SA vs Eng, 2nd Test: Match wrap Print E-mail
Category: Match Wraps
Written by Luke Tagg   
Thursday, 31 December 2009 17:34
South Africa were thrashed by an innings and 98 runs in the second Test against England in Durban, a result few would have predicted. I certainly didn't see it coming.

After the first Test I wrote that one of the two sides had to take a more aggressive approach to the summer, as the tentativeness of the Centurion game - on both sides - wasn't going to win either of them the series.

As it turned out it was England who made the decision to come out hard and take the fight to South Africa, and the home side now have the unenviable task of having to win two straight Tests if they want to win the series.

Working with the available evidence, that's about as likely as Osama bin Laden discovering the inner beauty of George Bush, or a smile from a Shoprite teller.

I scored South Africa's players a total of 33/110 for the second Test, compared to England's 63/110. The massive divide in scores accurately reflects the dominance of England in the Test, but also shows there is plenty of improvement needed from them.

Let's talk about England first.

As good a performance as it was from them, they'd do well not to indulge their usual cock-a-hoop optimism on a grandiose scale. I don't think it's the English themselves - more their ridiculously inconsistent, partisan press and easy-as-a-slapper knighthood system.

Some sobering facts to consider: England got the better of conditions in this Test, which worked massively in their favour. It's not their fault - they did lose the toss, after all. But it certainly contributed to their cause and assisted both batsmen and bowlers.

South Africa also helped tremendously. Graeme Smith applied the same softly-softly approach to this game as he did the first, although he wasn't exactly given much choice considering some of the poor selections and the out-of-form, unfit bowling attack he was given.

South Africa's old "deer in the headlights" routine resurfaced late on Day 4 and the three leaves to Stuart Broad made life much easier for Andrew Strauss and Friends.

I still think the England attack has problems - neither Graham Onions nor James Anderson have been particularly special in either game and the result at Kingsmead may well have been very different had Broad failed to fire.

You don't want to base your plans on the possibility that a guy might fire and take a clutch - you want the sure knowledge that if Broad and Swann get it wrong, someone else will sing their song.

I can't see England changing their side after Kingsmead, unless the injury to Paul Collingwood's finger doesn't heal in time. The good thing about neither Anderson nor Onions firing is that their Big Day Out is still coming.

I can't help feeling that they need someone a little more penetrative than Onions, however. Anderson can at least swing the ball both ways at good pace, but Onions doesn't have the pace to scare anyone and only gets a bit of regular swing. If swing is negated by conditions he's the guy you really want bowling to you.

I've been banging on the Ryan Sidebottom drum for a while now and I'm going to have one last go. His left arm swing variation would give the England attack a whole new dimension - at present they have three pretty similar right arm bowlers who all deliver a similar pace from over the wicket.

South Africa have had two long, hard looks at Onions and I can assure you they are going to come out punching in Cape Town. The series is on the line at Newlands and their only option now is to come out hard.

Introducing Sidebottom would give them a lot more to think about and adjust to. Not going to happen, of course, so in the end it all works out pretty well for me - and possibly South Africa.

As for England's batting - I don't agree with those calling for one less batsman. South Africa got to No. 1 in the world with six specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers and I truly believe it's a far better mix than a side stuffed with allrounders.

Since the entire England Top 6 has now made good runs in the series, it's up to them to continue producing. If they lose the series because their batsmen suddenly can't take the pressure anymore, you can't blame the selectors.

The Top 6 is actually a pretty fearsome beast. It did what South Africa's used to do and Australia's has always done: when one guy got out cheaply, another stood up to be counted.

It's demoralising stuff trying to bowl your way through such a line-up - just when you get the really good batsman out, an utter bastard takes his place. You gaze as far down the order as you can and can see nothing but nuggety tailend stick-in-the-muds who are going to frustrate you no end.

As good as they were in Durban, I still believe Alastair Cook and Ian Bell are soft targets early on. If they get set the job becomes a lot harder, as we found out at Kingsmead.

