England have a very good batting line-up. Apart from Keaton Jennings and Gary Ballance, they boast a lot of class and fireworks in their batting and thus, I was expecting a fight from them on the fourth day of second Test at Trent Bridge. But astonishingly, the English batting collapsed in just 44.2 overs and 20 English wickets fell within 96.1 overs.
It was in 2009 at Headingley against arch rivals Australia that England faced less than 100 overs in both innings. This is England’s second biggest home defeat in last twenty years. South Africa thrashed the hosts to bounce back in style despite losing their premium bowler Kagiso Rabada who was suspended by the match referee in a bizarre fashion in the first Test.
Root was below average as captain
While following the Test for the last four days, one thing struck me and it was the tactical aspect of Joe Root and Faf du Plessis. While Faf took bigger strides to apply his tactical brains, Root was found wanting, which let South Africa come back into the game. Root was short of ideas and at times, he seemed a bit defensive while the visitors stitched partnerships to swell the lead.
The Trent Bridge track supported the pacers early on and English pacers tested the temperament of South African batsmen, but as the freshness of the wicket started to ebb away, it showed signs of variable bounce and slow turn and invited Root to introduce the spinners. But Root kept on using his pacers, which ultimately backfired as, on such a track, the old ball became easier to handle than new and thus, productive partnerships flourished.
On the third day, Root kept Moeen out of the attack for more than forty overs and there was a period of 17 overs, when Root only relied on pacers which fetched no wickets and when Hashim Amla smacked Liam Dawson, Root took caution over aggression and did not think of bowling Moeen Ali, who could have been fruitful on that slow and low third day track. Even the amount of turn and bounce Keshav Maharaj generated, did not strike Root’s cricketing sense. Overall, the spinners only bowled 27 overs out of 104 and that’s where Root lost the plot.
Hashim Amla, Dean Elgar, Faf and Vernon Philander scored runs freely whereas, it’s known to everyone, South Africa are not better players against spin bowling.
Captain Root has certainly seen another side of the coin of captaincy in a short time.
Faf was tactically brilliant
Meanwhile, Root’s counterpart, Faf was absolutely brilliant tactically. In the second day, he noticed, his second-changed seamers; Chris Morris and Duanne Oliveir to leak plenty of runs, Faf asked Morkel to carry the extra workload and engaged Maharj at the other end to create pressure. While Maharaj and Morkel, kept things tight, Faf’s message to Morris was to rethink his intent and inject more aggression in it by bowling fast.
He threw the ball to Morris for a second spell after lunch and England found the going tough against him. He bowled fast, banged it short and swung late which devoured England in no time. “The message was clear from Faf: be aggressive and bowl fast. For me that cleared any doubt on what I needed to do,” Morris said.
He was breathing fire in the fourth innings as well. The ball which dismissed Root was one of the best deliveries of this Test. It was full at the base of middle and off clocking around 87 mph and swung late to disturb the wood work of England’s captain.
Morris’ inclusion was a masterstroke and he proved me right as after the defeat at Lord’s I suggested about his inclusion in the team.
Then, South Africa’s first wicket in the first session of day 4 was the result of Faf’s tactical brilliance as well. He shifted to a more attacking field which confused Jennings and Philander’s full and targeting the off delivery beat his defence easily. Faf noticed how reluctant Jennings was while coming forward and immediately, he changed the field, so that it exposes Jennings’ defence by making him uncomfortable.
Again, maintaining the attacking field despite Root and Ben Stokes counterattack on day 2. England counterattacked but did not realise the importance of composure. They became ultra-attacking and always gave South Africa the chance of a wicket which actually happened in both innings.
Faf knew Bairstow will try something ultra-aggressive and set a fielder at mid on who took the catch and he could sense, Moeen would go for a half-hearted sweep and for which, he set Heino Kuhn at square leg who took the catch which was the result of Faf’s excellent reading of opposition’s mind.
England batting need composure
England’s batting was reckless. They hardly thought of executing defensive strokes. Their stroke-play hinted, they were in a hurry and over confident which ultimately led to their downfall. Both the tracks at Lord’s and Trent Bridge demanded patience and composure. England exhibited that in the first innings at Lord’s, but after that, they remained a bunch of reckless kids.
In the third Test, they need to fix their batting order and bat with a bit more intent. And of course, this Engalnd team doesn’t need Gary Ballance and Keaton Jennings for a while.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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