Wisden EXTRA 4

The independent voice of cricket since 1864

WisdenExtra No. 4, July 2012

England v South Africa

Seconds out…

Is it possible for opponents to seek simultaneous revenge? England and South Africa clearly think so.

The three-Test series starting at The Oval on Thursday is the latest in a long line of encounters in which both sides seem to have a point to prove, an axe to grind and a right to wrong.

And the upshot – since their first post-readmission meeting, in 1994 – has been one of the most closely fought fixtures on the international circuit: South Africa have won three series to England’s two, and 11 individual Test victories to England’s ten. Proximity has bred a grudging mutual respect.

The beefs this time concern recent history. South Africa felt all but cheated to have been held 1–1 at home by England in 2009-10, when No. 11 Graham Onions went beyond the call of duty to help save two Tests with the bat. England, meanwhile, need to get the summer of 2008 out of their system, when a team that was beginning to unravel under the stewardship of Peter Moores lost at home to South Africa for the first time since 1965.

It’s a shame there aren’t more than three Tests, but there’s still plenty for this – the fourth edition of Wisden EXTRA – to get stuck into.

That series four summers ago brought about the resignation of Michael Vaughan, who thus joined Nasser Hussain in the exclusive list of England captains to have been brought down by Graeme Smith.

It’s hard to imagine Andrew Strauss making it a

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hat-trick after he hit centuries against West Indies at Lord’s and Trent Bridge. But, as Smith tells Neil Manthorp in an exclusive interview, his side’s victory here in 2008 has not dulled their appetite. “It’ll be even harder to do twice,” he says. “That’s the beauty of this challenge, and why we’re so excited by it.”

Elsewhere, Mike Selvey applies his considerable bowling brain to an assessment of the teams’ seam attacks (the best two in the world, despite what Bill Lawry may believe), and John Stern takes a look back at previous Test series in which the top ranking has been at stake (a clue: England v South Africa has not featured until now).

From our archive we have reports of South Africa’s first win in England and the Trent Bridge Glove Test of 1998. And don’t miss the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Saturday of the Lord’s Test, courtesy of Investec.

Finally, don’t forget that Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack is running two competitions ahead of its 150th edition next year. The first offers a page of the book to the best unpublished article submitted by a reader (480–520 words, please); the second invites you to guess our choice of cricket’s ten most seminal moments, 1864–2012.

To find out more, and browse our new online Records section, please visit www.wisden.com. And do send us your feedback to almanack@wisden.com.

Lawrence Booth

p12

Patrick Eagar, the doyen of cricket photographers, has been capturing the essence of the game for almost 50 years.

In that time he’s taken more than 750,000 images and attended well over 300 Tests.

He first saw the South Africans on their 1965 tour, and over the next 20 pages chooses his favourite images of some unforgettable events – and characters. © John Wisden & Company Limited 2012

Wisden is a trademark of John Wisden & Company Limited

p4 Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

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The Big Hit South Africa’s captain has enjoyed his previous tours to the UK, compiling huge scores and claiming some equally impressive scalps. Neil Manthorp talks to him about England, Andrew Strauss and, yes, Kevin Pietersen

Pic: Patrick Eagar

Smith, slayer of captains 2

Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

Neither Nasser Hussain nor Michael Vaughan began their respective home series against South Africa, in 2003 and 2008, intending to step down as England captain. Yet neither made it to the final match still in charge. Both were on the receiving end of monumental innings from their opposite number, Graeme Smith.

And both resigned.

Popular myth has it that Hussain contributed to his own torment in the First Test at Edgbaston when he referred to Smith – then aged 22 and in only his second series as captain – as “Wotsisname” in the pre-match press conference. Some say Smith didn’t even know of the slight, and that it had nothing to do with his subsequent innings of 277, then a South African record, nor the 259 he made in the next Test at Lord’s.

“I was told about it,” a laughing Smith tells Wisden EXTRA nine years later. “I was well aware of it. I’d like to think I would have scored those runs anyway, but there was certainly a feeling of wanting to make sure he remembered my name next time.”

Hussain may have been nearing the end of the road anyway – Smith just happened to be the right man in the right place at the right time to persuade him to hand over to Michael Vaughan. But five years later there was very clearly a sense of hunter and hunted about the Smith–Vaughan relationship, with Smith admitting at the time that South Africa “dived in as hard as we could” once it became obvious Vaughan was under pressure.

These days Smith is a great deal more mellow. There is no such fighting talk. He respects Andrew Strauss and, although he doesn’t “know him personally at all”, he places him on the same level – both as a player and a captain – as Vaughan.

“He’s obviously a very strong personality with that quiet determination that sees him getting things done and achieving things with the minimum of fuss. He seems to keep an iron fist in a velvet glove,” says Smith.

“He’s also media savvy. He knows when to make a little comment or quip to feed the press something tasty and maybe deflect their attention from matters closer to home. He’s smart.”

The ICC Champions Trophy clash at Centurion three years ago, when Strauss effectively ended South Africa’s chances of progressing beyond the group stage by denying Smith a runner towards the end of an epic innings is now well and truly “gone” – at least from Smith’s point of view.

“I had cramp and Andrew was perfectly entitled to say ‘no’. I was disappointed afterwards, but more because I got cramp than about his decision. I would probably have done exactly the same thing.”

It sounds as though Smith doesn’t rate the chances of continuing with the “England captain slayer” reputation.

He laughs. “I could sense the pressure building on Strauss before the West Indies tour and I couldn’t help putting two and two together. What if they had a bad series against the Windies and he didn’t score many runs? And then we arrive… I could see how it might have happened. But I’m pretty sure those two hundreds have made him safe now.”

The other piece of England news to have interested the South African captain recently was Kevin Pietersen’s retirement from ODIs – and, as a contractual side-effect, Twenty20 internationals. Smith admits he himself found the transition after last year’s World Cup from oneday captain to senior player under the leadership of A. B. de Villiers “incredibly difficult”, and says he will be “amazed” if Pietersen doesn’t find it considerably harder not playing at all.

“It’s impossible to know what you’re giving up, and how hard it will hit you, until it’s gone,” he says. “Oneday cricket has been a big part of his life for a very long time and, right now, he thinks he can just walk away from it. Maybe he can. But I think he’ll quickly find there’s a big hole in his life which isn’t as easy to cope with as he may think.

“I don’t have any inside information at all, so I’m just looking from the outside, but if there’s any truth that his decision was partly based on the disagreements he had with the ECB and the way they treated him, then I believe he’ll find it even harder to come to terms with the way his one-day career has ended. He just seemed to be back to his aggressive, attacking best, too. Very strange that he should give it away.”

So does Smith see a KP comeback? The smile is noncommittal. “He’s just turned 32, only a bit older than me.

And I’ve had far more physical problems than him. But I reckon my best ODI form is ahead of me, not behind me. I’m very keen to play limited-overs cricket and I’m still very ambitious.”

The World Cup in India was the low point of his career, and he speaks with unusual – perhaps even alarming – candour for a man who possesses a stiffer upper lip than many Englishmen. Not only did South Africa crash out with typical ignominy in the quarterfinals, but Smith failed to score a single fifty, and was vilified by critics for choosing to visit fiancée Morgan Deane in Ireland rather than return home with his team-mates.

“It hit me hard, and I was a bit lost for a while afterwards,” he admits. “My confidence was affected and I needed a lot of time to reflect on the game and its place in my life – and my place in it. But the best way to get over a disappointment is to put it right, if you’re lucky enough to have that opportunity. And I did.”

He is as excited about this tour as any – and it’s not just because the No. 1 Test ranking is up for grabs. It may sound a trifle absurd to wonder about an element of anticlimax four years after South Africa’s dramatic 2–1 series victory in 2008 and, in particular, Smith’s oncein-a-lifetime, match-winning 154 not out at Edgbaston.

But it meant so much to so many of the players that it seems only logical to wonder whether they might have a problem getting themselves up for it again.

Smith replies: “Apart from the World Cup, we’ve achieved all the really big goals in the game. We’ve won Test series against pretty much everyone, home and continued overleaf Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

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away. But we haven’t done many of them twice.

They’re all hard to achieve – we won in England and then Australia within six months in 2008 – but it’ll be even harder to do twice. That’s the beauty of this challenge, and why we’re so excited by it.

“One of the greatest cricketers ever to represent South Africa has a special reason to make this one trip he will never forget. Jacques Kallis had his only bad tour in 17 years the last time we were in England, so he wants to put that right. He’s usually an irresistible force when he puts his mind to something.”

The same can be said of Smith – and would have been said of wicketkeeper Mark Boucher had he not suffered a freak eye injury on the opening day of the trip at Taunton – and frequently is.

England is Smith’s favourite tour and Lord’s his favourite ground: “It’s hard not to be moved by the atmosphere and sense of occasion. And it’s hard not to love the place when you score two hundreds there. But I’m also really excited about playing at The Oval in the First Test.

“I’ve always thought how we should suit the ground, with a bit of pace in the pitch and also some spin. But both times I’ve played there it’s been at the end of a long, hard tour and we’ve lost. That’s why it’s so exciting to

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start there this time. I hope we do as well as I think we can, and should.”

So where will the key battles be decided? “I don’t want to single out names, but our bowling attack is hard to live with when it’s going well. I know England’s is, too, but I’ll back ours ahead of theirs. Same with the batting – both strong, but I’d back ours again.

Experience of conditions is the key. Four of our top six were on the last tour and three scored hundreds.

Jacques Rudolph and Alviro Petersen have come into the side since then and both have hundreds of hours in English conditions.”

Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were the first to admit they were overawed both by the flattery of the media four years ago and by the atmosphere at Lord’s, where they bowled poorly for two straight days in the First Test. They are much wiser operators now. Vernon Philander cannot possibly live up to his pre-tour billing, can he? Can Kallis, for that matter?

“People assume Jakes [Kallis] is tapering off on the bowling front but they couldn’t be more wrong,” says Smith. “As a captain I still regard him as a crucial member of the attack. If it was up to him he would bowl more than he does, but I try to limit him to ten or 12 overs a day. He can put a brake on the game or take a

1 I don’t think anyone in Test cricket has ever had an odder action than Paul Adams. When he came on the scene in the mid-1990s, he had immediate success. And if batsmen found it tricky to cope with his extraordinary contortions – ‘a frog in a blender’ was the famous comparison – photographers found him a challenge too: my archive is littered with images that didn’t quite convey the bonkers-ness of what he did. But just as batsmen worked him out, so I like to think I got him with this one, taken at Edgbaston in June 1998. The umpire is Russell Tiffin.

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Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

I didn’t have the chance to take many photographs of the South Africans before isolation, but I did get to Northlands Road in 1965 for their game against Hampshire. It was a good one, with Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie enforcing the follow-on against a strong touring side (though ultimately Hampshire had to cling on for a draw).

I persuaded a friend to lend me a Russian-made mirror lens – it cost about £100, a massive amount at the time – and this photo of the hugely talented Graeme Pollock (as well as wicketkeeper Brian Timms) was one of the results. In those days, I was doing any photography I could get paid for, from theatre work to news assignments; this one would probably have fetched up in The Cricketer.

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crucial wicket or three, as he did against England four years ago. His fitness and strength are incredible.”

England’s fast-bowling depth was thought to give them a significant advantage, although that overlooks the solid back-up provided by left-armer Lonwabo Tsotsobe. But the ECB’s decision to dumb the series down to three Tests, despite previous assurances that England v South Africa would be a marquee five-match series, may just have helped the tourists.

“Nobody wanted that,” says Smith, who is due to win his 100th cap at The Oval (Strauss hopes to reach the same landmark at Lord’s). “We’d all prefer a longer series given the status of the two teams, but it does mean, potentially, that depth is less of an issue.”

Surgery to his left ankle three months ago was the latest in what has seemed like an endless stream of potentially serious injuries over the last four years. But things are different now, Smith says with a sigh – or should that be a smile?

“I always came back from injuries too soon, which led to other problems and more injuries. I didn’t want to miss important games, so I didn’t have enough time to do the rehab properly. I don’t regret that, however. My performances didn’t suffer – just my body! But this time I’ll be ready, properly recovered and strong. I’m wary of

tempting fate, but I haven’t felt this good, physically, for a long time – years.”

Who should supporters regard as favourites?

“England are more disciplined, smarter and better prepared than four years ago,” says Smith, who may fly home after the First Test to attend the birth of his first child, before returning in time for the Second, starting at Headingley on August 2.

“All the players who are still around from the last series have got better. They are a very, very good team at home and deserve to be ranked No. 1. But we have also got better and we’re also pretty useful in English conditions. They have home advantage and they’re ranked ahead of us, but I’m not going to compete for underdog status! If some people want to make us favourites then I’ll take that as a compliment, not reject it.

“Whatever happens, there’s a very good chance that people will see some high-quality, intensely competitive cricket – some cricket that people may remember for a quite a while afterwards. We both want to win very much. It’s going to be quite a clash.”

Neil Manthorp is a leading South African writer and broadcaster Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

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For the second summer in succession, Test cricket’s No. 1 status is up for grabs.

