Right through the 1990s, and into the early 2000s, England had not looked like a side that is out there to compete in the Test matches, against reasonable opponents. It was only under the stewardship of Duncan Fletcher that things begun to change, and in 2004-05 they won their first Test series in South Africa after a span of 40 years, some of which were lost out due to South Africa’s exile from international cricket. Very often the Ashes triumph of 2005 overshadows the good that had happened immediately before or after it, but the fact of the matter is that it was this series win in Africa that gave them the desired confidence to take on the best side in the world.
Tomorrow, the English host the Springboks for the start of another Test series, 7th after Africa’s comeback into international fold in 1991. And it promises to be one of the better fought series of recent times, after the English had routed the Kiwis in the previous couple of series.
South Africa’s main strength is definitely their pace bowling, with the contrasting styles of Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn, with the back up of Andre Nel, Morne Morkel, and the oft-injured Monde Zondeki propping them up. There is no doubt that Dale Steyn would love to continue his good bowling form of 2007-08 that included 15 wickets in India on tracks that were as similar to his style as Kevin Pietersen’s batting was to Geoffrey Boycott. His 100 plus wickets, after his return to the international fold, at an average of less than twenty are an ample testimony to it. England would need to be a little wary of this entity as he is one of the select few bowlers in the world who can swing the red cherry at speeds over 140 km/hour.
Graeme Smith’s leadership skills would be tested as much as his batting. He has had a decent run in the three series in the sub-continent, against India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and the relatively barren of West Indies, but England would be a different ball game altogether. Jacques Kallis would obviously be the fulcrum on which the rest of the batting would revolve, while on either side of Kallis, South Africa has Ashwell Prince and Hashim Amla, two under-rated, but slowly turning out to be highly effective batsmen.
From England’s perspective, the batsman, the whole of South Africa would be targeting would be Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen has had a love-hate relationship with, both the South African team and the media, having given up early on his place of birth and qualified to play for the English team. The South African team – led by skipper Smith – haven’t yet missed out on a single opportunity to drill home the ‘traitor’ angle! The England selectors have also resisted the temptation of rushing in Andrew Flintoff, and while that has reduced their middle order balance, the all-rounder would have come in with a dash of risk of braking down in the middle of the game. Paul Collingwood has come a long way since being a lower-middle order batsman who could bowl a bit, but he would need to pull up his socks after a miserable time against the Kiwis.
If it is Steyn for the Proteas, then the bowler who would be looked upto by England could well be Ryan Sidebottom, who has had a fairy tale comeback after being dumped by the wayside due to Fletcher’s tactics of not getting in the team, the medium pacers who could not bowl at more than 80 miles/hour! He has come back strong and would be a threat to the likes of Smith, whose problems against another left handed bowler, Zaheer Khan have been well chronicled.
Post the return of South Africa to cricket; the South Africa-England Tests have evoked some really interesting memories. Who can forget Michael Artherton’s famous unbeaten inning of 185 that staved off a certain defeat on the last day of the 1995-96 Jo’burg Test match, or the equally infamous mud-in-the-pocket incident that had the critics crying foul! Hansie Cronje’s shocking inning forfeiture to lose a match that was transpired to have been fixed by the former South African skipper. Devon Malcolm’s retort at being felled by a bouncer by Fanie de Villiers was ‘You guys are history” and history they were, as Malcolm destroyed the opponents with mesmerizing spell of 9/57 that left the South Africans absolutely clueless! Graeme Smith had joined the annals of cricket when he hit two back-to-back double centuries against the English attack in a gripping 2003 series that ended in a 2-2 draw.
With two of the flattest pitches having greeted the Proteas in their warm-up matches against Somerset and Middlesex, Hashim Amla’s already cracked a couple of centuries, and Kallis and Prince have looked in fine fettle with one each too. So placid were the pitches, that Andy Caddick’s tongue-in-cheek response to this was “Welcome to England, if anyone is out of form or hasn't played in a while, don't worry, we've done everything we can to make sure you get into form as soon as possible”. With opening verbal salvos being fired at by both the camps, it is time for the action to begin. Over to Lord’s for what promises to be an exciting Test series.