The Story
South Africa is currently facing a tricky situation in the opening Test against England at Lord’s. After letting the host pile on 458 in the first innings, the visitors produced an underwhelming performance and gave away a lead of 97 runs, managing just 361 all out.
At the end of the day, three England are comfortably sitting in the winning position with 119/1 in their second innings and a handsome lead of 216 runs. Going by the current form of the English batsman, it seems that the Proteas will be asked to show their survival skills once again.
But, they wouldn’t be worried too much. They have brought such situation onto themselves on numerous occasion in the past. In fact, struggling starts have been having taken place so frequently that trying to fight back into the game has become a part of their cricket.
Bavuma believes counter attack will work
Temba Bavuma, the ‘little gutsy man,’ had to yet again take the responsibility of showing resilience with the bat. The right-hander hit a knock of 59 and along with TB de Bruyn (48) lead a fightback that saw South Africa easily go past the 200 runs mark after being four down at the score of 104.
“In their first innings they had one guy who got in and went big for them, and that’s been the difference so far,” he said in reference to Joe Root’s 190. “We had a number of guys who got themselves in on that wicket but weren’t able to make anything of it. I think we’ll learn from it in the second innings. Hopefully whoever manages to get in on that wicket can do something big for the team.”
South Africa batted 167 overs to save a Test at the same venue nine years ago. This time around, a similar situation is beckoning. English bowlers have been loving the prospect of bowling n the surface which is becoming drier after each passing session.
“That’s the nature of South African cricket – we pride ourselves on being resilient,” Temba Bavuma said on Saturday (July 8). “Ideally we would like to be the ones throwing the first couple of punches, but that hasn’t happened. At the back of our minds we know that the possibility is always there and we’ll try and stay as optimistic as possible. I do believe that there will be an opportunity for us in the game, and it’s just a matter of making use of it.”
“I wasn’t expecting to see the wicket deteriorate so quickly,” admitted Bavuma, who is playing at Lord’s for the first time. “Day five will be quite interesting, and could be a handful for the batters. I think how you counter the spin will be quite important.”
Philander fir to bowl again after injury scare
South Africa will be vying for victory. Vernon Philander will be back as he was deemed fit to bowl after an x-ray ruled out a fracture on the hand. The seam bowler was struck during his innings of 52, one of the four fifties which South Africans managed in the first innings.
As a result of the injury, Philander could not bowl at the start of England’s second innings. But, he is expected to be seen in action on the fourth day which is a positive thing.
“I think we can take a lot of confidence from our bowling in the second innings,” said Bavuma. “Our intensity and skill that we were able to bring out were very good. If we can come tomorrow and replicate the same then I think it could put an interesting spin on things.”