South Africa Cricket

Vernon Philander might walk out to the middle to a song called “Blurred Lines,” but none of his bowling lines were blurred on Friday against the West Indies.

It was a day that required patience and skill, and on a wicket which would usually favour the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, Philander was the man who got the most out of the track and the overhead condition.

While the ICC's top Test bowler Steyn was aggressive, with Morkel and Kyle Abbott wayward, Philander kept things tight and simple. He dismantled the top order to help engineer a collapse that saw the Windies manage just 201 in their first innings.

Consistency in his line and length brought him rewards. Out of his 90 deliveries in the West Indies, 77 were dot balls. Philander hardly did anything outstanding. He rarely relies on pace and bowled just one delivery above 137km/h in the Windies’ first innings. The rest were all between 127-134 km/h.

Philander’s probing line has consistently proven to the be perfect partner to Steyn’s snarling pace. One of the pair roughs up the batsmen, the other frustrates them into making mistakes.

Opening the bowling alongside Steyn, Philander started off steadily, with figures of 5-1-17-0 in his first spell. His opening partner had equally impressive figures of 5-1-13-0, but that was merely the foundation for what was to come.

Morkel and Abbott came into the attack and runs started to leak, with the run-rate upping to over 3.00 an over. But just before lunch, Hashim Amla brought his main bowlers back and that's when the magic happened. Philander bowled a superb spell with figures of 4-2-2-2 and Steyn had figures of 5-1-17-0 and the Windies went to lunch on 110-2. 

When asked about statistics, Philander's usual answer is: stats don't lie. He credits playing a lot of first-class cricket before making his Test bow as part of the reason for him performing as well as he does. He also just enjoys "Being out there and winning games for South Africa."

It would seem that the more he plays, the better he gets. Confidence in his approach also serves him well, and that showed in the second session on day three.

When Philander returned after lunch, nothing changed. His line, consistently full on the off stump, kept forcing players into edges. Shivnarine Chanderpaul was the first to fall after the break and was soon followed by Jermaine Blackwood. Both were caught in the slips, but were deliveries slightly outside the off stump.

His probing length, forcing batsmen to play, proved to be far more effective than the aggressive approach of trying to rough up batsmen and allowing them to duck underneath bouncers.

By the time Philander had completed his third spell, his figures read 15-6-29-4 and his Test average had plummeted to 20.9. His economy rate was just 1.93.

Philander pretty much had a perfect day with the ball and Morkel was summoned to dismantle the tail. He did so by plucking out three more batsmen. Abbott and Dean Elgar did the rest, and at the end of the first innings, South Africa enforced the follow-on.

The West Indies’ second innings brought more of the same. Philander bowled just three overs, but they were all tight, outside off stump, and he didn't concede a single run, just picked up a wicket.

Since his introduction to Test cricket in 2011, Philander has been the perfect Yin to Steyn’s Yang, and while the 29-year-old has had his off days, which bowler doesn’t?

All quotes obtained first-hand. 

South Africa took a stranglehold of the first Test against the West Indies after making the tourists follow-on at Centurion.

Replying to the Proteas’ 552-5 declared, the men from the Caribbean were skittled out for just 201 on day three.

After first innings double centurion Hashim Amla enforced the follow-on in his first home Test as captain, WI reached 76-2 in their second innings, still 275 runs behind.

Vernon Philander was the chief tormenter as he picked up 4-29 with Morne Morkel claiming 3-55.

20.9 - @OfficialCSA's @VDP_24's current Test bowling average of 20.9 is the best by any bowler to play since 1970 (100+ wkts). Tidy.

— OptaJim (@OptaJim) December 19, 2014

Seamer Philander broke a 72-run opening partnership between Devon Smith (35) and Kraigg Brathwaite (34), removing the openers in consecutive overs.

He then picked up the key wicket of Shivnarine Chanderpaul (21) before Jermaine Blackwood (12) departed, both edging full deliveries to Alviro Petersen at second slip.

Oldest West Indies Test player: GHeadley 44y 230d, NBetancourt 42y 242d, LGibbs 41y 124d, AWiles 40y 345d, Shiv Chanderpaul 40y 125d. #SAvWI

— Cricket Record (@cricinfo_record) December 19, 2014

The tail failed to waggle with the last six wickets falling for just 39 runs and Kemar Roach unable to bat after picking up an ankle injury.

It took just four overs of West Indies’ second innings before Philander struck again, removing Smith (5), caught at point, for the second time in a day.

Devon Smith waited three-and-a-half years for a Test comeback. Dismissed twice in a day on his return http://t.co/COHndRSfSL #SAvWI

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) December 19, 2014

Brathwaite then again failed to convert a start when Petersen snared a third catch at second slip, off Morkel's bowling, after pushing hard at a full length delivery having made 20.

The match is the first in a three-Test series with encounters in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town to follow.

It seems the burden of captaincy is not weighing too heavily on the shoulders of Hashim Amla.

South Africa's Test skipper made 208 against West Indies in Centurion on Thursday, as the hosts piled on the runs following a sticky start to the series.

Put into bat, they lost three wickets with the score stuck on 57 in the morning session on Day 1. However, thanks to Amla and AB de Villiers, who made 152, they did not suffer a further setback until a further 308 runs had been added to their total.

The skipper combined to contribute a further 155 runs in partnership with debutant Stiaan van Zyl before finally perishing when he lofted spinner Sulieman Benn to Jerome Taylor at long-on.

Amla took the decision to declare his side’s innings at 552-5 shortly after Van Zyl reached three figures, though his bowlers were denied the chance to have a go at the tourists with the new ball due to rain.

His captaincy skills may be put to the test over the next three days, as there could yet be further interruptions to proceedings because of bad weather. Thunderstorms could hinder play on Friday, per Weather.com, though the outlook for the weekend is much brighter.

Now ensconced at four in the batting order—a move down from three, which he confirmed in the pre-match press conference he had made to give him a “little bit of extra time,” per Firdose Moonda of ESPN Cricinfo—the right-hander knows there is pressure to perform in a new-look batting order.

In home Tests, double-century in first match as captain: Graham Dowling, Sunil Gavaskar, Martin Crowe, Shiv Chanderpaul, Hashim Amla. #SAvWI

— Cricket Record (@record_cricinfo) December 18, 2014

South Africa currently own top spot in the ICC Test rankings. After the current three-match series against the men from the Caribbean, they do not play in the longest format again until England arrive on their shores next December.

Amla, though, has made a positive start in the job. He has won three matches and drawn the other since replacing the retired Graeme Smith as captain, with all of those results recorded overseas.

He made 139 not out to help earn a draw in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo, a result that also secured a series win, and has now become the first South African captain to hit a double hundred on home soil.

The 31-year-old has shown a liking for big scores; he is the only player for South Africa to have registered a triple hundred, finishing up unbeaten on 311 at the Oval in 2012, as only a declaration put England’s beleaguered bowlers out of their misery.

While Amla churns out his runs, De Villiers does his work at the crease with a little more style. He makes batting look ridiculously easy, seemingly having an eternity to pick up line and length and then choose where to hit it. He is a touch player yet is someone who is just as capable of clearing the rope as he is working an easy single.

Antoinette Muller wrote for Bleacher Report after Day 1 at SuperSport Park about the brilliance of South Africa’s current ODI captain. Their Test leader has also provided another example of why he too is a world-class performer, albeit in his own unflappable way.

Amla has always been able to manipulate straight deliveries to leg with a flick of the wrists. Now, though, he has a much more rounded game, someone capable of scoring heavily on both sides of the wicket.

He is the owner of a rasping cover drive to anything that is pitched too full, plus he has also swept spinners to distraction. Just ask the India bowlers who toiled during his unbeaten 253 made in Nagpur in 2010 or England's Graeme Swann during the triple hundred at the Oval in 2012.

The dynamic duo of Amla and De Villiers, who both own Test averages in the 50s, will continue to be cornerstones for some time to come for a Proteas side that seem to be in very safe hands with their new leader, a man who picks his words carefully and looks to lead by example.

Ten years ago to the day, a lush-haired AB de Villiers made his debut for South Africa. Three Tests later, he scored his first Test century. A decade on, and De Villiers is still going, having not missed a single Test in that time period. In this day and age, that is quite an extraordinary achievement.

Not only does it take exceptional fitness to stay so consistent, but it also takes immense commitment to the cause. While some players would opt out of “easier” series against “smaller” opposition, De Villiers has always put representing his country first, no matter which team he had to face.

Although the video above might be part of a marketing campaign, South Africa’s cricketers have always seemed more in tune with their fanbase than any other country in the World. As De Villiers was nearing his 20th Test Century on Wednesday against the West Indies, his home fans clapped and cheered him on. Although the crowd was modest, their support was genuine and overwhelming. As he reached his ton, they rose to their feet to applaud their hometown hero.