John Stern looks back at previous series in which the top spot has been at stake

The kings of the castle England v Australia

Rating at the start

Rating at the end

Spiritually, the baton – or imaginary mace – was passed from West Indies to Australia on May 3, 1995, at Sabina †1954-55 Australia 1 England 3 A 111, E 110 A 105, E 114 Park, when Mark Taylor’s side completed a 2–1 victory, 1956 England 2 Australia 1 E 115, A 114 E 118, A 110 their first in the Caribbean for 22 years.

1958-59 Australia 4 England 0 A 121, E 120 A 131, E 113 Technically, however, Australia had been ahead by a decimal point when the sides met in early 1991.

Australia had already begun to dominate the Ashes, Other nations were emerging in the 1950s, but the while West Indies had merely scraped a home win Ashes remained a wrestle for global supremacy, as well against England in 1989-90. as a biennial spat between distant cousins. England It was a brutal, bad-tempered, series, the nadir had reclaimed the urn in 1953 after a 20-year hiatus, coming when Dean Jones was run out in Guyana but Australia’s overall post-war supremacy left them after being bowled by a Courtney Walsh no-ball, then marginally ahead in the – then notional – rankings walking off when he failed to hear the umpire’s call. when Len Hutton’s team visited in 1954-55.

In the Fourth, decisive, Test at Bridgetown, Gordon England left Fred Trueman, Jim Laker and Tony Greenidge, days before his 40th birthday, recorded his Lock behind, gambling instead on the pace of Northamptonshire’s Frank Tyson, who had played only highest Test score of 226.

By the time the sides reconvened in Australia in late a single Test. England lost the First Test by an innings, and Tyson was ineffective. But, after shortening his run- 1992, the home side had reclaimed the lead with a 4–0 up, he was the architect – with 28 wickets – of England’s win over India and victory in Sri Lanka. But a rebuilding West Indies, who had drawn 2–2 in England in 1991, comeback to win 3–1, their first victory in Australia still had enough to come from behind and swap places since Bodyline.

England held on to top spot at home 18 months later with Australia.

Brian Lara announced himself with a breath-taking in a rainy series whose 2–1 scoreline did not reflect 277 at Sydney, but the game-changer was Curtly their dominance. No Australian made a century, while Ambrose, who took 33 wickets in five Tests – including the Surrey spinners Laker and Lock took 61 wickets a spell of seven for one in 32 balls on the first day of the between them. Twenty came at Old Trafford, 19 of deciding Test, at Perth. West Indies won that game by them to Laker, on a pitch the Australians regarded as an innings, having clung on in the previous match at deliberately underprepared.

Adelaide, which they won by a single run.

Australian revenge in 1958-59 was comprehensive, But it was the 1994-95 series that was the defining if tainted by a throwing controversy. “England were acclaimed by sections of the press as World Champions,” one, planting Australia’s flag at the peak so firmly it wrote the now retired Alec Bedser. “A more correct term would not be removed for 13 years. When the squad would, I feel, have been World Champions in England.” stopped off in London en route to the Caribbean, Taylor tried to take the pressure off his players by telling them Captained by Peter May, England lost 4–0, their that West Indies had everything to lose. The team talk conservative tactics and ageing bodies badly exposed. worked. Despite missing their two leading pace bowlers – Craig McDermott and Damien Fleming – because of injury, they reduced West Indies to six for three in the West Indies Rating at Rating at Result v Australia the start the end First Test at Bridgetown, and won by ten wickets.

West Indies bounced back on a Trinidad greentop, †1990-91 West Indies 2, Australia 1 WI 111, A 111 WI 114, A 109 but in the last Test, in Jamaica, Australia finally slayed †1992-93 Australia 1, West Indies 2 A 121, WI 112 A116, WI 120 the giant thanks largely to an epic partnership of 231 †1994-95 West Indies 1, Australia 2 WI 117, A 109 WI 112, A 112 by the Waugh twins. Steve’s double-hundred, in a series 6

Result

Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

dominated by bowlers, set the tone for an era and defined a career, mocking the notion he couldn’t play the short ball. And it was all the more remarkable given that he had enjoyed only a few hours’ sleep the previous night after being woken by an intruder in his hotel room.

– against a full-strength West Indies side. That was how it started at least, with West Indies winning the first two Tests, until their board dropped three players who were contracted to World Series Cricket. The other Packerites, including captain Clive Lloyd, dropped themselves in sympathy. But West Indies still won 3–1.

Australia v South Africa

Result

Rating at the start

Rating at the end

1996-97

South Africa 1, Australia 2

SA 112, A 117

SA 109, A 119

West Indies v Pakistan

Result

Rating at the start

Rating at the end

1987-88

West Indies 1, Pakistan 1

WI 115, P 107

WI 114, P 108

1997-98

Australia 1, South Africa 0

A 117, SA 111

A 119, SA 108

2001-02

Australia 3, South Africa 0

A 116, SA 115

A 121, SA 111

Three times between 1997 and 2002, the new South Africa – still relative novices in the Test arena – faced Australia with the top ranking at stake. Hopes were always high, sometimes understandably so: indeed, at various points between 1999 and 2001, South Africa had briefly led the table. And the Australians always gleefully prevailed.

Shane Warne, with 48 wickets across these three three-match series, and the Waughs – with 1,309 runs between them – were the most obvious obstacles. But South Africa often beat themselves, never more than at Adelaide in 1997-98, when ten catches went down and Hansie Cronje stuck a stump through the umpires’ dressing-room door after Mark Waugh was given not out for what South Africa wrongly believed should have been hit-wicket.

Before the 1996-97 series on home soil, South Africa had lost only two series since readmission: the one-off comeback Test at Bridgetown, and in India a few months before. But Australia won the First Test by an innings, then wrapped up the series at Port Elizabeth.

When South Africa went to Australia in 2001-02, they were unbeaten in 11 series, while the Aussies had just been held 0–0 at home by New Zealand. But Australia demolished them in all all three Tests.

England v Australia 1972

Result

Rating at the start

Rating at the end

England 2, Australia 2

E 113, A 107

E 112, A 109

After Ray Illingworth’s memorable victory Down Under in 1970-71, England owned the Ashes and the No. 1 spot.

They held on to both in a 2–2 draw that was notable for Derek Underwood’s crucial urn-clinching display on a damaged pitch at Headingley, and the emergence of a 23-year-old Dennis Lillee, who took 31 wickets.

West Indies v Australia

Result

Rating at the start

Rating at the end

1977-78

West Indies 3, Australia 1

WI 106, A105

WI 110, A 101

Pakistan became the first side to beat West Indies in a home Test for a decade. Imran Khan, who had initially retired, only to yield to a personal request from president Zia-ul-Haq to play again, bowled Pakistan to a nine-wicket victory with 12 for 121 in the First Test at Georgetown. Abdul Qadir, the No. 11, clung on for the last five balls to salvage a draw in the next Test, and West Indies levelled the series at Bridgetown, with the ninthwicket pair Jeff Dujon and Winston Benjamin knocking off the last 61.

