A CAPE TOWN TALE OF TWO SEAMERS

England seeking to end Newlands hoodoo

England haven’t won a Test in Cape Town for 59 years.

It isn’t a record those due to take the field tomorrow (Saturday) for the second Test will care to be reminded of but they have been presented with a gilt-edged opportunity to end the near six decades of woe.

South Africa possess an excellent CV when it comes to the picturesque Newlands – 19 victories and just four defeats, all to Australia, in 28 outings since readmission in 1992 – but they will enter the contest in something of a pickle.

Their defeat in Durban in the series opener was bad enough but they now have to contend with the absence of their spearhead, Dale Steyn, who has been ruled out with a shoulder problem.

In very stark contrast, England did next to nothing wrong at Kingsmead and their cup has been filled up a touch more with the expected return of Jimmy Anderson to lead the attack, probably in place of Chris Woakes.

The differing fortunes of the premier seamers in each side, and the world come to think of it, provides a neat symbol for the way the four-Test skirmish has started.

The South Africans, fresh off a thumping by India, appeared to be suffering from a morale-sapping hangover and made a mockery of every bookmakers’ decision to offer them as favourites to take the overall honours.

They are number one in the world for a reason but every dynasty, at some stage or another, finishes, and it is hardly stretching an imagination to state that we’re witnessing the collapse of a once mighty outfit.

They still possess a handful of world-class operators but one of them, Steyn, is injured, another, Hashim Amla, is suffering from a dismal run of form and the other, AB de Villiers, has been made to keep wicket. Paying for having too many skills if that’s possible.

That has been rectified to some degree with the selection of Quinton de Kock and all de Villiers has to do now if somehow galvanise an exceedingly brittle top order into producing totals of some substance.

In the English camp, their top performers, Alastair Cook, with the bat at least, aside, all made worthwhile contributions in Durban and they will start 2016 in high spirits.

There has inevitably been talk of how good a side this vintage could turn out to be but birdieing the first hole doesn’t guarantee tournament success and it may be wiser to collect more evidence before placing them on a lofty pedestal.

Backing up a strong performance with another would be a good place to start and there will be healthy English contingent among the crowd expecting to see such an occurrence.

From the misery that was the World Cup a few months ago, 2015, while hardly the year to end all years, certainly ended with more plusses than minuses on the England report card.

Here’s hoping that the next 12 months continues with the upward trend.