England will take a lot of heart from the win - they know South Africa is under pressure and they have the mental advantage, which is very hard to wrest back.

Which brings us neatly to South Africa.

What depressed me most about this loss was not the result, but rather the old familiarity of South Africa's performance - a throwback to dark days past.

I said before the game I wanted either side to win, no matter who, in order to ignite the series. If South Africa can't come back and win in Cape Town then they don't deserve to, and it will afford them the opportunity to take a good long look at the current squad and make some decisions about it.

If they can come back and win at Newlands we have an absolute cracker to look forward to in Joburg, which is good for the game if slightly less so for my dickey heart.

So I truly don't care about the loss as a result, but I am close to panic-stricken at what South Africa's performance could spell for the year ahead.

It's been coming for a while now, however - South Africa's slide since winning in Australia and taking No. 1 has not been dramatic, but it has been noticeable. It was as if the historic series wins in England and Down Under were the crowning achievement of the side - one which couldn't be bettered by the same team.

England can draw similar parallels to its 2005 Ashes side, which was perfectly composed and balanced. Exactly the right ingredients at the right time in the right place. Such an harmonious combination has remained as elusive for them as South Africa's MCG one.

The time has come for South Africa to do something different if they wish to halt the slide. You can't keep picking the same guys week in and week out if they are not performing. At some stage you have to let go of past glories and yesteryear heroes and take a bold plunge into the unknown.

That time is here. This side is not going to turn the series around for South Africa - they've been down on energy and focus in both Tests so far and appear to be held together more by shared experiences than hunger and determination.

If all these guys were five years younger I'd believe in their potential to stay at the top for the next five. But age is creeping up on a few and while it isn't necessarily affecting their ability on the field just yet, this side isn't going to have a Steve Waugh-like era of dominance.

You can't simply toss out anyone over the age of 21, but some future planning is required. New blood is needed. Not a lot - just enough to get the heart pumping and to balance the side once more.

I'll go into it more in my third Test preview, but for the purposes of this wrap I have to conclude that most of the trouble lies in an underperforming opening pair and a seriously depleted bowling attack.

Graeme Smith is fine - his century is coming - but Ashwell Prince is struggling as an opener. He's brilliant at 5 but there's no place there for him, unless you - like me - are not enjoying JP Duminy's patchy form and lack of consistency at 6.

As hard as it is to contemplate dropping JP, it's what I've been talking about: the need to start thinking creatively.

You could drop Duminy and fill his place with Prince, which would leave you looking for an opener to partner Graeme Smith. I know of one man whose name stands alongside Smith's in numerous batting records for South Africa and although he's out of favour (and rightly so) with the selectors, I'd still give some careful consideration to playing Herschelle Gibbs at his home ground of Newlands.

Dropping JP would give him a wake-up call which would ultimately prove beneficial, and give him time to sort out his vulnerability against the short ball.

It would give Prince his old spot back and there he would flourish. And it would provide Gibbs with a one-way ticket to Last Chance Saloon, which could prove utterly spectacular.

Makhaya Ntini needs to go now - not out of spite but because he's not been anywhere near good enough. His only use to Smith is to give the other quicks a rest.

My preference as his replacement is still Wayne Parnell, despite Parnell's apparently poor form at domestic level, but that won't happen so I'd be more than happy to give Friedel de Wet another shot. He couldn't possibly be worse than Ntini and in all likelihood will provide the missing spark.

Paul Harris was a major disaster in the second Test but was the best bowler in the first - on either side. I'm going to call it a bad day at the office for him, but he doesn't want too many of those. Makes people edgy.

I think the magnitude of this loss, and the manner in which it happened, was the best thing that could have happened to South Africa - if they can take the lessons learned as a positive and use them to their advantage, that is.

Graeme Smith needs to step up as Strauss did and hit back hard. Failure to do so will lead to certain disaster.
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