For a player of De Villiers’ calibre, there was no better way to mark a decade in Test match whites. A decade after first stepping out for South Africa in Test match whites, De Villiers looks as motivated as ever, and there seems to be no end in sight to his run-scoring prowess.

AB de Villiers scores a century ten years to the day after he made his Test debut! History will remember him as one of the best of all time.

— Alt Cricket (@AltCricket) December 17, 2014

Already South Africa's third-highest run-scorer in the longest format of the game, behind Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis, De Villiers is already seen as one of South Africa's all-time greats. Although he is still some way off from catching up to Test cricket’s leading run-scorers, it’s De Villiers’ innovation that should see him lauded as one of the all-time great Test players.

De Villiers' consistency in Tests is equally impressive. Since 2008, only once has he averaged under 50.00 in a calendar year. That was in 2011, when South Africa played just five Tests, and he still averaged 47.12. Since 2008, he has scored 23 of his career 36 fifties and 17 of his career 20 hundreds. He has become one of South Africa’s most consistent players and shows no sign of letting up just yet.

At the end-of-the-day press conference, coach Russell Domingo revealed that both AB de Villiers and his teammate Hashim Amla were pretty drained after such a long day out in the field. Having not played Test cricket since August, South Africa bounced back from being 57-3 to 340-3 at the close of play thanks to Amla and De Villiers.  De Villiers’ strike-rate was at a steady 66.82 at the end of the day, but his approach has very much turned things around. Domingo told the media:

We have two of the best batsmen in the world in our side at the moment in Hashim and AB. It’s difficult to separate the two of them in this format. De Villiers is just so naturally gifted and he understands the game very well. He has an excellent cricket brain, too. It’s so difficult for bowlers to settle when they are playing against these two players because they are always finding ways to score, and that’s what makes them so special.

Always looking to score is something that De Villiers did incredibly well on Wednesday, and while he might have been exhausted by the end of play, he's got a lot left in him—not just when he continues his dig on Thursday but also in the years to come. 

All quotes obtained firsthand.

The last couple of years have been difficult for South Africa seamer Lonwabo Tsotsobe, but the news that he is in the Proteas’ 30-man Cricket World Cup squad must come as a relief.

Having been ranked as the No. 1 bowler in one-day internationals from February 2012 until May 2013, the left-armer came crashing down to earth in the months that followed.

He was forced to have ankle surgery earlier this year, which meant he missed his team’s tours of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe to recover.

Before that, he was criticised by South Africa head coach Russell Domingo for his fitness, form and work ethic, and snuck into their ODI squad at the last minute for another tour of Sri Lanka.

He ended as the Proteas’ second-highest wicket-taker in that series, showing he still had plenty of ability in spite of his coach’s concerns.

The aforementioned ankle surgery took place in April this year, during a relative lull in the international calendar, and meant the 30-year-old could refocus in domestic cricket.

With the Lions, Tsotsobe has taken 29 wickets in all formats, while his List A record of 12 wickets in six matches has been especially encouraging.

Having been left out of the squad that visited Australia and New Zealand, he was able to prove his fitness and get into form, and he seems to have done that at just the right time.

Unfortunately, he rejoins the Proteas with their fast-bowling resources looking particularly strong, led by Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel.

With their final squad limited to only 15 players, whether Tsotsobe makes the World Cup will be dependent on how many bowlers South Africa decide to have in reserve.

And, with the likes of Wayne Parnell, Ryan McLaren and Kyle Abbott all in the reckoning, this World Cup may not have come quite at the right time for Tsotsobe.

He will be desperate to find a place in the Proteas’ squad to face the touring West Indies in three Twenty20 Internationals and five ODIs, and that could be his time to impress.

It is all a far cry from his ODI debut in 2009 for South Africa, when he took 4-50 against Australia in Perth and helped the visitors win by 39 runs.

At the time, it seemed as though the Proteas had unearthed another gem to bolster their talented and highly effective seam attack.

He certainly was useful in ODIs, making 61 appearances and taking 94 wickets before his latest game against India at Centurion in 2013.

However, injuries and a loss of form took their toll, as did the emergence of the likes of Abbott and Parnell into top-quality international bowlers.

With his efforts in domestic cricket and his inclusion in South Africa’s initial squad for the World Cup, perhaps a return to international cricket is on the cards.

He will certainly be hoping so.

It’s getting somewhat repetitive, but with just a few months to go before the 2015 Cricket World Cup, it’s becoming quite clear that South Africa have two rather glaring weaknesses.

