Johannesburg – It’s strange following the outcome at Lord’s, the home team chose to change the bowing unit – bringing in Ollie Robinson for Matthew Potts – when it was the batting that let them down. Zak Crawley continues to have the support of head coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes, despite averaging just 16.4 since those two took up their positions.
The former England batter, Mark Butcher commentating for Sky during the first Test, described the continued backing of Crawley as “cruel” after his second innings dismissal, while a former teammate of Butcher’s, Mark Ramprakash wrote in the Guardian, that Crawley was being judged differently to any other England opening batter.
McCullum wants Crawley to win games for his side and is not interested in him being consistent, which is ironic, because that’s exactly what Crawley is at the moment, just not in the way that is helping his side.
South Africa is not without its own batting problems or the need to show support for players out of form. Aiden Markram occupied a new position for him in Test cricket last week, when he came in to bat at no 4, but despite some elegant cover drives at Lord’s his innings was another that fitted in the category of “flatter to deceive”.
Markram’s last Test 100 came in Rawalpindi in February last year, where he was still opening the innings. That knock – and that series – was viewed as the corner having finally been turned as far as his Test career was concerned. Since then he has averaged 16.35, and scored just one half-century.
Rassie van der Dussen too has found himself under the microscope, averaging just 23.3 from his last 10 Test innings. He made 19 at Lord’s before succumbing to an inducker from Stokes.
Dean Elgar pointed out that given his team won that first Test, there was a little more wiggle room for the Proteas in terms of the support for those two batters. “As long as we are getting the results on our side, it is extremely important that we continue to back those guys,” the Proteas skipper said on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, selection convenor Victor Mpitsang outlined his concerns about the team giving England an opportunity at Lord’s through a batting collapse that saw them lose five wickets for the addition of 72 runs in 25 overs. “Once you have a quality team like England under pressure, you want to make sure you bat them or bowl them out of the game. I think that is something we could have done a little bit better,” said Mpitsang.
“We have given them a decent run,” Elgar said. “I’m pretty sure they know that they are under pressure to perform.”
It is an interesting position in which teams find themselves. For South Africa, given the freshness of Lord’s, it’s perhaps a bit easier to offer that backing as Elgar said. For England, despite their success earlier this year against New Zealand and India, less so. It seemed that Stokes was “searching” somewhat when he claimed his team wouldn’t have chased down 378 against India were it not for Crawley and Zak Lees’s opening partnership of 107 in the second innings in that match. It’s the only time the partnership has been successful.
The Old Trafford Test looms as an important occasion for all three batters, and given the quality of the bowlers in both teams it’s not going to be easy.
Elgar is very pleased with how his potent bowling unit has shaped up, and ominously for the opposition, offered the following: “I reckon they can get much better.”
“Our bowlers are extremely hungry for success. The competition amongst them is brilliant. The way they go about things is some of the most professional behaviour I’ve seen from fast bowlers. It’s a great asset to have. You don’t have to speak to them too much, they know what they have to do. They know this is a really tough series and what was done in the past must be left there.”
“They’ve got to bring the heat and intensity again. It might be totally different here where the wicket might not suit them with regards to blasting out a batting unit. And that means we must adapt, which is a massive strength of ours.”
TEAMS
SA (playing squad): Dean Elgar (capt), Sarel Erwee, Keegan Petersen, Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Marco Jansen, Kyle Verreynne, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada. Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Simon Harmer
England: Zak Crawley, Alex Lees, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (capt), Ben Foakes, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson.