ENGLAND TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA 2020
Of the South Africans laid off, only format rookie George Linde was uncharitable with his wicket. © AFP
One framed black and white photograph hangs among eight others on a wall of the temporary press location in Newlands. It’s from Jacques Kallis on the hook. All that touches the ground, a good six inches behind the crease, is the toe of his right boot. His left leg is almost stretched out in front of him, kicking the air can-can-style, with the toe of that boot at eye level.
His head has turned to look back with his square leg. His hands have crossed the shot and are about to reach the equator drawn from the tip of his left shoulder. The look in his eyes is that of a gnarly boxer who has landed the left hook of his life. Fortunately, the ball has fled the scene.
Only then do you realize: he’s in white! Jacques Kallis has played this outrageous coup, this thing of visceral and lasting power, this immaculate confection of ambition and impossibility … in a Test Match!
Even in its static, two-dimensional form, photography is a much richer and more rewarding sight than what was happening out the window in full color. South Africa played their first game in 265 days in Newlands on Friday: a T20 against England, followed by two more and then three ODIs.
Total assistants, players, umpires, scorers and all, was 306. And six Egyptian geese, who made determined but frustrated attempts to cross the field as South Africa put in 179/6, the fourth highest first inning in the 20s. plays here and the second biggest of the local team in this field.
It was also 25 more runs than South Africa scored when they defeated England in September 2007; the only one of the three day and night T20Is played at this field was won by the side that hit first.
But that’s when T20 cricket was as new as test cricket seems old now. So the target should have been significantly higher. Of the South Africans sacked, only format rookie George Linde, who was attacked by Tom Curran with the last ball of innings, was not charitable with his wicket.
Worse still, Quinton de Kock gifted his with a blip for cover to end a steady march at 30, Faf du Plessis looked like he had been hitting for weeks, which he has, before hitting a square hole for 58, and Rassie van der Dussen had forged flint at 37 when he threw a full square shot deep back. South Africa’s hitting reeked of unfinished business cricket crime.
Geese stalked the outfield during England’s response, seemingly without alarm when Jason Roy left the field in a flurry of F-words after attempting to sweep the second inning ball, thrown by Linde, and get close to De Kock, and did not shocked. when Jos Buttler and Dawid Malan also came out within the first six overs. Nor did Ben Stokes pick Linde at the long fence at 15, after cutting 37 from 27, to end a position of 85 with Jonny Bairstow, who ruffled their feathers.
Maybe they knew that Bairstow was ready for the fight. Her combative 86 no out, a performance worthy of a fierce and bearded redhead, kept England on top during an inning that staggered one way or another. Bairstow faced 48 balls and hit 60 of his runs in four and six. And he hit them right, none more than the one-handed drive that sent running through the inlets for four even though Beuran Hendricks’ full, low shot was late.
Perhaps the geese also knew that without any of the SUVs Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius in the XI, Heinrich Klaasen would be called up to bowling for the first time in his 12 T20I, that he would play with Stokes and Bairstow, and that his single most it would cost 14 races.
And that Hendricks would lose the plot on a nightmare 17 about which he started with England needing 51. When he finished, they needed 23. Two singles, three fours and a six was pretty bad, but what melted South Africa’s hopes were the eight wide. . five of them in a pitch that hit the ground for the first time somewhere in the field on its way to the thin-leg fence. The geese, along with all the followers of South Africa, knew from the beginning that it was a foolish idea to leave Anrich Nortje out.
If Hendricks needs a shoulder to cry on, he has Du Plessis, who said, “In T20 cricket you have a guarantee that someone is going to go into the night. As the leader, I wouldn’t investigate too much if a guy is going to run. That’s the nature of the beast. Tomorrow he could bowl in exactly the same areas and he gets five for. I wouldn’t judge him too harshly. Tonight was not his night, and they played well Against him. ”
Bairstow secured England’s victory by five wickets with four balls to spare: a six arched towards the construction site past the long time. It was a beautiful shot without being special, a way to get the job done rather than a shot that will freeze in a frame to stop everyone who sees it. Jacques Kallis would have approved, but was not impressed.
© Cricbuzz