First, the middle order’s inconsistency and brittleness was once again laid bare.  Having won the toss and elected to bat first, South Africa’s top order stuttered. AB de Villiers and David Miller put on 122 runs for the fourth wicket, but no other batsman managed a significant score.

It meant that South Africa managed just 267 runs in their 50 overs.  The last five overs brought them just 23 runs, for the loss of two wickets.

The absence of depth and skill in the middle order is starting to hurt the Proteas in pressure situations. While a bad day at the office is expected, overreliance on four key batsmen is something that needs to change if they have any hope of competing in the World Cup.

While JP Duminy’s return will have a big impact, that still leaves the No. 7 position vulnerable. Ryan McLaren usually slots in there, but he has not adapted to Australian conditions and will be a liability during the competition. Farhaan Behardien and Rilee Rossouw have not been up to scratch in ODIs, and that leaves South Africa with precious little time to prop up the middle order.

There is no time left to test out an alternative option. As per NDTV, the deadline for announcing squads for the competition is 11 January 2015. Following this ODI series against Australia, South Africa’s next assignment is against the West Indies, and that only begins on 16 January 2015. This means that if South Africa wanted to prop up their middle order, they would have to be pragmatic in their selection and choose a player who has not yet been tested.

While it’s unlikely that all of their top-order batsmen will continue their slump in form throughout the World Cup, a batting boost would do them a world of good.

That is, however, just one problem. The other glaring weakness is South Africa’s bowling towards the latter stages of the innings. Bowling in the last five overs has been a big concern for some time now, but South Africa took their struggles with bowling plans to the next level on Friday.

Having pegged Australia back to 98-5 in Melbourne on Friday, South Africa were on track to record a victory. AB de Villiers deserves credit for opting to be aggressive in the 25^th over. He brought Dale Steyn back for an extra spell, and it yielded the wicket of Glenn Maxwell and pushed the required rate to over eight an over, but it all went awry very quickly from there. James Faulkner's late charge also showed that South Africa certainly haven't looked into the opposition as carefully as they should have. 

As impressive as Steve Smith and Matthew Wade were, South Africa’s field settings and bowling lengths were completely wrong. They might have been without the experience of Imran Tahir and Vernon Philander, but even a bowler as menacing as Steyn is far too often found out as an innings drags on.

It’s not an easy fix, but it’s something South Africa are aware of.

Coach Russell Domingo admitted at the post-match press conference that South Africa still have a lot of hard work ahead before the World Cup rolls around in three months’ time.

"They bat a long way down, they have a lot of depth in their batting," he said. "They were probably a lot better than us in the back end with the ball in terms of the lengths they bowled, the change-up of pace was also really good. With the bat we probably didn’t play smart enough, we looked for too many boundaries and not enough ones and twos in these big fields. That is a lot of learning for us particularly in that phase of the game."

From a bowling perspective, though, there is a bit more time to settle things down and refine those plans towards the end of an innings. Unlike with the batting, where there is a lack of depth and talent, the bowling simply needs to rethink their strategy.

That South Africa are aware of the nagging issues is a good start. Whether they’ll be able to find a fix for their weaknesses in time for the World Cup, only time will tell.

Quotes obtained firsthand.

Today marks the 14-year anniversary since Allan Donald became the first-ever South African to take 300 wickets in a Test match.  That might seem like a random statistic, but it offered time for some introspection. Where does Donald rank among South Africa’s greatestever?

Well, we’re glad you asked. While the question is often subjective, we’ve come up with a formula to eke out some data and award points for certain feats.

The formula worked as follows:

• For every 100 Test wickets, 25 points, rounded to the nearest quarter of 100 for an additional 6.25 points
• Every 50 wickets in ODIs, 20 points, rounded to the nearest quarter of 100 for an additional five points
• Five wicket hauls in Tests earn a player 15 points
• Ten wicket hauls are worth 20 points
• Five wicket hauls in ODIs are worth 15 points
• There was also a bonus point factor for maidens bowled.  Five extra points for every 100 maidens (total divided by 100 x 5)

Only the top six wicket-takers in both ODIs and Tests were considered in order to derive a top five. Fortunately, most of South Africa’s top Test bowlers are also South Africa’s top ODI bowlers, so there’s not much difference in terms of crossing over.

The player at the top of the list won’t be a surprise to anybody. It's obviously Dale Steyn, despite scoring low in the ODI scores and the maidens, Steyn's immense record in Tests, especially when it comes to five and ten wicket hauls, more than makes up for his low scores elsewhere.

Here's a look at the full table:

Based on these formulas, Donald is ranked fourth on South Africa's "all-time" great list. But, as this article has already mentioned, greatness is often subjective, and it's worth taking a closer look at some of the key figures.