West Indies v Pakistan

Result

Rating at the start

Rating at the end

1992-93

West Indies 2, Pakistan 0

WI 120, P 116

WI 125, P 110

Not long before the First Test, four Pakistan players, including captain Wasim Akram and vice-captain Waqar Younis, were arrested on a beach in Grenada, accused of possessing marijuana. They claimed the experience left them mentally and physically weakened, and the series turned into a no-contest.

England v India

Result

Rating at the start

Rating at the end

†2011

England 4, India 0

E 117, I 125

E 125, I 117

It looked a tall order for England to win by the two clear Tests they needed to usurp India at the top of the rankings. Instead they won by four. India were underprepared and drained from World Cup and IPL exertions. England were ruthless and relentless.

The ICC’s Test rankings were created by David Kendix, who compiled the research for this article. Although the official ICC rankings did not begin until June 2003, Kendix has backdated them as far as January 1952, before which there were not enough Tests or teams to make the rankings meaningful. Only series in which the No. 1 ranking was realistically at stake are included here. † Series in which leadership of the rankings changed hands.

This was a lop-sided series that pitched Australia’s Packer- John Stern is a former editor of The Wisden Cricketer.

He is currently working on a new Wisden anthology. induced understudies – and a 42-year-old Bob Simpson Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

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Win a pair of tickets to the Third England–South Africa Investec Test at Lord’s Wisden EXTRA has two pairs of tickets for the Saturday of the Lord’s Test to give away. For your chance to win, send the answer – which you can find in this edition of Wisden EXTRA – to the following question, by Monday, August 13, to feedback@wisden.com (putting “Investec tickets” in the subject line): Xavier Marshall and Xavier Doherty were the second and third, but who was Test cricket’s first X-man?

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This is another image from Cape Town. It’s a wonderful ground for photographers because it’s got real individuality – unlike most modern international venues that offer little scope for a creative approach.

But at Newlands there are intriguing little crannies between the stands that give you a bit more height, or an unusual angle. And an unusual angle is just what Jacques Kallis has found here. Almost any other batsman would be off balance in this position, but not Kallis. In fact, I seem to recall the ball sailing into the stands beyond square leg as he motored towards a big hundred. Kallis has got such longevity: he seems to have been a permanent fixture in the South African side for decades. On this occasion, a heavy defeat for England in January 2005, Simon Jones was on the receiving end.

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Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

The tickets are to the third day (Saturday, August 18) of the Third Investec Test between England and South Africa. There is no cash alternative, nor is a refund available in the case of bad weather preventing play. You must have registered to receive notifications of future editions of Wisden EXTRA to be eligible to enter this competition.You can register here.

Investec are title sponsors of Test match cricket.

Please visit the Investec Cricket Zone at www.investec.co.uk/cricket for player analysis, stats, Test match info and cricket games.

Pic: Gareth Copley, Getty Images

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Looking at this portrait now, it comes across as somewhere between a devotional study and Rodin’s The Thinker. It was taken in the nets at Newlands back in 1994, when Hansie Cronje was very much the heir apparent to the South African captaincy. In those days there weren’t many restrictions on access to the players, so you could catch an informal pose such as this using a short lens – no chance of that now. It was also a little unexpected to see him sitting like that, stripped to the waist. Perhaps he was waiting for a leather jacket.

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From the Archive

Wisden 1936

South Africa began their 1935 tour never having won a Test in England. Rain ruined the game at Nottingham, but at Lord’s Xenophon Balaskas, a leg-spinner of Greek descent, took advantage of a pitch that had been attacked by leatherjackets...

Greek fire Scorecard: click here

England v South Africa, Second Test, at Lord’s, June 29, July 1–2.

South Africa won by 157 runs. Toss: South Africa.

Beating England by 157 runs, South Africa, after striving for 28 years, won a Test match in England for the first time. Although undoubtedly fortunate in winning the toss, they richly deserved their victory. In batting and bowling they were definitely superior, and brilliant fielding, notably by Wade, the captain, in the silly mid-off position, also played a conspicuous part in the success.

Mitchell-Innes, owing to hay fever, having to withdraw after the selectors announced their first choices, England’s team was completed by E. R. T. Holmes. Actually there were four changes from the eleven that drew at Trent Bridge: James Langridge, Farrimond, and Mitchell, of Derbyshire, replaced Iddon, R. W. V. Robins and Bowes. With the wicket hard, the leaving out of Clark, the Northamptonshire fast bowler, appeared a curious decision, but the wisdom of this move by the selection committee and Wyatt, who anticipated that the pitch would take spin, was proved by events. Hart (Middlesex) acted as twelfth man. The fine bowling of Bell and Balaskas against Yorkshire secured those players recognition in South Africa’s side, and they, with Dalton, took the places of Vincent, Tomlinson and Viljoen.

From an early point in the match the wicket lent an appreciable amount of help to bowlers who could turn the ball which, in addition, frequently came off the ground very low. Much was said and written during the match about the vagaries of the pitch. South Africa’s bowlers, however, without a shadow of doubt, were by far the better, and Balaskas marked his Test debut in England with a most skilful piece of work by taking in the two innings nine wickets for 103 runs.

His majesty the king visited the ground on the first day when South Africa, staying in until nearly five o’clock, put together a total of 228 which, with the ball needing to be watched carefully and against fielding far more efficient than anything done by the 10

Wisden EXTRA • England v South Africa

England team the previous summer, was in no sense a moderate performance. When Farrimond, at the wicket, held a very smart catch low down on the leg side to dispose of Rowan, who stayed an hour and three-quarters, South Africa had four wickets down for 98. Then Cameron, hitting cleanly and with the power to score 90 out of 126 in an hour and threequarters, played the great innings of the day. Pulling or using the pull-drive to hit three sixes and some of his six fours, he also showed brilliant execution of the cut and leg glance, and did not abate his attack on the bowling until steadying down, probably in the desire to complete a hundred in Test cricket, an ambition he was not destined to realise.

England during the last 80 minutes on Saturday scoring 75 for two wickets, the match was left nicely in the balance, but on Monday Balaskas bowled superbly and with immaculate length over a long period. When Wyatt, hooking a long hop, was finely caught at deep square leg after batting steadily and well for an hour and 50 minutes, England had four men out for 109 and, Dalton having taken the wickets of Hammond and Wyatt at a cost of eight singles, Balaskas proceeded to get a great deal out of the pitch. Going on with 45 runs scored on Saturday, he continued at the Pavilion End for nearly two and a half hours without ever loosing a badlength ball. Langridge played him better than anyone else on the side, but South Africa gained an innings lead of 30 runs.

