South Africa vs England, 2nd Test, Day 4 Print E-mail
Category: Match Reports
Written by Luke Tagg   
Tuesday, 29 December 2009 22:09
South Africa's negative mindset finally caught up with them on the fourth day of the first Test against England in Durban, as Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann ripped the Proteas batting line-up a new one to set up a certain win.

It was the day the series has been crying out for - the one in which a team dominated and turned the series in their favour.

Unfortunately for South Africa that team wasn't theirs, with England producing one of their best allround performances in recent memory to all but win the Test.

Had bad light not intervened once again the game would probably be over already - as it is the vultures are circling in anticipation of the death throes, as England prepare to go one-up tomorrow.

It was a crazy day of cricket. The sort you tend to remember, especially if you're English.

The first half of the day played out almost exactly as I had envisaged it. Ian Bell and Matt Prior picked up where they left off last night and set about making runs at a reasonable clip. The wicket was gorgeous - flat as a New Year party and ripe for the pluckin'.

Bell (141 off 227 balls) reinvented the concept of bouncebackability after his appalling form in the first Test, growing in stature as his innings progressed. The difference between Bell and Bell 2.0 was more than chalk and cheese - it was something far darker and way more magnificent.

Prior (60 off 81) got on the gas and refused to let go and the rest of the England tail all contributed to a mammoth 575/9 dec, a first innings lead of 232.

The only blemish for England was the strange decision made by Andrew Strauss to send Graham Onions out to bat. South Africa were finally getting some new-ball success and although Onions is a specialist survive-the-last-over-of-the-Test-and possibly-the-series sorta guy, a short ball from Makhaya Ntini that sconed him brought Strauss' decision into question.

As far as blemishes go it wasn't the worst, however - Strauss soon realised the error of his ways and declared, with almost five full sessions to bowl at South Africa.

As far as South Africa was concerned, no problem - Geoff Boycott's Mum could have batted five sessions on that flatbed wi' nowt bu' 'er toothbroosh. At night. Without lights.

Tell that to 50/6. Go on Geoff - I dare you.

It was a carnival out there. A vaudevillian masterpiece. Bounce, pace, seam movement, swing, reverse swing, turn, you name it - Broad and Swann found it. And South Africa had no answer for it.

Let me preface the coming reproach with the temperate outlook. England got the better of conditions - a sunny Day 3 followed by an ever-deepening gloom on Day 4 coincided precisely with their first innings and South Africa's second.

I have never - in all the years I've been watching cricket - seen conditions and a pitch change so rapidly in nature in such a short space of time. Truly astounding.

England's batsmen had a pitch that offered nothing to any bowler of any variation, yet by the time South Africa were batting again it had become a green mamba. The sort bowlers fantasise about while bonking their WAGs, as a means of expediting the outcome.

But to attribute the scenes that followed purely to the pitch and the storm clouds would be doing England a grave injustice. In a nutshell: they were brilliant. Best bowling performance of the series - by a long shot.

Stuart Broad! To reluctantly borrow the popular Internet vernacular of the day: WTF?

Actually, timeout. I'll get to Broad - fear not. But in a similar vein, briefly and before I forget it:

England players who failed in Centurion:

Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Stuart Broad

England players who succeeded in Durban:

Alastair Cook
Ian Bell
Stuart Broad

See where I'm going? Forgive me for bollocking all three of them after Centurion, but come on! They were rubbish. Yet all three have turned up at Kingsmead and literally torn the heart out of South Africa.

You can argue that guys under threat will raise their games - tell that to Ashwell Prince and Makhaya Ntini and keep a straight face.

I don't get it. I didn't see it coming. But Broad!

His figures of 3/18 in 9 overs were astonishing in that all three of his victims - Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy - were all leaving the balls that took their wickets.

No - this is not comedy half-hour. Had I not seen it for myself I would never have believed it. One after another manfully shouldered arms and allowed the ball to crash into off stump, pad and bat respectively. Not a shot offered among them.

Give the credit to Broad. He discovered the pace and seam movement the South Africans have been searching for all series and the wickets of Kallis and de Villiers in particular were beautiful strokes of a master's brush.

The ball to Kallis (3 off 4) was pitched almost two feet outside off, and having stood at slip for the best part of two days Kallis knew it would sail harmlessly by. It's what happened for the entire England innings.

Yet in it jagged off the seam and crashed into the sweetest spot any bowler could ever hit, apart from the nuts or unguarded head: the top of off stump.

De Villiers left one which was fuller and closer to off stump, which flicked his impeding pad. Tons of seam movement, placed perfectly.

One ball later and Broad was on a hat trick, after Duminy couldn't decide whether to play a short riser angled across him or not, finding out that "not" would probably have been a better option as the ball caught the under-edge and cannoned into the stumps.

By then - at 50/6 - the Test was done and dusted, after Swann removed the top three: Ashwell Prince (16 off 28), Graeme Smith (22 off 56) and Hashim Amla (6 off 13).

Swann was as good as Broad - all he did was put the ball in good areas and got it to turn. Paul Harris should be thrilled now that the cat's out of the bag. He can give it a go in Cape Town, I shouldn't wonder.

You can attribute South Africa's dramatic collapse to two major factors: hostile, accurate bowling and a negative frame of mind. When the two meet it's a perfect storm.

South Africa's negativity - which has plagued them since Day 1 of the first Test - was highlighted by the manner in which Kallis, de Villiers and Duminy lost their wickets.

Smith missed one, Prince got a ripper of a first ball from Swann and Amla's forward defensive technique was found wanting - three reasonable explanations for their demise.

The other three never even offered a shot, so defensive was their mindset. It's the mental approach Australia always used to their advantage against South Africa (and indeed England), time and again. Both South Africa and England's ability to turn up with a positive mindset was what allowed each to eventually beat the Aussies.

Sure - the pitch had livened up, the bowlers had it going on and the situation was precipitous. You don't exactly want to be flaying at anything in the arc, but you also don't want to be stood there doing nothing, hoping like hell nobody gets you out.

That collapse has been coming all series, so it was no surprise to me. The playing conditions surprised me, but the collapse itself was almost a relief. It's like walking down a dark alley at midnight, waiting for someone to sneak up behind you and take a cosh to your pate. Or walking through a darkened theatre and feeling the rank breath of the Ghost of Mavis Taylor on your nape. Or driving past the Fuzz.

Just do it, man. Let's get it over with. Guilty as charged.

Happens to me all the time.

England basically just have to turn up on Day 5 to win the Test. No rain is predicted, but four more wickets are. We're looking at a generous innings victory here and a dangerous 1-0 series lead.

It's exactly what the series needs, I'm sorry to say. South Africa have a history of coming back from bad defeats with resounding wins, a scenario which would serve up a delicious fourth Test decider on a Wanderers platter.

South Africa have two major problems: their negative mindset and Ntini. Both need to be addressed if they want to avoid losing the series in Cape Town.

England have no problems. 575/9 dec; 6/76 in 32 overs. England have no problems.
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