Graham Onions is probably the most hated man in South African cricket right now as he once again frustrated the home team and made sure that England for the second time in three test matches hung on for an improbable draw.
There have been some incredibly exciting moments in this test series and to have had two of them go down to the absolute wire is good for the game.
One of the commentators summed it up perfectly that South Africa have outplayed England for most of the series and apart from one really bad day in the second test, we should be 2-0 or 2-1 up. Yet somehow we are not.
The Proteas are going to have to take a long hard look at themselves going into this last test match. There is some gnashing of teeth and threats that JP Duminy, Ashwell Prince and Paul Harris are under pressure to maintain their places.
Prince is in a no-win situation at the moment. He is playing a role he doesn’t like, he’s relatively short of cricket and he knows he is under pressure in terms of his form. If they are not prepared to shift him down the order, they are doing him no favours keeping him there.
Duminy’s success with the ball in this test match means he will almost certainly keep his place, but he really needs to get some runs and add some stability to our middle-order.
Ironically Paul Harris is the one player whose position is under threat with many people blaming him for our problems and inability to bowl out opposition. The criticism laid at Harris’ door is that he doesn’t take wickets – the reality is that he has taken 11 wickets and only Morne Morkel (12) has taken more than him. Admittedly Steyn missed the first test but the statistics don’t lie.
The wickets he has taken have also not been mugs. Pietersen, Cook, Strauss, Collingwood – they’ve all been taken by Harris at some point in this series.
More important than all of this is the initial reason Harris was included in the side. Harris does a very specific job in the side that allows Graeme Smith to rotate his seamers. Harris ties up and end, squeezes out wickets and he has done it very well for South Africa.
We have one test match to go in this series and it is a must-win situation. By all means look at a jiggle in the batting line-up and find a way to get Wayne Parnell into the side, but don’t lay the blame at the door of Paul Harris.
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2 comments:
I would disagree that South Africa have outplayed England but that South Africa have not really taken full advantage of Englands mistakes. If we only look at the last test where you had a day and a half to take out 10 batsmen, this would have been a normal day out for the South Africa of old. In all honesty I think they have lost their bite and can understand why the best online bookmakers have made England favourites to win the series at odds around 4/9. South Africa have to go all out next week, I think pride more than personal achievements should be their number one objective.
No way - England have maybe been on top for 2 out of the 15 days and maybe shared the spoils on 6 of the other days.
The rest has been South Africa.
Some stubborn performances from Trott, Bell, Collingwood in the 1st and 3rd test matches have kept the South Africans out.
Full credit to the English for being stubborn and refusing to give in though. They've come here to fight from the word go and they haven't backed down and that's a great attribute.
Maybe it has just taken us a while to switch on but its all about pride now and making sure we don't lose at home.
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