Johannesburg — While one team’s method has been all the rage in recent months — even earning it a nickname — the other team in this three match Test series between England and South Africa, is just doing things the same as always.
South Africa finished the first day of the Lord’s Test on top, having reduced England to 116/6, before torrential rain ended play half an hour after lunch on Wednesday. Kagiso Rabada claimed the wickets of both England openers, Anrich Nortje picked up three wickets and Marco Jansen dismissed Joe Root with a beautiful delivery midway through the first session.
“We’ve always bowled the same, there was a bit in the wicket today and we got reward for putting the ball in the right areas. Normally in Test cricket you tend to do the same thing over and over, but you do have slightly different plans for each batter,” Rabada said understatedly.
South Africa’s plans worked superbly. Rabada executed the perfect strategy to Zak Crawley, zoning in on the area around his off-stump before finding the edge. It was the same for Jansen with Root’s dismissal and indeed for Nortje with a thrilling take down of Jonny Bairstow and then the ball that got the England captain Ben Stokes on the stroke of lunch.
There’s no need to give anything a colourful nickname, when the basics are applied as well as the Proteas fast bowlers applied them on Wednesday.
“Different teams have different strategies, and I guess it's just about adapting to what the opposition throws at you,” said Rabada. “There’s nothing going around that brings any animosity or white line fever. It’s just about adapting to the team’s strategy. The opposition can play however they want, that’s Okay.”
England’s style of play has certainly captured the imagination of viewers around the world, and they’ve had some in-form players to execute it, led by Root and Bairstow, who plundered six centuries between them in the four Tests against New Zealand and India recently.
“They are great players. Joe Root has just passed 10 000 runs, and you don’t score that many runs if you’re just an average cricketer. Jonny’s been in the set-up for quite some time and this summer he’s just been churning out the runs. We respect the English team, particularly those two batters.”
That respect would explain the guttural roar and vein popping celebration from Nortje, with which he greeted Bairstow’s wicket. ”That was quick,” Rabada said about the delivery which uprooted Bairstow’s middle stump and was clocked at 150km/h. “It was going to take something special like that to get an in-form player out. Anrich is a very passionate individual, hence the celebration. Rightly so, it was a good ball.”
Rabada’s selection had been in doubt, after he picked up an ankle injury during the T20 International series against England two weeks ago. “When I first noticed the niggle, during the T20s I was pretty concerned. I didn't know if I would make the first Test match. But luckily I did and this week leading up to the Test, I felt I could actually play, so I’m glad I got through it.”
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