There followed the classic batting of the match. Bruce Mitchell, very strong in back play, watching the ball right on to the bat, and making the off-drive perfectly, batted from the start of South Africa’s second innings until Wade declared with seven wickets down. Mitchell and Rowan, in about two hours, added 104 for the second wicket, and Langton, going in sixth wicket down at 177, batted for two hours before his dismissal. Bruce Mitchell, making his first hundred of the tour and his

second hundred and highest Test score against England, played through five and a half hours without a palpable mistake. Some neglect to force the pace a little during the latter part of his innings prevented him surpassing H. W. Taylor’s 176 at Johannesburg in 1923 – the highest innings for a South African against England.

Wade left his opponents four and three-quarter hours in which to score 309 runs to win. Both Sutcliffe and Ames being troubled by strains, in turn had the services of Hart to run for them. Sutcliffe, rather fortunate, and Hammond made a stand of 44 for the third wicket, but the separation of these men when the Gloucestershire batsman was shaping with fine confidence, marked

the beginning of the end. Langton, going on at 77, took four successive wickets at a cost of 24 runs and altogether England’s batsmen were overwhelmed. After lunch Balaskas, if not so deadly as on the Monday, bowled unchanged and was always a source of trouble to England’s batsmen, one or two of whom appeared overawed by the occasion.

During the match there were six decisions under the new lbw experimental rule [allowing batsmen to be given out when hit outside the line of off stump]. The number of people paying for admission on the three days was 69,201 and a full attendance of approximately 79,000 undoubtedly exceeded expectations.

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Some you win; some you lose. Even professional photographers can have their pictures wrecked by someone getting in the way at the wrong moment. This was Lord’s in 1994, and special because it was the first Test between England and South Africa for 29 years. Trouble is, it was special for the South African physio, too, who was keen to record the event for himself. The pic still works for me, though, because of the new rainbow-nation flag splashing colour in an otherwise pale shot. Kepler Wessels is spraying the crowd below, doubtless mulling on the behaviour of the England captain: this was the Test in which Mike Atherton was fined £2,000 for the dirt-inthe-pocket controversy.

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Eagar’s Eye I hadn’t realised until recently quite how photogenic a wicketkeeper Mark Boucher is. He’s a natural athlete, prepared to throw himself about – as you can see in this image taken at Trent Bridge during the 1999 World Cup, when Boucher did all he could to ensure a runout against Pakistan. Moin survived, but was run out by Boucher soon afterwards. Such moments are a godsend for the photographer but, if I’m being fussy, I’d say this could be a touch sharper. I changed the focus to follow Moin as he sprinted down the pitch and didn’t quite get it spot on for the run-out attempt.

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England v South Africa boasts the two most destructive pace attacks in world cricket.

Mike Selvey sizes them up

A cosmic collision Philander, who took the new ball in place of Morkel and humiliated Australia with five for 15 in their second-innings 47 all out. He now has 51 wickets in seven Tests at the ridiculously low average of 14 and a strike-rate of one every 4.2 overs. These The days of the lone wolf are gone – even those of fast figures are not sustainable – are they? – but they bowlers hunting in pairs. We can recite their names speak of an exceptional capacity to prosper with an as if a litany: Gregory and McDonald; Larwood and Voce; Lindwall and Miller; Trueman and Statham; Hall unsophisticated method. Philander does not have Steyn’s searing pace or late swing, nor does he possess and Griffith; Lillee and Thomson; Wasim and Waqar; Ambrose and Walsh; Donald and Pollock. It all worked Morkel’s disconcerting bounce. But he is robust, strong, willing, and appears to maximise his chances well enough with a bit of back-up. by putting the ball repeatedly in the right place to gain But the great West Indies sides of the 1970s and just sufficient movement to take the edge. It is bowling ’80s, and the Australians of the next two decades – without frills: McGrath worked like that. with Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie – And it lends the perfect complement to Steyn and showed that three, or even four, was no longer a crowd.

Morkel, who pose differing threats to every aspect of The pacemen hunted voraciously as a pack, with no batsmanship. Steyn is the world’s top-ranked bowler, respite, no easy runs while the quicks had a breather. with the best strike-rate (just under 41) of anyone Fire was followed by more of the same. Occasionally, who has played at least 20 Tests. He provides genuine these worlds came together, the last time perhaps in impact, swings it away sharply from the right-hander, this country in 2005, when briefly England produced a quartet at the peak of their game to counter the Aussies, and matches it with something that shapes into the pad as an alternative. He is urgent and wristy as he works and the sparks flew. the ball.

It is about to happen again. Aside from dear old The only mark against him – an anomaly, really – is Bill Lawry, whose belief in the supremacy of all things Australian makes Cyclops seem binocular, there cannot his record against England, which gives him 31 wickets at 34 overall, and eight at 36 in this country. For his part, be anyone who does not regard the encounter between England and South Africa as pitting against one another Morkel has taken 34 against England at under 27, better than his career average, although his average in England the two most formidable pace attacks in the game. rises to 33.

Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and any one of Tall bowlers such as he, who rely on lift from back of Tim Bresnan, Graham Onions, Steve Finn and Chris Tremlett, up against Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Vernon a length more than lateral movement (the most priceless asset, according to McGrath), need to adjust their length Philander, with the left-armer Lonwabo Tsotsobe waiting in the wings. Not a hair’s breadth between them from a shorter southern-hemisphere one to something a little fuller, as Vince van der Bijl, similar in method, as to which is top dog – but when they collide at The Oval it will be with such force that they may just end up did so successfully for Middlesex in 1980. A phone call to that quarter may be helpful. Inconsistency, in which discovering their own version of the Higgs boson.

There has been a change in the dynamic of the South devastating spells rub shoulders with more modest fare, African pace attack. Ever since Makhaya Ntini’s Test exit can hamper Morkel.

Can England match this trio? Well, under the tutelage in 2009, Steyn and Morkel have combined as an opening of the bowling coach David Saker, Anderson and Broad pair, backed by Jacques Kallis (who, lest we forget, has have developed into as potent a new-ball pairing as more Test wickets – 276 – than anyone on either side), with the search continuing for a third seamer. continued overleaf Then, at Cape Town last November, came “For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack” – The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling

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any today. Anderson has refined himself not just into a supreme manipulator of the ball, but a master strategist as well, relying on craft rather than velocity: he operates as a wrist-spinner might. Saker has been the making of Broad, finally convincing him of the merits of a fuller length and swing, and the consequent shock value of the bouncer. It is he, when the force is with him, who can produce the most devastating spells in the manner of Morkel.

