohammad Rizwan, who took guard at 63/4, batted through three half-century stands — one, with Nauman Ali, of 97 — and was still there at the end. His reward was an undefeated 115, his first Test century and a performance of shimmering defiance.
Even so, not only are the South Africans confident of breezing past 200, they seem bullish about reaching what would be the fifth-highest target achieved in a subcontinent Test. It would be the highest in Pakistan, where the home side’s 315/9 against Australia in September 1994 is the record. But that was in Karachi. In Rawalpindi, no team have scored more runs in the fourth innings to win a Test than Sri Lanka’s 220/8 in February 2000.
Nkwe wasn’t about to talk that kind of game: “Every opportunity that we get, we must always look to win. After the first Test we had to review where we are as a unit and look at areas in which we need to improve. In this Test we’ve brought ourselves into the game nicely. We believe that we can win this game. That’s the mindset.
“There’s a lot of belief. The players are backing themselves and freeing themselves up. We’ve done a lot of work in terms of clearing their minds and getting them to play within their own character. When the opportunity is there to speed up the game, do that. If it’s not there we need to absorb the pressure as well as we can. We’ve got to make sure we’re ready for the challenge, and that we’re ready to enjoy the challenge.”
If you didn’t know better, you might have thought the South Africans had been inspired by debutant double centurion Kyle Mayers and company in Chattogram. “I’m sure tonight, when we watch some highlights, the guys might find some sort of motivation [from West Indies’ triumph]. But we have enough role models in our dressingroom.”
Rizwan had news for South Africa: “Today they came with good intent and they attacked us. That’s Test cricket. It’s a five-day game and it goes up and down. And we still have one day left. The pitch is taking spin and we have quick bowlers for when the ball is new. Tomorrow is a different day. Inshallah we’ll get them out.”
Not long before he spoke, Rizwan had caught what became the last ball of Sunday’s play. It was delivered by Nauman, and it spun so sharply and bounced so steeply that it needed slick work to stop it from costing byes. After he had snared it, Rizwan stood, gloved hands high above his shoulder, staring at the spot on the pitch from where the snake had sprung. No doubt some of his reaction was gamesmanship, and fair enough in the context of an intriguing context. But some was a genuine response to a fine nugget of bowling.
Markram took no notice of Rizwan’s antics. He had aimed a textbook forward defensive at the delivery, which more or less laughed out loud at him as it scooted past his outside edge. Unflustered, Markram stayed within the frame of the stroke for a long moment. Seconds later, when the light was pronounced too poor to allow play to continue, he tucked his bat under his arm and his chin into his chest, and made his way off the ground like someone who was indeed looking forward to Monday’s challenge. So did Van der Dussen. They seemed certain of their destination, no directions needed.
First published by Cricbuzz.
Bulletproof Truth 