- De Kock’s
near-unfailing ability to pick up the pace of a game came into play once again,
despite the difficulty of conditions. - Curtly
Ambrose feels a first-knock total of 300 by SA will spell trouble for West
Indies … and De Kock isn’t done at the crease yet. - Captain
Dean Elgar’s penchant for “gutsing it out†came crucially into focus after a
ropey start to day one for the tourists.
South
Africa adhered stoically to tradition on a largely patience-examining day one
of the decisive second Test against West Indies at Daren Sammy National Stadium
in St Lucia on Friday.
The venue
is renowned for the opening day of five-day combat there being a tough old slog
for the batting side … and this was no different for the Proteas.
During
play, devoted Caribbean television commentator Fazeer Mohammed, a worthy
successor in so many ways for the late Tony Cozier, joked about cricket’s
quirky tradition of the toss-losing captain – in this case Dean Elgar – being
“invited†to bat first.
“I don’t
believe something can be considered an invitation if you can’t turn it down,†he
opined, not without merit.
Well, the
tourists were duly “invited†to bat on a surface that offered almost
unrelenting (though it progressively eased, just a little) swing and seam
movement and was initially under thick cloud cover, with some occasionally
disruptive moisture around.
A sluggish
outfield meant you cruelly, seldom got fullest value for a rare
attacking-stroke indulgence along the grass, either.
That the
Proteas tenaciously ended the day on 218 for five from 82 overs – run rate an
industrial 2.65 — was in keeping with a time-honoured hallmark at the ground
and may be a little healthier in context than it will appear to some on paper.
Only once
in the last six Tests there since 2014, now including this one, has the
250-mark been breached for total runs on the first day of combat … and then
only just when Sri Lanka were dismissed for 253 and the host nation replied
with a brief 2/0 at stumps.
In the particularly
unenviable first session for batting, where the blade was beaten on countless
occasions by near-unplayable deliveries, survival was the dominant ethic … and none
of Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen or Rassie van der Dussen could cut the
mustard, all falling short of double figures.
From 37 for
three, the prospect of ripping through the entire SA order cheaply flickered
promisingly for West Indies, who had omitted a specialist spinner from their
line-up in favour of a four-strong premier pace battery.
But then
the combined, gritty qualities of Elgar himself, who is an admirable masochist
in such situations and would later fall for a hugely stabilising 77, and
still-rookie Kyle Verreynne – curbing his more natural instincts pretty impressively
– kicked in.
Their
partnership of 87 for the fourth wicket stopped the rot, but also ensured that
when the almost unfailingly free-flowing – in any situation — Quinton de Kock
took guard just before tea, some of the earlier spring in the step of the West
Indies’ bowlers had been quelled.
It is not a
harbinger of home prosperity for the remainder of the vital Test, perhaps, that
recalled strike factor Shannon Gabriel, though hardly slow in pace when the ball
leaves his hand, made running up to the wicket or retrieving the ball in the
outfield look like an overheated pantechnicon lumbering up Sir Lowry’s Pass:
his match fitness really looks wing-and-a-prayer stuff.
Not slow to
realise that and other factors just beginning to shift the balance in
ascendancy, De Kock, fuelled by that blistering 141 not out in the first Test
at the same venue, injected confidence and a driving upward of tempo in the
final session to (arguably) have the tourists in the better position by the
close.
Having
scored at inside two runs to the over in the first session, and then begun to
perk the rate up more significantly in the second, it was no coincidence that
De Kock’s presence (59 not out at the finish) meant a heartening third session for
South Africa of 93 runs at the cost only of Elgar’s wicket.
The
left-hander is already striking at a rate of 57, well above Elgar’s next-best
32 for the cause so far, which only further illustrates just how naturally and
instinctively he staves off being bogged down at the crease.
What’s
more, there is no special reason to be bearish, considering how he has looked
in this short series so far, about his chances of achieving on Saturday a
first-time personal milestone: back-to-back centuries in the format, especially
if the Proteas’ lower order do their bit in securely shepherding him along in
the quest.
The
phenomenon is something De Kock already knows well from the one-day
international landscape, where he has achieved the feat twice … and the first
of them, instead, a sublime and less common three in a row.
That was in
late 2013 when the baby-faced, still emerging figure lashed 135 (Wanderers),
106 (Kingsmead) and 101 (SuperSport Park) in successive matches against India.
Should De
Kock get to three figures here, the Proteas will simultaneously be that much
closer to registering a total of 300 or more which Windies’ pace great Curtly
Ambrose ventured on commentary, and perhaps with a sense of understatement, “could
be challenging on this pitchâ€.
*Follow
our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing