Incredibly England
almost contrived to lose that Test match, with AB De Villiers and another double-centurion
Hashim Amla in fine form. But four years is a long time in international cricket.
Stokes has hit the lows and highs and has transformed himself into a national treasure,
while both Amla and AB have quit the Test arena.
England are one-day
world champions and South Africa are a team in transition. Both are blooding
youth, but it’s the tourists who have enjoyed crunching victories in the past
few weeks, romping home by an innings at Port Elizabeth. Quinton de Kock and
Vernon Phliander were instrumental in guiding the Proteas to an opening triumph
straight after Christmas but the tide has turned dramatically.
At Cape Town the older
brigade, led by Jimmy Anderson (7-63), Stokes and Denly who performed strongly,
although Dom Sibley’s maiden century was crucial. This week, it was Ollie Pope who
cemented his place in the side with his own inaugural hundred and the Player of
the Match award. Yet none of England’s five under-25s have disgraced
themselves. Sam Curran bowled well at times, Zak Crawley played himself in as
Burns’ replacement and Dom Bess registered his first five-fer in international
cricket.
It’s kinda strange to
think that Pope is only Surrey’s second-best wicketkeeper-batsman (behind
Foakes) and last summer Bess struggled to hold down a first XI place at Somerset.
Sometimes opportunities creep up on you and are there to be grasped and taking
a 2-1 lead in South Africa is a mighty good line on a young player’s CV. With
Wood and Stokes steaming in at 90mph, Jofra Archer and Anderson weren’t badly missed
and a rare overseas Test series success looks highly probable.
No, the problems stand
mainly with SA batting. Six innings completed, no scores of 300. So far the first-innings
284 at Centurion is their peak and De Kock’s 95 that day is the highest
individual score. Maharaj’s world record-equalling 28 off Joe Root may have
been a thrash in desperation but it speaks volumes that it has been arguably the
most compelling piece of batsmanship South Africa have managed in the past
month. With Faf du Plessis talking of stepping down, they need to improve. And
fast.
