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Follow Us“Test cricket is all about survival.”
That’s the most hackneyed adage in cricket, and just like all cliches go, it’s an oversimplification. However, just like all cliches, it carries a semblance of truism. Because situations in Test cricket and life sometimes demand you to grind it out. They ask for your blood, sweat and tears. Even that isn’t enough sometimes.
South African Women were in a situation that demanded similar reactions against India in Chennai after Day 1.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s women had notched up 525/4, the most runs ever scored in a single day’s play in Test cricket (both men’s and women’s). The Proteas bowlers had leaked runs at more than five runs/over. And don’t forget that sultry Chennai weather and the fact that they fielded 100 overs in the sun.
On Day 2, after India declared at 603/6, all South Africa needed was to survive in the game. They had to get their act together with the bat and bat long and deep enough to force an unlikely draw somehow or just show that they weren’t just here to melt under the sun.
However, South Africa didn’t just survive in Chennai. They showed resilience, a trait similar to survival, but also with the ability to bounce back. At the end of the day, it made all the difference.
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When the Indians declared their innings just before the lunch break, it was understood that we’d see a repeat of what happened in the Tests against England and Australia last year. India scored big in the first innings, and then their spinners wrapped up the opposition and couriered them back to their hotels before you could say “Deepti Sharma.”
However, South Africa, the least experienced Test side India has faced at home since last year, showed that they will make it a point to stick around.
Skipper Laura Wolvaardt and her opening partner Anneke Bosch began in that exact fashion. Wolvaardt played the pacers with ease, but her bad run of form in Test cricket (averages 11 in four innings) continued, and she was convicted for playing a cross-batted shot on a delivery from Sneh Rana that came in and stayed just a bit low.
After that, Sune Luus and Bosch just lowered their anchors big time and displayed brilliant technique and temperament against spinners Rana, Deepti and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
Bosch especially looked a lot more compact than Luus initially, who was dropped twice behind the wickets. With the pitch and the turn on it being slow, the batters focused on playing the ball late, and beneath their eyes. Bosch was also using her reach against Rana especially, who was bowling a 5th-6th stump line on most occasions. As the pitch was tardy, she was in no danger there.
That’s when Rana’s guile and bowling smarts outdid the South African. On the third ball of the 30th over of the Proteas innings, Rana turned the ball into the batter big time. A puff of dust was also coming off the pitch because Rana had landed the ball on the seam (aligned for more side spin than over spin), and it turned square.
The natural reaction of every good batter against spin after such a delivery would be to reach the ball's pitch and blunt it before it can turn. Bosch did exactly that. However, this time, Rana’s seam was much more upright (hence less side spin and turn), the line slightly wider, and Bosch plonked her front foot near the line of the delivery. That was it. It took her edge, and Deepti completed a simple catch.
In the space of two deliveries, Rana had shown her value in the side that has undervalued her in the other formats. This same tactic also worked for her later in the day when she got Delmi Tucker caught by Richa Ghosh. On a day when the ball wasn’t doing much, Rana’s skill kept India dominant.
However, South Africa kept the fight on with Marizanne Kapp joining Luus at the crease. Right from her first ball, the allrounder, whose last innings in the format were a 150 against England, batted like she was born in Nungambakkam, Chennai, and not Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape.
The formula for her was the same that Luus told the broadcasters after the day’s play ended.
“The plan was very simple. To cover the stumps when it was straight and defending solidly, and then capitalising on the freebies. Something that we have been working on is using the depth of the crease and coming down too. Hitting the ball as close or under you eyes…”
That’s why Luus and Kapp had no qualms about hitting them whenever a full toss, a flighted delivery, or a half-tracker was offered. The fact that the run rate still kept hovering around the three runs/over mark and not above was also a testament that the Indian bowlers weren’t making it easy for them, and Rana yet again, was at the centre of it all against Kapp when she kept following her flighted hit me balls with absolute rippers that gripped and turned.
It wasn’t easy out there, and Deepti proved it by getting Luus plumb before the wicket. However, she had already batted for 164 deliveries and scored 65 runs. Kapp had 69 against her name after 125 deliveries when the day ended.
At 236/4, the Proteas are still very much behind the game. Rana’s 3/61 on a placid pitch made sure of that.
When a day’s play ends in a Test match, that’s what you want to see, right? You want to see both sides showing fight irrespective of the situation they are in. And as players out there on the crease, you want not only to survive, but also empower yourself and others to be more than their reality.
After all, true empowerment emerges from our responses to adversity, not from the circumstances that impose it.
Kapp and Luus did exactly that on Day 2, and that’s why they survived to live another day in the Chennai sun.
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