Anrich Nortje returns to form with a bang in New York

Anrich Nortje’s bad form wasn’t any electoral bond hidden under heaps of skeletons buried deep under the red tape. It was out there, visible to everyone willing to keep their eyes open and see him get tonked mercilessly by batters of all kinds in the Indian Premier League (IPL) just a few weeks ago. 

Nortje, troubled by injuries, had a sorry return to the IPL this year, where he was among the worst pacers of the season with an economy of 13.4 and an average of 42 with the ball. He played only six matches for the Delhi Capitals and lost his place before the halfway stage in the league phases. 

That’s why eyebrows were raised when Nortje was named in South Africa’s squad for the T20 World Cup after not having played international cricket for more than nine months.

Sometimes, just a push is needed to make the long leap. 

This selection was that push for Nortje, as he lit up New York with his seething pace and bounce in the first T20 international ever played in the global metropolis. 

After having chosen to bat first, it was clear that Sri Lanka had thrown themselves into a quagmire. 

The pitch was bouncing and bouncing inconsistently. Moreover, the pitch had pace, and once the ball was dug into it, it also had a spongy tennis ball bounce. Add to the fact that there was prodigious seam movement with the new ball, and you could already see why the Proteas pacers were so much at home on this pitch. 

Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada were proving very hard to line. The Lankans had scored just 24/1 by the end of the powerplay, and the sluggish outfield made it even tougher for them to accumulate their runs quickly. 

But then arrived Nortje and his pace, and it was carnage. The sweet old carnage that you associate with a 150 kmph bowler in rhythm and form. 

He arrived in the eighth over of the Lankan innings, and instantly, he hit the deck hard first up on a shortish length outside off. Kusal Mendis was ready to capitalise on the slight width on the offer, and he figured out how to play it over mid-on, but the ball climbed on him and sailed over his bat. 

Venom. Hard Length. Accuracy = Nortje of the old. 

The next three balls were hell for Mendis. He was back and front in the crease, somehow trying to get bat on the ball. Nortje ended his partner Kamindu Mendis’ misery on the fifth ball by enticing him with a pitched-up delivery on his pads, which he hit straight to the fielder at deep backward square leg. Nortje then returned in the tenth over and packed Kusal Mendis by making him play the short ball again. 

Just four runs off the bat and two wickets in two overs. Sri Lanka were already on their knees and five down. Next came the inevitable decapitation. 

Like he got leftie Kamindu out, Nortje bowled a similar delivery to Charith Asalanka, full and angling into his pads, and sent him back to the pavilion. 

When he finally got Angelo Mathews out playing a pull shot, the only batter who looked in some semblance of batting form, it was a body blow to the Lankans, and they abjectly ended up getting all out for just 77 runs.

A quick look at his lengths is enough to indicate that it was the short and back of good-length stuff from Nortje that did the trick for him. That same length, which is his bread and butter stuff. It's the same length that you picture him bowling when you think of his bowling. 

The pitch was helpful, and Nortje made full use of it. The Proteas will play their next two games in New York itself. They have seen the surface. They have seen how helpful it is. And their most lethal weapon has already tasted blood. 

The South Africans have entered the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, and it’s their most out-of-form bowler who rose like a star in the land of dreams.