The Mountain, the Fast Bowler and the Man Who Wouldn’t Smile

Image: @ProteasMenCSA

At some point during the Newlands Test, I found myself watching the mountain rather than the cricket. Table Mountain does that to you, with Devil’s Peak forming its eastern flank, clouds gathering over the heights and that extraordinary white tablecloth spilling over the mountain’s edge. I have visited Table Mountain, and the television pictures brought back memories of standing before something whose scale a photograph can never quite capture. At Newlands, even the most devoted spectator must occasionally forget to watch the bowler.

South Africa made 329, conceded 429, recovered to score 387 and then dismissed Australia for 111. A 176-run victory, a series won 2–1 and the world’s No. 1 Test ranking reclaimed. For much of this match, Australia had good reason to believe they would win. South Africa had surrendered a promising first-innings start and fallen 100 runs behind. Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder’s sixth-wicket partnership of 154, with Rickelton making 101 and Mulder 115, gave South Africa a target worth defending.

On the final morning, Simon Katich’s description of Rabada “smashing the surface” stayed with me. What a wonderfully physical expression. You could almost hear it: the ball striking the pitch with intent, the batter discovering that a defensive movement was already a fraction late. Renshaw and Labuschagne fell in Rabada’s first over. Head followed, caught by Marco Jansen at gully, leaving Australia at 22 for three. That catch also brought Rabada his 350th Test wicket, reached in 13,808 deliveries, fewer than anyone else had needed.

I am beginning to suspect that Marco Jansen regards smiling as an unnecessary expenditure of energy. A catch to remove Travis Head? An animated celebration, certainly. But in the moment that caught my eye, the smile still appeared to be awaiting clearance. His first-innings 52 mattered here, too. He was eventually named Player of the Series. Beneath the visual comedy is an immensely valuable cricketer who can influence a match in three different ways.

Then the match changed hands again. From Rabada’s violence to Simon Harmer’s persuasion. Six for 16 in the innings. Ten for 120 in the match. Fourteen maidens in 21.1 overs during Australia’s chase. Those figures contain a particular kind of sporting cruelty: the diminishing possibility of scoring, accompanied by the growing possibility of getting out.

Watching Harmer made me wonder whether spin bowling has lost some of its place in our imagination. Cameron Green eventually came down the pitch, was beaten in flight and bowled. Bavuma had switched Harmer’s end to bring him into the contest against Green. A captain’s adjustment, a bowler’s deception, a batter’s decision: a small passage of play containing an entire argument for this format.

Bavuma deserves to sit at the centre of that argument. Leadership is easy to admire once the opposition is collapsing. Its real examination comes when your side has lost the opening Test or when a hundred-run deficit threatens to decide the final one. South Africa recovered from both. Bavuma’s 179 had helped turn the series in Gqeberha; at Newlands, others supplied the decisive runs and wickets. A captain should take considerable satisfaction from that distribution of responsibility.

For Indian supporters, there is also the inevitable arithmetic. Did Australia’s defeat help India’s WTC chances? In the limited sense of denying a rival points, yes. But South Africa also strengthened their own claim to a place in the final. The updated table has New Zealand first on 72.22%, South Africa second on 71.43%, Australia third on 69.23% and India fourth on 51.52%. India’s remaining assignments are two Tests in New Zealand and five at home against Australia. There is still much more to be earned on the field than gained from somebody else’s defeat.

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