Steyn's place at the top of the order does not need any explanation or introspection. He simply is the best fast bowler South Africa has ever had. Things become far more interesting when assessing the numbers of Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Donald.

Donald only outscored his fellow pacers in one area, most five-wicket hauls in Tests, and that's where "greatest of all time" becomes quite subjective.

Greatness is defined by many different things and with different formats to contend with in cricket, it becomes even more tricky to find a foolproof formula. For the purposes of this exercise, wickets and performances in Test matches are given greater weight than one-day cricket since Test cricket is the ultimate format.

If performances in one-day cricket are completely eliminated, Steyn's efforts look even more remarkable. Also, considering Steyn is playing in an era where pitches tend to favour batsmen and the fact that he's played fewer Tests than South Africa's leading wicket-takers, Pollock and Ntini, Steyn is simply out of this world.

But, here is where it gets interesting. When one-day games are removed, Donald moves to second in the “greatest-ever” stakes.

Here, Donald outscored Ntini on just one area, and that was five-wicket hauls—he finished with 20 while Nitni had 18. Ntini finished his career with four 10-wicket hauls, while Donald had three. Based on those stats, the two were much closer than you might have expected at first.

Pollock, however, despite being South Africa's leading wicket-taker in Tests and having bowled more maidens than any of the other bowlers in Tests, falls into the shadows somewhat. 

The answer to the question of where Donald ranks in the "all-time" great stakes, then, is far more complicated to answer. If greatness is defined by ability to cross over between formats, then being around fourth is probably a fair assessment. However, if you consider Tests to be the ultimate and are of the opinion that nothing else matters, Donald is second only to Steyn. 

Despite having just four front-line bowlers, South Africa skittled Australia out for 154 in the second one-day international in Perth on Sunday. Morne Morkel ran riot, finishing with figures of 8-0-21-5, his best ever in one-day cricket.  

He was only the fourth ever South African bowler to take a five-for in ODIs in Australia and his efforts, backed up by Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn, showed South Africa’s versatility in the bowling department.

Steyn, usually the snarling opening bowler, was demoted to bowling first change, while Philander stuck around as opening lieutenant. It would seem an odd move in most cases, but Morkel exploited the pace and bounce, and he forced errors on Australia’s batsmen as they stumbled to 154 all out. Only Mitchell Marsh, who scored 67 off 88, managed a score of significance.

Morkel was constantly in Australia’s face and, aside from his wickets, he also took two catches, making him only the second ever South African bowler to be involved in seven dismissals in an ODI.

The lanky paceman can often be inconsistent, and his economy rate of 2.62 was his lowest since October last year. Back then, he also opened the bowling, against Pakistan in Sharjah, taking three wickets as South Africa won a tense fixture by one run.

In fact, Morkel's overall average economy rate is at its lowest when he opens the bowling. Overall, it sits at 4.86. When opening the bowling from the get go, it's 4.75. When Morkel bowls second, his economy rate is at its highest, at 5.32. When he bowls first change, it's 4.81 and when bowling second change, it's 4.89.

While bowlers’ positions are often far less defined than batsmen, some bowlers simply do better in certain positions. Morkel thrives under the responsibility of leading the attack and while it might seem odd to have somebody like Steyn bowling first change, having bowlers who can do that is a great luxury for South Africa.

Steyn has only bowled first-change in one-day cricket in seven matches, but his economy rate of 5.16 and his average of 27.70 is far higher than his economy rate of 4.75 and average of 23.91 when he takes the ball first up.

With one-day cricket now offering bowlers two new balls up front, though, South Africa’s ability to shift their bowlers around is something that could very much be to their advantage.

“Horses for courses” is an expression often bandied about in sport and it’s very relevant for this South African team. Having three bowlers who know how to bowl with the new ball means they can switch around the order without too much trouble and, often, with great success.

While much fuss is made about the top-four batsmen, their four main bowlers are equally impressive.

South African bowlers ODI averages are mind blowing Morkel (23), Steyn (25), Philander (22), Tahir (20)

— Ghumman (@Emclub7) November 16, 2014

While South Africa's death bowling continues to be worrying, they have shown time and time again they have the firepower up front to rip the heart out of many batting attacks. They are also starting to show they have the versatility to mix things up when it’s required. This ODI series is all about testing combinations and it’s becoming increasingly clear that South Africa have the luxury of being able to mix up their combinations. 

All stats via ESPNCricinfo, unless otherwise stated.