If England are spoilt for choice in their third seamer, it is the indefatigable Bresnan who currently holds the aces. This is the workhorse of the side – but no journeyman. Bresnan lacks the pace of Finn, the slithery at-’em-nastiness of Onions, or the imposing physicality of Tremlett.

But he has produced performances at a surprising rate, so that – if not as ridiculously productive as Philander – he has nevertheless taken 55 wickets in 14 Tests, none of the matches lost and all but the last won, at an average of 26 and with a strike-rate of 55, both better than either Broad or Anderson. Bresnan swings the ball a little, gets good reverse, bowls a tidy bouncer, and hits the bat a good deal harder than batsmen expect. You underestimate him at your peril.

Mike Selvey, cricket correspondent of The Guardian, bowled seam for Surrey, Middlesex, Glamorgan and England between 1968 and 1984

South African seamer Vernon Philander’s Test figures of 51 wickets at an average of 14 feel like the stuff of the 19th century, uncovered pitches and unsophisticated batting techniques – which is appropriate, since three of the six others to reach 50 wickets in no more than eight Tests operated before the 1900s. Steven Lynch looks at the old-fashioned company Philander is keeping Charlie Turner The New South Welshman Charlie Turner – known, especially by batsmen, as “The Terror” – was, according to cricket historian David Frith, “fastmedium with uncanny control of length and offbreak”. He also spun the ball hard: asked – late in life – how he did this, he picked up an orange and crushed it to a pulp in his sinewy fingers. Turner took 314 wickets in all matches on Australia’s tour of England in 1888. That included five or more in all four innings in which he bowled in the three Tests – and, since his first three had brought him 29 wickets, that whisked him to 50 in what remains record time. He ended up with 101 wickets at an average of 16 from 17 Tests, all against England.

Tom Richardson A burly fast bowler with an appetite for hard work (and beer, which eventually slowed him down), Surrey’s Tom Richardson took ten wickets on his Test debut, against Australia at Old Trafford in 1893, and then 32 in the classic five-Test series of 1894-95, which started with England winning at Sydney after following on. Richardson grabbed 11 more in his next match, at Lord’s in 1896, to reach 50 in just seven games. But another exhausting tour of Australia wore him out, and he finished with 88 wickets in 14 Tests, all of them in the Ashes.

Jones when he strolled down the pitch to flatten a divot – blew them away for 77, eight short of victory, with seven more. No wickets in an innings defeat at Melbourne in 1882-83 slowed the rush to 50, but 11 in the next got Spofforth back on track, and he reached his half-century in his eighth Test. ... and Vernon Philander After taking four for 12 in his first one-day international, against Ireland on his 22nd birthday in June 2007, seamer Vernon Darryl Philander (how TMS’s Brian Johnston would have relished his name – and initials) slipped off the radar for a few years. He returned late in 2011, fitter and faster, and was an immediate hit – no small feat in a South African side already boasting Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. Philander moved the ball both ways to take four hauls of five in his first three Tests (only Rodney Hogg, with five, managed more). He sprinted past 50 wickets in New Zealand with ten in his sixth Test, and six for 81 in the first innings of his seventh.

Steven Lynch is the editor of The Wisden Guide to International Cricket and a deputy editor of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack

FEWEST TESTS TO REACH 50 WICKETS Debut

Fred Spofforth “The Demon” Spofforth, from Sydney, was Test cricket’s first truly fast bowler. He took 13 wickets – including the first Test hat-trick – in his second match, and 14 in his fourth, at The Oval in 1882, the nail-biter which spawned the Ashes legend: Spofforth began with seven for 46, then – after being riled by W. G. Grace’s opportunism in running out Sammy 14

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Charlie Turner (Australia)

1886-87

7

Tom Richardson (England)

1893

7

Vernon Philander (South Africa)

2011-12

8

Fred Spofforth (Australia)

1876-77

8

Alf Valentine (West Indies)

1950

8

Rodney Hogg (Australia)

1978-79

8

Terry Alderman (Australia)

1981

7

Eagar’s Eye You can see Devon Malcolm is unamused. And if you look closely, you can see why. Gary Kirsten at short leg is holding a piece of Malcolm’s helmet after Fanie de Villiers chose to let him have a bouncer or three.

Malcolm was England’s No.11, and an unhappy bunny…

So this was pretty much the moment during the Oval Test of 1994 when he was supposed to have uttered: ‘You guys are history.’ And as turning-points go, there aren’t many more amazing. As wicket followed wicket, Malcolm grew fiercer and fiercer, faster and faster.

He blew the South Africans away to take nine for 57.

It was an utter classic – a perfect example of why Test cricket is the greatest form of the game.

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England first played a Test against South Africa in 1889, and the last 123 years have produced some mammoth feats, especially by bowlers. Benedict Bermange reveals some unexpected statistical highlights from a long rivalry

In partnership with Elizabeth Taylor In the Durban Test of January 1957, South African offspinner Hugh Tayfield bowled a record 137 dot balls in a row to the England batsmen: his 16 consecutive eight-ball maiden overs spanned two innings. Nine of those maidens were bowled to Trevor Bailey, prompting Alan Ross to write: “The sharp single had been discarded as a youthful frolic: the hypnotic maidens of Tayfield had become as soothing and necessary to Bailey as opium to a mandarin.”

Three Hearne brothers appeared in the Cape Town Test of March 1892: Alec and George made their debuts for England, while Frank appeared for South Africa, after playing twice previously for England. In fact, there was a fourth Hearne in this match: Jack, the brothers’ cousin, was playing his first Test, for England.

At Lord’s, on June 30, 1924, England advanced their score from 28 without loss overnight to 531 for two declared, thanks to a double-century from Jack Hobbs and hundreds from Herbert Sutcliffe and Frank Woolley.

Their total of 503 runs in 118 overs is still an England record for a single day’s Test cricket; this match also provided the first of four occasions on which a team have lost only two wickets in winning a Test.

At Durban in December 1948, off-spinner Athol Rowan bowled 44 consecutive eight-ball overs in England’s first-innings total of 253. Those 352 deliveries without change were a Test record for more than 40 years – and were all the more remarkable for the fact that Rowan bowled in pain following a wartime explosion that injured his leg. (The record was broken

by India’s Narendra Hirwani at The Oval in 1990.)

trickled only a couple of yards off Gladwin’s thigh.

In 1951, Athol’s older brother Eric made 236 at Headingley, having just turned 42. It remains the highest Test score by a player in his forties.

Since their readmission to Test cricket in 1992, South Africa’s seamers have taken 84% of their wickets. The figure for all other countries over the same period is 64%.

Dale Steyn’s strike-rate of 40.9 is the best of all the 88 bowlers to have taken at least 150 Test wickets. But he has the fourth-worst economy-rate of the 88, giving up 3.39 runs per over.

