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South Africa v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Cape Town
Pakistan look to move on from Wanderers horror
The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran
February 13, 2013
Match facts
February 14-18, 2013Start time 1030 local (0830 GMT)
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News : Irfan in line for Test debut News : South Africa expect 'grafting' pitch News : Robin Peterson looks for his place Matches:
South Africa v Pakistan at Cape Town
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Big picture
Were Pakistan really Test-ready ahead of the Wanderers Test? Going by their first-innings capitulation for 49 - their lowest Test score - certainly not.
When you're up against the No.1 side in the world, you want to give your players enough time to acclimatise and adjust to the seamer-friendly conditions. A solitary warm-up game in East London wasn't enough. With the first Test starting nearly three weeks after the India tour ended, there were suggestions that Pakistan could have arrived in South Africa earlier, and probably squeezed in another warm-up. Mohammad Hafeez had stated recently that Pakistan needed more Tests in their calendar to get some momentum going. For a team that last played a Test in July, their preparation ahead of the Wanderers was inadequate. They were caught short against the moving ball and the captain Misbah-ul-Haq said Dale Steyn was too much for his batsmen to handle.
Their opposition in the warm-up between Tests - the Emerging Cape Cobras - may not have been the strongest, but it was an opportunity to rectify those technical glitches, and Younis Khan was the only batsman to score a fifty. The pitch at Newlands is expected to give Pakistan some relief, as it is expected to favour the batsmen more than the Wanderers strip did. What Pakistan need to show is resilience, and since Misbah took over, they've shown plenty of that.
South Africa have no such concerns and will look to wrap up the series at their strongest home venue. Graeme Smith, who led South Africa to the top of the rankings, will be playing his 100th Test as captain of his country. Their decision not to rotate their bowlers, unlike Australia, indicated they're hungry to close out the series as soon as possible. The early finish at the Wanderers gave them an extra day's rest.
Form guide
South Africa WWWWD
Pakistan LDDLW
In the spotlight
Sarfraz Ahmed was preferred ahead of Adnan Akmal as the wicketkeeper for the Tests, for reasons not properly explained. Though his keeping was tidy at the Wanderers, he had a poor game with the bat, scoring 2 and 6. As the lone specialist keeper in the squad, coupled with the absence of the Akmal brothers, his place in the line-up doesn't look in danger, but Pakistan will need better contributions from him as a lower-order batsman. It would be unfair to write Sarfraz off too quickly, since he had played just one Test prior to the Wanderers since his international debut in 2007. The forthcoming Tests present an opportunity to establish himself in the squad as the first-choice keeper.
Robin Peterson was a forgotten man during Pakistan's collapse for 49, because he wasn't required. Though he got 10 overs in the second innings, he returned wicketless. He admitted that it can be lonely as a spinner in these conditions: "It's no fun sometimes being the spinner in South Africa and you go through periods of play where you don't even bowl." He is unlikely to be made redundant in Newlands, though, with the pitch expected to give more assistance to the spinners compared to the one at the Wanderers.
Team news
There was bad news for Pakistan on the eve of the Test, with the left-arm seamer Junaid Khan in doubt as he is yet to recover from a thigh injury. Mohammad Irfan, the 7ft left-armer who toured India recently, was anyway in line for a Test debut after his seven-wicket haul in the warm-up. Pakistan's coach Dav Whatmore hinted at playing an additional spinner, Abdur Rehman, which means Rahat Ali, who went wicketless in the first Test, may have to make way.
Pakistan: (probable) 1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Umar Gul, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 and 11 Junaid Khan/ Mohammad Irfan/Rahat Ali
South Africa will play an unchanged line-up.
South Africa: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Dean Elgar, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Robin Peterson, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel
Pitch and conditions
The pitch was watered on Tuesday night and a fair amount of grass was shaved off. There are small hints of green and it looks the usual, good Newlands strip. It was expected to be a 'grafting' surface, something the batsmen should enjoy. There is a possibility of rain tomorrow so a delayed start is likely.
Stats and trivia
- Since their readmission to Test cricket, South Africa have a 17-3 win-loss record in Cape Town, with all three defeats coming against Australia. Since their last defeat to Australia in 2006, they've won seven out of ten Tests, and drawn the other three. Overall, South Africa have won 20 Tests here, six more than their next-best venue (The Wanderers - 14 wins)
- Jacques Kallis has scored 2158 runs in 21 Tests at Newlands, at an average of 77.07, with nine centuries in 33 innings. In his last six Tests here he has scored five hundreds, including his highest of 224 against Sri Lanka in 2012.
- Pakistan have lost to South Africa every time they've played in Cape Town: South Africa have won both Tests and all four ODIs.
- Dale Steyn is one wicket away from becoming the highest wicket-taker in Tests in Cape Town. Steyn is currently tied on 53 with Makhaya Ntini. While Ntini took his wickets in 13 Tests at an average of 29.09, Steyn has taken 53 in ten Tests at 20.98.
Quotes
"The more accolades there are, the more expectation there is on me. I woke up before the Wanderers Test at 4am dreaming I had got a pair."
Graeme Smith on captaining South Africa for the 100th time, at Newlands.
"I am really confident that these guys can fight back. Whenever we've had tough times, we have been able to come out of it."
