Bowling for run outs
Australia looked old and tired in the field, here and at Gqeberha. When the pitches have gotten flat, they have really struggled. Josh Hazlewood was bowling deliveries that yawned off the surface. And it seemed to fit the pattern of these wickets just losing their steam. Without Lyon running through South Africa, it was a tough day.
But at Gqeberha, they really did give up in the field at times. They were sloppy, slow and looked like Temba Bavuma had annoyed them. There were many low effort periods.
Here, it could have been the same. This is an old team on their second long spell in as many matches. Instead, they were on top of it. Josh Inglis pulled off a save that ended Ryan Rickelton’s innings, because he simply didn’t believe he could stop that, let alone cleanly.
Pat Cummins had two great moments. Marco Jansen backed away from Mitch Starc and tried to slap one through covers, and off the bat, it looked like a boundary. Instead, it was a top ball from a great dive. Jansen was out later in the over.
After that wicket, Wiaan Mulder was trying to manipulate the strike, and he hit a ball down the ground and saw two. Cummins saw instantly what the issue was, and sprinted, turned and threw with full force at the bowler’s end. Gerald Coetzee would have been run out by a mile if they’d gone out for a second.
But sadly, he was run out anyway. Mulder was dabbing to short third to steal a run from Lyon. Coetzee wanted it, Mulder encouraged it, before realising it was not there. So then Marnus Labuschagne picked the ball up and ended the tailender’s innings.
Bowling for run outs is never a good thing, but staying ready for them does help.
Flat pitch, rough pitch
In Ranchi a decade ago, Australia had to survive a day five against R Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja with footmarks. They were 23/2 overnight; the next day that was 63/4. They were in trouble. But then Peter Handscomb made a very smart decision: what if I face all the balls from one end?
This was an incredibly flat wicket; the two teams passed 1000 runs in the first innings combined. But with the footmarks, it was a very different surface. Only because of them. And they were all outside the left-handers’ offside at one end, and Jadeja could rip the ball back into them.
So Handscomb just batted from that end, and the footmarks meant little. Australia only lost two more wickets; and drew easy.
This pitch is not quite as extreme. And the right-handers can bat from the offspinners’ footmarks end. But it is hard. Lyon stopped hitting it as much, and Travis Head and Matt Renshaw had to come on and bowl.
But at the other end, no matter who bowled what, it looked like anyone could stay in. If you look at South Africa’s wickets, they are almost all from batter errors. Mostly pull shots or other attacking options. When you leave the short ball, don’t charge down the wicket, or slog a drive past mid off, this is a wicket where you can stay in.
