After Pakistan ended day one of the first Test against South Africa in such a strong position, we analyse what the batsmen must now do to take the game by the scruff of the neck, and whether or not they will be able to counter the threat of Steyn, Morkel and Philander.

by Kamran Wasti (1st February 2013)

When tackling Australia or South Africa on their home ground, you need to control the pace of the game. That’s what Pakistan did today – consciously or subconsciously, they did not let South Africa do what they would have liked to have done, something they, at some stage, have almost always managed to achieve in the opening Tests of their home rubbers , most notably against India two years ago when the visitors were shot out for 130-odd and by the second day, the South Africans led by over 200 with just two wickets down. 

There has been no major momentum swing in this match so far. In fact, it has essentially been a game of attrition being played on a wicket where seemingly no South African batsman has settled in. In the past, when Pakistan could boast of great bowling attacks, conceding a 40-odd lead in the first innings never mattered as the team showed in New Zealand in 1993 and 1994 but here, if they are to win this test, they need to drain South Africa’s will power completely. For that, the Pakistanis need to bat for the next two days – dull, dour batting that saps the energy out of the South African team – maybe scoring at under three runs per over before letting Saeed Ajmal prey on the hosts’ nerves on a wicket where he was already turning his off-breaks in the very first session.

Pakistanis have been there often – they have blown it often too. From the days of Imran Khan they started blasting oppositions out. Today was more reminiscent of a Stephen-Fleming-led New Zealand – every bowler, including Craig McMillan and Nathan Astle chipping in with a few wickets. Junaid Khan bowled well without being spectacular while Saeed Ajmal slowly settled into a holding role ensuring that boundaries were not a frequent occurrence. Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis apart, wickets fell because of a shell South Africa went into. Without making it obvious, the Pakistanis were quietly tenacious enough to ensure that the free-flowing partnership between Kallis and Amla was an outlier. 

Pakistanis have a tendency to start their first day of Test cricket in Australia with five dropped catches. Here there were none. With no Kamran Akmal behind the stumps, the wicketkeeper, barring the two review calls, also wasn’t a disaster. Misbah played his cards well – there was nothing imaginative about getting Younis Khan to bowl an over. His is a case of been there, done that and there was certainly nothing imaginative about making Hafeez take the new ball. The only ones in shock were the South Africans for they would never have imagined making Robin Peterson bowl with the new ball. 

Kallis sat out of a Durban test sixteen years ago where the situation was similar – Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath bowled South Africa out for 230-odd before Alan Donald and Shaun Pollock killed the Indian reply for 100. That line-up had Muhammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar and two upcoming youngsters who had already made their mark: Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Replace Donald with Dale Steyn and Shaun Pollock with Vernon Philander, then add the towering Morne Morkel and South Africa could very well replicate that show. Kallis also sat out of another test played on a very similar wicket against the very same opposition – Pakistan, in Faisalabad in 1997, shot South Africa out for 240 and then dominated the test till they needed 146 to win and Shaun Pollock bowled them out for 92. 

No-one from the current Pakistani squad played that match. In fact, Younis Khan made his debut over two years after that Test. But they have enough batting failures in recent times to remember that their work is cut out – to bat South Africa out of the test, they need to spend two days in the middle. If they do, Misbah and Whatmore can realize South Africa’s worst nightmare, even worse than a part-time off-spinner taking wickets with the new ball: Saeed Ajmal preying on their nerves on a crumbling wicket. With the way this South African team has been playing, that, for now, remains very unlikely.

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