Once again the Proteas head back to the Friendly City on the backfoot and with the series on the line, writes Ongama Gcwabe.
A determined English Test side thrashed South Africa by 189 runs at the iconic Newlands Stadium to level the series at 1-1.
St. George’s Cricket Stadium has always been a ground where the Proteas always seem to find the strength to fight back.
One of the highly famous Proteas comebacks at the ground that springs to mind is the 2014 Test match against Australia where Graeme Smith’s men were under a lot of pressure looking to level the series against a Michael Clarke-led side that was red hot at the time.
Dale Steyn once again rescued the Proteas in that match, displaying his reverse swing bowling skills in conditions that suited it to the tee.
Four years later, the Australians were back at our shores with a young team that was led by the then “best batsman in the world”, Steve Smith.
The Australians dominated the first Test match in Durban, but AB de Villiers’ century and Kagiso Rabada’s eleven wicket-haul at St. George’s in the second Test match ensured that the Proteas levelled the series one-all.
But England going into this Test match, will have Sri Lanka’s famous win at St. George’s, under a year ago, in their mind as a confidence booster.
They will be looking to snatch the series away from the South Africans with a victory in Port Elizabeth.
The pitch at St. George’s Park has always been a touch slow, characteristic of most coastal wickets. In recent years, we’ve noted that bowlers who are able to crank it up in the range of 140 to 145-plus km/h are the most effective especially with the reverse swing that comes to play as early as the 40th over.
With James Anderson out of the series, South Africa will be feeling more at ease regarding facing the reverse ball.
While England will be wary of Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
The Proteas batting unit has been underperforming for a while now. Only three Test centuries in 2019 – a century by Faf du Plessis in the New Year’s Test match against Pakistan, while Quinton de Kock and Dean Elgar both scored a century each during the series whitewash in India.
Zubayr Hamza is a talented batsman, no doubt. The half-century he scored in India showed his character and class, but with that said, I personally would like to see Keegan Petersen get a chance purely because of the runs he scored last season and the 101 he scored against the same bowling attack in the SA A vs England warm-up match before the Test series.
Another selection discussion looking ahead to the 3rd Test match is that of Dwaine Pretorius.
Do we really need his services on a slow PE wicket?
I mean, if we identify the batting as the team’s weakness, shouldn’t we strengthen the batting line-up by going with seven specialist batsman and four frontline bowlers?
Here’s my desired XI:
1. Dean Elgar
2. Pieter Malan
3. Keegan Petersen
4. Faf du Plessis (c)
5. Rassie van der Dussen
6. Quinton de Kock
7. Rudi Second (wk)
8. Vernon Philander
9. Keshav Maharaj
10. Kagiso Rabada
11. Anrich Nortje
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Disclaimer: Cricket Fanatics Magazine encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views from fans. The views of this article published on cricketfanaticsmag.com are therefore the writer’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Cricket Fanatics Magazine team.