Misbah-ul-Haq, the Pakistan captain.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Kanishkaa Balachandran
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@Surajdon9 , your guide lines for facing swing bowling might work at school level or park cricket, but if you have actually played the game at a high enough level you will know that the problem for batsmen facing Dale Steyn is that he bowls the perfect line (4th stump line) more often then not, which forces the batsmen to play the ball , they cant simply leave the ball because if the ball does not swing, its going to cannon into the stumps and if they do keep the bat close (as you suggest), he will bring the ball into the batsmen and get an LBW more often then not because of his extra pace. Giving him the walk is only going to end in Pakistan being bowled out for an even lower total then 49 , so that is not going to be a good idea neither. That is why he is the best bowler in the world and one of the best bowlers to ever play the game.
As for the india series in Nov, SA will win it much the same as this series. It will also be the end of Sachin.
Plan to counter Dale Steyn 1)Play closer to the body 2)Leave most deliveries outside the off stump which are shaping away, offer no stroke, get a feel of the pace and bounce of the surface.u should happily let it go by,however keep the bat close to u as a second line of defence if the inswinger darts back in so u have a chance of keeping it out if initially misjudged. 3)Play with soft hands to avoid the edges carrying, strong top hand, weaker bottom hand 4)Play it late, even when committing on the front foot 5) Occasionally give him the walk to put him off guard rather than just letting him set u up. This requires bravery and courage when doing it vs a bowler with such pace, however this is why it's a test. When u are taking all the momentum forward it is natural to have a waft and start feeling for it outside the off stump with all the momentum taking u forward.u can also be bowled as u struggle to keep out yorker if the bowler slides one in as u have less time to play during OLD Ball
Plan to counter Veron Philander
1) Get forward and play with soft hands 2) Give him the walk from time to time and don't bat too deep in the crease as he doesn't have as much pace 3) Keep your focus and concentration because at times he appears innocuous, but just does enough to find the edge 4)If the balls are angling in before moving away with the new cherry or with the help of overcast conditions,open the blade, BUT only inside the line, not outside the line of the off stump as this is what the slip cordon and outswing bowler want to see. 5)If you keep fishing outside the off stump, take an off stump guard and leave anything outside the eye line. Make sure you get forward and the head doesn't fall over to avoid LBW when Vernon bowls a straighter line if you are taking such a guard.
Plan to counter Morne Morkel
1) Plenty of cutting. Taller batsmen can get on top of the bounce; shorter figures need to go up and over or offer no stroke 2) Force him into bowling a fuller length, even dishing up the half volley which you can put away with a nice looking forward drive 3) Look for nudge of the hip to get down the other end 4) Confidently leave on bounce, even when the ball is pitched up 5) Play the ball close to the body and get behind the line with a high left elbow when playing the backfoot defence...
A million dollar suggestion to Pakistani batsmen. S. African bowlers are venomous only with the new ball they can topple any team with in 30 overs. If some batsmen survive till the stage of 40 over then life will be very easy. That stage you have to think that your batting line have only 40 overs more to score whatever you can (just consider 40-over match at that stage), before the second new ball comes. At that stage just staying on the wicket with out controlled aggression like Misbah will be meaningless. For team I would prefer A.Rehman over Ajmal and Junaid was only better than others, any of three from the available can be selected.
This time Pakistan not going to be all out in 49. Already reached 50+ . congrats! lets party...
Posted by matchfixerpkn on (February 14, 2013, 7:55 GMT)Kamran Abdul Jabbar..haha..yoiu are aksing to stand one feet front ..and they are thinking of standing behid the wqicket to avoid fast and furious..
Posted by KingKongIn on (February 14, 2013, 7:48 GMT)I agree SA current bowling line up is very good but they are not unplayable..Aussis shown this in last series . all bowlers were all around of park ..aussies scored more than 400 run in a day against same bowling line up. Pakistan Just need to be care ful when playing the new ball once ball is old...attack SA bowlers like anything ...they will in pressure then..the only key is how well you play first 30 overs....and how fast you score in overs between 30 to 80. Pakistan should target according to it. make some new strategy...use bowlers to play the new bowl once ball is old..PAk can attack.
Posted by KingKongIn on (February 14, 2013, 7:43 GMT)@Bartk--I don't understand why you talked about India and Sachin in your comment. novemeber is very far from here who knows if Sachin find his form till then and SA bowlers will all around the Park or Sachin might be retired till then. I dont think you will say Sachin is not capable of playing Steyn...he played well in last series in SA...bowler were same that time too...and Sachin scored 200 in ODI facin steyn and co...so lets dont talk about that SA will thrsh Inida by same margin..lets dont talk about future...plz comment on ongoing series.....that would be better. we will see you in Nov...and you can comment then.
Posted byjunaid is not there, so its good for PAK, he didn't bowled well at all. he was a foot shorter in his lenghts, and he can get wickets on flat tracks when batsmen are tired under humid conditons. SA has a good wheather and players are super fit so he has no chance. I think in 1st innings SA openrs had an extra cautious approach at him otherwise he is a 5 an over bowler in tests, younus bolwed better then him. Umer gul never became a bolwer of any level at any stage of his career, and club bowlers like irfan or rahat are of no use. So PAK should play with there strength that is spin and keep things tight with them. SA is an attacking team and surely they will loose patience at some stage. thats what PAK has been doing lately. as far baitting is concerned you cant say or blame them as you can expect anything from them, there is no quality batsmen in PAK side, so DALE or whoever bowl or pitch any where, PAK batsmen will be gifiting wicktes to SA. Result:-Daythree @ tea= SA won, Series=2-0