“Some of the things I’ve seen today, I’ve never seen at Newlands before.” – Ashwell Prince
Telford Vice / Newlands
ON the strength of what we saw at Newlands on Wednesday, maybe it’s no bad thing South Africa will send a second XI to New Zealand. They surely couldn’t do worse than the supposedly first-choice lot, give or take a couple of injuries, who were out there at this crumbling oasis of a ground deep in Cape Town’s leafier, sleepier, flabbier suburbs on an outrageously gorgeous summer’s day.
Ashwell Prince, the most tenacious of batters, has been South Africa’s batting coach since the start of this series. Last week in Centurion he oversaw his team’s only first innings of 400 or more in their last nine Tests and just their second in their last 22. So, with that special cruelty cricket reserves for coaches, it was only natural that he be lined up for a post-stumps interrogation of his charges’ utter dearth of stickability.
Fifty-five all out was South Africa’s lowest total since February 1932, when they made 36 and 45 at the MCG. Their effort on Wednesday was their seventh-lowest score, and it marked the eighth time a team had been dismissed in the first session of a Test. Who did these jokers think they were?
At least, that was the angle until India became the only team in the 2,522 Tests yet played to lose six wickets without the addition of a single run, and that in the space of 11 balls. An innings that had looked likely to earn a lead of 300 or more when they nudged ahead inside 10 overs of their reply with nine wickets standing imploded like panipuri in a hungry mouth, leaving the visitors 98 in front. Who did those jokers think they were? Did the gathered press still want to interrogate Prince?
Only once had the first two innings of a Test been completed in fewer than Wednesday’s 349 deliveries, and not since January 1902, when Australia and England took 287 balls to rip each other to shreds. Would the 20th wicket of the day fall before the pressbox’s spanking new coffee machine broke down? The coffee machine won that race, but not by much.
The third innings started at 4.07pm, more often the kind of time when the team who had chosen to bat first were 200 or so for four or five. Instead the teams had made 208 between them. Thirteen of the 20 partnerships had not reached double figures. Sixteen didn’t last longer than 20 deliveries.
Matters hurtled towards onwards and downwards with such indecent haste that the fact that Dean Elgar is playing his last Test seemed to lurch into the past along with everything else. Until, that is, he prodded Mukesh Kumar to first slip in the seventh over before the close. The Indians converged on the sturdy, compact figure as he departed, offering their congratulations for a career of hard graft and much fight. Virat Kohli enveloped Elgar in a particularly warm and hearty hug.
Whatever Elgar was thinking as he left a Test ground for the final time in pads, his bat raised, his helmet off, his face beaming at the appreciation resounding all round from a full house, it probably wasn’t that he had been dismissed twice in just less than six-and-a-half hours of the same day.
Tony de Zorzi and Tristan Stubbs would suffer a similar fate before the close, bringing the number of wickets that fell to 23. Only once, in the Ashes Test of January 1902 at the MCG, have more wickets crashed on the first day: two more.
Mohammed Siraj bowled nary an unthreatening delivery in his nine unchanged overs, a masterpiece of seam and bounce and swing and, most importantly, aggressive intent. It takes something extraordinary to put Jasprit Bumrah in the shade, and Siraj accomplished that and then some. A career-best 6/15 was just reward.
And so to the pitch, and to Prince — who played 35 first-class matches at Newlands, more than he did at any other ground. “We have to give credit to the Indian bowlers,” he began, as if he was taking guard. “Siraj probably bowled one of the spells of his life. But I’ve played a lot of cricket on this ground and I’ve also been a coach here, and I’ve never seen the pitch that quick on day one. Usually it speeds up on day two. I don’t think, as a batter, you mind pace in the pitch. But then you need the bounce to be consistent. It was a little bit inconsistent with some keeping low and some bouncing steeply. You also don’t mind seam movement on day one, you expect it. But if you add that to inconsistent bounce it’s a different situation.”
Prince played in the Newlands Test of November 2011, when all seemed as it should be when Australia batted first and were dismissed for 284 after lunch on the second day. Then, with swing helping ball dominate bat, South Africa were bowled out for 96, followed by Australia being rattled out for 47. Normal service resumed with South Africa scoring 236/2 to win before lunch on the third day. Did Prince hear echoes of that match and that pitch?
“I think it’s completely different,” he said. “It was mid-game when all of that started happening. It wasn’t on day one. I wouldn’t say, on that occasion, the surface was doing things I’d never seen. Some of the things I’ve seen today, I’ve never seen at Newlands before. The number of pitched up balls the keepers took above their heads was extensive.”
Prince distilled his thoughts into two punchy sentences: “One team can get bowled out [cheaply]; that can happen. If both line-ups can’t bat on a surface, that says a lot.”
He also proffered a theory on why that happened, hinged on major new building that have gone up at Newlands in recent years — which may have affected wind patterns and drainage at the ground: “I remember playing in the UK a few years back and, particularly at Nottingham, the locals saying construction had changed the characteristics of the ground. I don’t know whether that has played a role here, but I’ve never seen a Newlands pitch play like this. A lot of construction is taking place here. Whether that is affecting how the surface is playing, I don’t know.”
Was it a mistake to have batted first after winning the toss? “If we had arrived and there were overcast conditions, perhaps. But we had blue skies. Yes, there was a green tinge on the surface. But I don’t think our batters, across South Africa, are ever bothered when there’s grass on the pitch — as long as the bounce and the movement is consistent.
“With Temba [Bavuma] not available, we could have gone extra safe and added another batsman. But we want to go for the win, so we needed to have a balanced side in terms of the bowlers we need to take the 20 wickets. The nature of Newlands is to offer spin later on in the game. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how much movement and pace there would be in the pitch on day one.
“We know what we get at Newlands. I don’t think we would have selected one less batsman and then chosen to bat. We expected a usual Newlands surface. Our selection reflects that, and winning the toss and batting first also reflects that. I’m sure the local board would have liked the game to go five days and make a bit of cash, but it is what it is.”
Then Prince was read Sachin Tendulkar’s social media post: “Cricket in ’24 begins with 23 wickets falling in a single day. Unreal! Boarded a flight when South Africa were all out, and now that I’m home, the TV shows South Africa have lost three wickets. What did I miss?”
Asked for his response, Prince said: “We’ve had one or two pitches in India where a lot of wickets fell in a day, that’s the only thing I’m prepared to say.”
That’s true, but never as many as 23. And seldom will Prince have had to think of what to say to a batting line-up who will resume still 36 behind with three of their top four back in the dressingroom. In the second innings. On day two.
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