Tests

Wickets Average

Economy

Dale Steyn (SA)

54

272

23.18

3.39

40.9

Sydney Barnes (Eng)

27

189

16.43

2.36

41.6

Waqar Younis (Pak)

87

373

23.56

3.25

43.4

Shoaib Akhtar (Pak)

46

178

25.69

3.37

45.7

Malcolm Marshall (WI)

81

376

20.94

2.68

46.7

Allan Donald (SA)

72

330

22.25

2.83

47.0

Fred Trueman (Eng)

67

307

21.57

2.61

49.4

England’s captain on their first tour of South Africa, in 1888-89, was Aubrey (later Sir Aubrey) Smith – the only England cricketer to lead the side in his only Test. He is also the only one to star in a film with Elizabeth Taylor (Mervyn Le Roy’s Little Women) and to appear on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Colin Wesley holds a unique place in the history of Tests between the sides: at Trent Bridge in 1960, he became the only player known to complete a king pair. Brian Statham got him both times.

England won that game in Durban by two wickets off the last possible ball – a unique occurrence in Test history. Alec Bedser and Cliff Gladwin scampered a leg- Benedict Bermange is the cricket statistician for bye off Lindsay Tuckett’s final delivery after the ball had Sky Sports 16

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Strike-Rate

England v South Africa

QUIZ 1

Which cricketer, who captained England in their first Test against South Africa in 1888-89, later found fame in Hollywood, appearing in over 100 movies?

A ground called Lord’s staged three Tests between England and South Africa before the First World War – but it wasn’t the one in London.

Where was it?

3 5

Eagar’s Eye

This is not a technical masterpiece: I’ve gone in quite tight, only for Graeme Smith to leap high off the ground (well, that’s my excuse for cutting his bat in half). But it does show the power of the man, as well as the ball streaking towards me. When someone is piling on the runs, the story ceases to be his dismissal, so you can safely go square of the wicket in search of some variety. Indeed Smith is one of those batsmen – Andrew Strauss is another – best captured square on. Smith, who made 277, was in awesome touch at Lord’s in 2003, and it wasn’t a medium-pace trundler he was despatching for four: it was Steve Harmison.

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Which bowler, whose action was likened to “a frog in a blender”, made his debut for South Africa against England in 1995-96?

The Centurion Test of 1999-2000 is now mainly remembered because of Hansie Cronje’s involvement with a bookmaker.

But who made his Test debut for South Africa in that match?

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4

Who took a hat-trick – but was also no-balled for throwing – in the 1960 Lord’s Test?

Who scored a century for South Africa at Lord’s in 1994, in their first Test against England for 29 years?

7

2

The father captained England in South Africa in 1922-23; the son did so in 1948-49. What was their surname?

How long did the drawn Timeless Test of 1938-39 actually last?

8

By Steven Lynch Answers on page 21

8

Who broke Don Bradman’s Test record for a visiting batsman at Lord’s, when he scored 259 for South Africa in 2003?

Which England No. 11 twice survived the last over of the match to deny South Africa Test victories in 2009-10?

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From the Archive

Wisden 1999

The summer of 1998 had been dominated by football, but at Trent Bridge the men in long white trousers fought back. Hugh Chevallier witnessed one of sport’s legendary encounters

An irresistible force meets an immovable object Scorecard: click here

England v South Africa, Fourth Test, at Nottingham, July 23–27, 1998.

England won by eight wickets. Toss: England. Test debuts: A. Flintoff; S. Elworthy.

This was the match English cricket desperately needed.

In a summer of endless televised sport, previous Tests had been heavily overshadowed by the football World Cup, fuelling talk of a game in crisis. Now, though, a window in the sporting calendar gave Test cricket the chance to hog the limelight. It grabbed the opportunity, producing a spectacle that, for passion and controversy, was every bit the equal of a penalty shoot-out. The drama mounted steadily until the fourth afternoon when, with England chasing 247 for victory, Atherton and Donald, two giants of the modern game, fought out a titanic battle. One of the largest fifth-day crowds for many years, 11,000, then saw Stewart exuberantly lead his team to an emphatic victory – his first as Test captain. The win set the series alight: one-all with one to play. As Atherton hit the winning runs, the Headingley switchboard was besieged by requests for tickets for the final Test. Amid the euphoria, talk of a crisis evaporated.

The day before the game, Sir Garry Sobers had opened the elegant £7.2m Radcliffe Road stand. Some claimed that, by blocking the breeze from the Trent, it encouraged swing. With two wickets in the last two Tests, Fraser was rumoured to be making way for left-armer Alan Mullally, who might have been better able to take advantage. But Fraser survived, repaying his selection with ten wickets. Hick, in for the injured Thorpe, and Salisbury, replacing Giles, were given the opportunity to resuscitate flagging Test careers. Butcher returned after a hand injury and 20-year-old Andrew Flintoff – recently in the headlines for walloping 34 in an over – made his debut. South Africa recalled Pollock, back to full fitness, and gave Steve Elworthy, 13 years Flintoff ’s senior, his first Test; Klusener had gone home 18

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with an ankle injury and Ntini had a bad heel.

The pitch was green enough for Croft, Manchester’s batting hero (but without a wicket in three Tests), to be left out. Critics believed Stewart’s decision to bowl was coloured more by fear of Donald and Pollock than faith in his attack. He vehemently denied this, later claiming that fielding first was a major factor in the victory.

Nevertheless, the English bowlers struggled to find the predicted swing. Gough had pace enough to force Liebenberg and Kirsten into false shots, Fraser had his trademark accuracy and Flintoff youthful enthusiasm.

But runs flowed steadily; wickets fell slowly. Cronje, in his 50th Test, and Kallis put on a stylish 79 before Flintoff claimed a notable first Test scalp – his eighth in first-class cricket – with one that jagged back at Kallis. But by then Cronje had demolished Salisbury’s confidence in a calculated assault; after an initial maiden, Salisbury’s next eight overs cost 57. South Africa moved from 100 to 150 in just 49 balls.

Shortly after Cronje had reached his sixth Test hundred – his first in 29 matches – South Africa were well set at 292 for five. Before the close, though, Fraser found enough lift and movement with the new ball to remove Pollock, for a lively 50, and Boucher. When Cronje was caught at second slip next morning, Fraser had taken five in a Test innings for the 11th time.

But there was still enough loose bowling around for Elworthy to hit 48 from 52 balls.

In the hands of the South Africans, the ball noticeably swung and seamed, but Atherton and Butcher went for their shots, going on to their third century partnership. After failures by James and Knight, Butcher emphasised his value as Atherton’s opening

partner with an innings of great aplomb. A century seemed to be his but, in the first of several debatable decisions, umpire Dunne ruled him lbw to Donald, bowling round the wicket from wide of the stumps.

