Steyn, Philander take SA to happier times

It took just 59 minutes for South African to realise what they missed for eight Tests last summer. Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

It took just four balls for South Africa to remember what Steyn could do. Pitch it up. Nip it back. Make Martin Guptill look like he was new to Test cricket.

It took four more for Philander to do the same. Tempt outside the off stump. Move the ball off the seam. Draw a false stroke.

It should have taken only six more for Philander to be rewarded. He had Tom Latham driving, got a thick outside edge but Dean Elgar spilled the chance at second slip.

As much as Steyn impressed on his comeback - and he did - Philander wasn't far behind. There were shades of Newlands in 2011 and there was even Cape-style winter conditions to match.

Overcast skies and dampness in the air meant what should have been the best batting conditions on day two turned into the best bowling conditions. South Africa's attack, unlike their batsmen on day one, seized the advantage.

As he had promised, Steyn did not start at 200 kph. He didn't even start at 140. He kept his pace in the mid-130s and managed to prey on Guptill's uncertainty, which remains despite the form he found in Zimbabwe.

At Kingsmead, Guptill had a handle on which balls to play and leave outside the off stump but struggled against the ones that moved back in. He was rapped on the pads in the first over and survived a marginal call, then again in the ninth, when he did not.

Steyn has now dismissed Guptill five times in Tests - the same number as Pragyan Ojha and more than anyone else. Philander has dismissed him three times. If Guptill keeps falling to new-ball bowlers, it may reopen the debate over his ability as an opener in seaming conditions.

Guptill's wicket was not celebrated with as much gusto as the one before: Latham's. It was Steyn's first Test wicket in 2016 and it was a classic: late swing, too close to leave, a thick outside edge, caught at slip. The man was back and he was gaining on Shaun Pollock for the title of South Africa's leading wicket-taker.

Philander's focus was elsewhere. For him, it is about getting back the form that saw him because the fastest South African to 100 Test wickets and silencing critics who believe his best is behind him. There were signs of his former glory, particularly as the lunch break approached. Philander beat Ross Taylor twice with deliveries that darted away from him like a pickpocket, silently sinister, nifty and nimble. Philander has not moved the ball off the seam as much as that since his career began.

South Africa had seen New Zealand swing the ball on the first day and it would have been easy for them to become wayward looking for the same. "When they started bowling we said.. ooof..." Langeveldt said. He didn't need to explain that "ooof" was a shorter way of saying, "Imagine what we can do on this."

Steyn and Philander produced the finest period of play by South Africa's Test side all year. Although rain took the sting out of what was shaping up to be a sensational day of Test cricket, for 59 minutes South Africa remembered what it felt like to have their best bowlers back in business.