South Africa self-destruct for 284 as Steven Smith's slip sorcery gives Australia 106-run lead
Reckless at Kingsmead: How South Africa handed Australia control
Dear England, the quip went: the bazball you mislaid some months ago has been found — at Kingsmead, of all places. There is no other explanation, the argument ran, for South Africa batting so wretchedly on a blameless pitch on Sunday. With a steady north-easterly calming the conditions, poor stroke followed poor stroke to leave the home side facing an obstacle course if they are to win the first Test against Australia. Even saving the match, the early signs suggested, will not be simple.
Smith the leaping tree frog
Australia bowled with discipline and nous, and Steven Smith — not once but twice — snared outrageous slip catches by morphing into a leaping tree frog. Both were taken at slip, both after reverse sweeps, by Temba Bavuma and Kyle Verreynne, both after Smith had shown uncanny anticipation in his movement, and both off the bowling of Nathan Lyon.
“I’ve been fortunate to have him standing at first slip or leg slip for the majority of my career, and I’m extremely grateful for that,” Lyon told a press conference. “He’s an incredible thinker on the game. But the way he moves and premeditates for those types of catches, it’s freaky. There’s not many people within that changing room who will be able to pull off what he does.”
When everything says keep your head, lose it
But Smith’s brilliance does not explain the South Africans’ approach: when everything around you tells you to keep your head, lose it. And if it doesn’t work the first time, keep losing your head until you get out. From Ryan Rickelton’s weary, wafty drive off Pat Cummins to third slip nine balls into the innings — with 43 deliveries left in Saturday’s play — to Keshav Maharaj sinking to a knee to slap, cross-batted, a catch to cover off Mitchell Starc, South Africa sacrificed wickets to shots that should have been left alone. The sole exception was Anrich Nortjé, the No. 11, who pushed forward to a ball from Beau Webster and nudged to slip to end the innings with South Africa 106 runs in the red.
That collapse came after Wiaan Mulder had taken time during his press conference on Saturday to extol Matt Renshaw’s exemplary decision-making during his 190: “He left extremely well. Sometimes he left and the ball went over the stumps. That’s the gameplan.” Somehow the message didn’t make it back to the dressing room. Maybe because Mulder himself seemed to forget it — presented with a bouncer from Cummins that would have sailed wide outside his off stump had he ignored it, Mulder instead shaped to pull, then decided against pulling but neglected to tell his arms to lower his bat. The ball struck it and blooped into midwicket’s hands.
Three wasted half-century stands
Mulder’s 30 was emblematic of the innings. Six South Africans reached or passed that score; none of them made it to 50. Only David Bedingham and Simon Harmer, who finished 35 not out, faced more than 70 balls. Just as damaging, Aiden Markram and Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs and Mulder, and Harmer and Nortjé shared half-century stands. To squander one 50 partnership is unfortunate; to waste three is, as the correspondent put it, beyond irresponsible. The Australians also had three such stands — and grew one of them, between Renshaw and Lyon, to 134, the biggest for their ninth wicket in Tests against South Africa. The home side showed no such resolve.
On Saturday, Markram had driven the 10th ball he faced, from Starc, crisply through the covers for four, and two deliveries later sent Starc searing down the ground for another boundary. Starc also felt the sting of Bedingham’s straight drive before bad light hastened stumps on the second day. Getting there for the loss of only Rickelton, albeit 363 behind, seemed a reasonable position provided they batted well on Sunday.
Jansen's one gear, and the error that followed
Marco Jansen pulled Cummins for two boundaries from the first two balls he faced, flat-batted the same bowler past mid-on for another four, then reached wide to smear a sweep off Nathan Lyon. Two smoked cover drives for four off Josh Hazlewood followed, the second taking South Africa past the follow-on. But by then the Australians knew Jansen had brought only one gear to the crease, so they waited for the error. It wasn’t long in coming: Jansen drove at Hazlewood’s next ball, mistimed his shot and was almost caught at mid-on, then immediately shovelled a catch to mid-off. And so on and so forth up and down the order, until Nortjé took guard and played properly — as did Harmer.
Prince defends the approach
Ashwell Prince, lumbered with the job of explaining it all, would not concede the batsmen had been reckless in front of the microphones. “I don’t think it was too much aggression. I think the timing of the dismissals wasn’t great. Every time we looked like getting something going, we lost a wicket.” Nor did he look like he enjoyed the experience. Rarely, as a player, was he undone by the kind of rashness he had to endure in this innings.
On Renshaw’s marathon, Prince was more generous: “Matt Renshaw played an unbelievable innings, so a lot of credit must go to him. He took the approach of wearing the bowlers down. He did that really well. But every player who walks out for every team has their personal approach to batting. Some guys are more aggressive than others. Some guys tend to go after their strokes more than others. Over long periods of time they reap the rewards. And sometimes it doesn’t pay off.” Sunday, for South Africa, was one of those times.