The middle order stuttered; Flintoff ’s 17 was a cameo of power and impetuousness. But Ramprakash doggedly hung around for four and a half hours to reduce the deficit to 38.

South Africa made a poor start to their second innings and, for once, the tail could not rescue them.

Cullinan and Cronje, who became the second South African, after Bruce Mitchell, to score 3,000 Test runs, took the total from 21 to 119. Thereafter, batsmen departed to poor shots or to questionable decisions from umpire Kitchen. Kallis and Rhodes were both aggrieved when deemed to have edged Cork to Stewart.

Rhodes left shaking his head in incredulity. On the fourth morning, with Gough nursing an injured toe, Fraser bowled an 11-over spell, relentlessly hitting the ideal line and length and ultimately collecting another five wickets. Cork, rediscovering his swing, took four, all caught behind.

England’s target was 247 in a day and a half, a total which, amazingly, they had not reached in the fourth innings to win a home Test since The Oval in 1902.

Donald began at a furious pace, frequently registering 88mph or more. But only Butcher got out. Atherton and Hussain fought on, punishing the rare loose ball.

Then came a passage of play to rank with the greatest cricketing duels. Cronje, desperate for a wicket, brought back Donald. With England 82 for one, Atherton, on 27, gloved the umpteenth vicious short delivery to Boucher. The celebrations were loud, but short-lived.

The batsman stood his ground; umpire Dunne was similarly unmoved. Donald was first incredulous, then livid. The next ball shot off the inside edge to the boundary. The bowler, now incandescent, snarled at Atherton, who stared impassively back. Channelling all his fury into an unremittingly hostile spell, Donald refused to let the pressure drop. Physically bruised but mentally resilient, Atherton was relishing the battle.

Hussain, when 23, having weathered much of the same storm, was eventually beaten; but to Donald’s utter disbelief, Boucher dropped the catch. At the close, England, on 108 for one, were within sight of victory.

By lunch on the last day, England needed 57. Then Donald belatedly got the wicket he deserved when Kallis pulled off a spectacular catch at second slip to dismiss Hussain. Stewart signalled his intentions by sweeping his first ball, from Adams, for four. His uncompromising approach – he hit another eight boundaries from his next 33 balls – left Atherton stranded on 98. Stewart offered him the chance of a century but Atherton said that victory, rather than a personal landmark, was the aim. Soon after the end of the game, the two teams, Donald and Atherton included, were sharing a beer.

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Trent Bridge ’98, and Allan Donald was absolutely steaming in to Mike Atherton. It was an epic struggle – one of the most competitive passages of play I’ve seen.

But I was afraid I’d been stymied by Donald bowling round the wicket, which meant that Nasser Hussain, the non-striker, kept getting in the way. Thank God for the remote camera! It’s a looser shot, but the fielders convey the collective drama of that split second before Donald realises the umpire is the only person in the ground not to think that Atherton – is he grinning with nervous energy? – has gloved the ball. One for Hot Spot and Snicko nowadays, I reckon.

Man of the Match: A. R. C. Fraser.

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Learn more about Keith Keighley, the England-born batsman who has taken up South African citizenship and may feature for the Proteas this summer.

I DID ACTUALLY REPRESENT ENGLAND at under-12 Kweek Kreekit. It’s a version of the game developed in Yorkshire where you get lectured for 45 minutes if you play an attacking shot. It’s really good for making you value your wicket, and also it makes you value the time when you’re not playing Kreekit. Sadly I found my way into the senior England side blocked because of quotas. Basically they told me straight that I would never get in as a batsman because I didn’t go to private school. It was then that I remembered my great uncle Terry had been in the Merchant Navy and had once been to Cape Town. After a couple of years’ qualification (I had to live in Earl’s Court and work in a pub), I was selected for South Africa.

South Africa is a real outdoor culture, and a lot of the boys in the team spent their childhood on farms, enjoying plenty of open space. Dale Steyn says he got so fast because he had to run away from lions a lot; and Jacques Kallis grew up in a big family where if you didn’t stand up for yourself, you didn’t get to eat a whole bison for breakfast like your brothers. Morne was actually brought up by giraffes.

We had a playing field at school in England but it got concreted over. That was during an under-15s game; it was horrible watching those young cricketers just stuck there as the cement was poured over them. We had a really good young leg-spinner called Tariq but he never managed to get away and he got turned into a statue. The mayor ceremonially unveiled him with a ribbon, so in many ways he’s still made a contribution to England cricket. My only other exposure to animals and fresh air as a kid was when we had a school trip to the local park to try and have a net and I was attacked by pigeons.

I’m hoping that my experience of English conditions will be helpful to South Africa when we tour this summer. I suppose the major difference is that in South Africa the ball comes on to the bat really nicely and in England the rain comes on to the pitch a lot more easily, so you have to adapt to that. I’ve told the boys that having a good pair of wellies is important over here and shown them drills that English cricketers do in our (sorry, their!) summer months – the Daily Star crossword, watching the racing, playing Boggle, staring out the window at the rain with a nagging sense of the hopeless futility of it all.

Baie dankie brus!

Keith Keighley

As told to Tyers & Beach 20

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10 Eagar’s Eye With the possible exception of Paul Collingwood, I’ve never seen a more photogenic fielder than Jonty Rhodes.

Naturally most of the action, at least for someone looking through the viewfinder, involves batsman, bowler or keeper, but some fielders cry out to be photographed, and Rhodes was one. Every now and again I would switch attention to the backward-point region and see what happened. This was taken at the ’92 World Cup, long before autofocus, so it was a case of working out where the fielder was likely to end up and prefocusing on that spot. There wasn’t much room for manoeuvre: one of the downsides of a long lens is that the depth of field is limited, which explains why Rhodes’s shoes are sharp but not (quite) his shoulders. With modern-day cameras you might have as little as two inches to play with… Should I mention that Rhodes missed the ball? Probably not.

QUIZ Answers See page 17 1 C. Aubrey Smith (later Sir Aubrey).

5 Geoff Griffin (South Africa).

2 In Durban; the ground was later supplanted

by Kingsmead as the city’s Test venue, and no longer exists.

6 Kepler Wessels.

3 Mann (Frank in 1922-23; George in 1948-49).

8 Pieter Strydom.

4 Ten playing days, although bad weather prevented any play on one of those. The period (March 3–14, 1939) also included two Sundays, on which no play was scheduled anyway.

9 Graeme Smith (he’d scored 277 in the previous Test at Edgbaston, too).

7 Paul Adams.

10 Graham Onions (at Centurion and Cape Town).

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