Having covered his first Test in January 2020 between South Africa and England, Ongama Gcwabe takes us through his experience of Day one of the second Test between the Proteas and Bangladesh.
The last time the Proteas played a Test in Gqeberha was in February 2019. Exactly 1140 days after, the Proteas are back in whites at St George’s Park and it’s as exciting as it always is to host and cover Test match cricket.
The Proteas wrapped up the first Test on Monday morning in Durban and while many fans around the country celebrated the victory alone, as a Journo based in Gqeberha, I was more excited about the three days that were left before the Proteas were once again in whites at St. George’s Park Cricket Stadium.
The mental preparation for the occasion had already taken place from the time the international fixtures were announced by Cricket South Africa at the start of the season. But that doesn’t mean I was not anxious or excited by the prospect of covering a Test at the stadium.
My first was the third Test in Gqeberha when we took on a strong England Test side. It was probably not the perfect time to start a career because at that time the sport was filled with off-field dramas and negativity.
On-field, the Proteas were batted into the ground by the duo of Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope. On the bowling front, Dom Bess and Joe Root were causing problems for our batters. The Proteas went on to lose that Test by an innings and the hopes of winning a Test series at home against England were tarnished as England went 2-1 up in the series with one Test remaining.
Fast-forward to 2022; the nervous, young manI was has become more experienced, more confident and more relaxed in the press box and among fellow journalists and anchors. And on the field, the Proteas are in a much better space and the admin dramas of 2019/20 are slowly fading away.
Just as excited as I was, the fans were queuing at the ticket office as early as 8:30 am, around about the same time I arrived at the stadium. Perhaps the last two Test tours (Australia in 2018 and Sri Lanka in 2019) involving both Kingsmead and St. George’s Park had a lot to do with the excitement around this Test.
Similarly to the series against Australia, there was drama leading up to the Test in Gqeberha. Although the Proteas were victorious in Durban this time around, they were accused of using ‘unbearable’ sledging tactics in Durban by the Bangladeshi team. The complaint of biased umpiring added fuel to the fire and set up the second Test beautifully.
As expected, the St. George’s Brass Band came in early and made sure to bring their drums and trumpets and we were all set for a day filled with the famous tunes the band is known for. This time around, the umpires made no complaints about the band not pausing during play and we were all treated to good entertainment from the band and the crowd joined in on the fun as they normally do.
Earlier in the day at the toss, Dean Elgar’s call was correct and he opted to bat first. The new opening partnership of Elgar and Sarel Erwee continued to do good things as they cruised to yet another 50-plus stand. Dean Elgar breezed to a 22nd Test fifty, Keegan Petersen registered his fourth and Temba Bavuma brought up his 19th.
At close, the Proteas were on 285-5 with Wiaan Mulder (0 off 19) and Kyle Verreynne (10 off 24) batting through the late stages of the third session.
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Day two promises to be a stellar day filled with good cricket and a decent crowd at St George’s Park.
