Honesty Points up for Grabs

Pitch same for both sides

    Dean Elgar missed a trick after the Brisbane Test. By refusing to blame or even acknowledge that the Gabba pitch wasn’t the perfect batting road so beloved of top orders, he might have earned himself a few more honesty points which are useful in times of need for international captains.

    He fluctuated between admitting that he and his fellow batsmen “weren’t up to the task” and suggesting that the pitch was a “poor advertisement for Test cricket.” When actors deliver unconvincing performances, they don’t blame the stage or the props.

    In fact, the match provided rich and compelling entertainment. It wasn’t the cricket or the pitch which was a poor advertisement for Test cricket, it was only the length of the contest which was a poor advertisement. ‘Flat’ pitches harm Test cricket, not lively ones. A far greater audience will be attracted to ‘250 all out contests’ than ‘600-4 declared’ non-contests.

    Would you want a whole Test series played on pitches like that? No, of course not. But is it really such a calamity to play on a pitch which favours the bowlers from time to time? Of course not. Or shouldn’t be. The Brisbane Test only lasted two days but the Gabba pitch wasn’t a ‘two-day’ surface.

    If ‘average’ international bowling attacks had featured in this Test, with ‘average’ batting line-ups, the contest would, in all likelihood, have lasted well into the fourth day. And nobody complains about Test matches which finish with a day to spare.

    Pat Cummins has over 200 Test wickets, Mitchell Starc took his 300th during the match, Nathan Lyon has over 400 and Scott Boland is currently paying less than 10 runs for each for wickets. The Australian attack is one of the best ever to represent their country. It is churlish and uninformed to apportion their success to the pitch. The South African attack, measured in venom and potency rather than numbers (for the moment), is just as strong.  

    If due credit and respect cannot be paid to the bowlers by the lemons amongst the viewers, and they need a reason other than, or in support of, the pitch then look at the South African top six.  A simple matrix combining the first-class and Test averages of the Proteas top order batsmen reveals that it is the weakest group to leave South African shores since the 1931-32 tour to Australia. Ninety years ago.

    That is neither a comment on their ability nor a judgement on their potential. Just a fact. If they were in their early or mid-20s then a case could be made for ‘learning’ and looking to the future. But the top-five who played in Brisbane are all aged between 32 and 35. They have had a decade to improve.

    Another fact is this: the present may look and feel bleak but the future is not. The production line of South Africa batters is not broken. There may be a problem in future with what to do with them, given there are only seven first-class games per season, but there are still plenty of quality players dropping off the end of the conveyor-belt.

    Ryan Rickelton, 26, who should have been in Australia from the start and in the XI for Brisbane, has a first-class average of 53.87 after 45 games. Janneman Malan, 26, who should have been opening the Test batting for the last two years, averages 48 from 49 matches and Josh Richards averages 49.2 after 32 ganmes. And there are more. Former SA under-19 captain, Jono Bird, 21, averages 57.4.

    Jordan Hermann has made a tidy start to his first-class career with 750 runs at 75 after his first eight games while Evan Jones averages 71.2 after 10 games and also has 13 wickets at 31 apiece. These numbers may be interest to Sarel Erwee who averages 37.8 with 11 hundreds in 106 first-class games and Rassie van der Dussen whose Test average is 30 after 18 matches. Khaya Zondo averages 31.5 after 137 matches and Temba Bavuma 37 after 161 appearances.

    It was hard to believe Elgar was serious when he asked the umpires on the second morning if conditions were ‘safe’. As a man who has played at least a quarter of his career Tests on spicier pitches at home than the Gabba offered up, it’s hard not imagine that his concerns were for the reputations of his team mates rather than their health. Six years ago, at the Wanderers, Elgar carried his bat and faced 240 balls for 86* against India on a monster of a pitch which was, genuinely, unsafe and was officially rated ‘poor.’

    Elgar would be well-advised to stop worrying about advertising and focus more on the ball. Never a truer word was spoken than by his opposite number, Pat Cummins: “It was the same for both sides.”