Slow, slow, qu ..., slow, slow, slow

Amla digs in as South Africa refuse to budge

After the blitzkrieg comes the damage repair.

On day two at Newlands, Ben Stokes, with Jonny Bairstow as his trusty sidekick, laid waste to the South African attack in a spell of cricket that was very much of it’s time.

On day three, Hashim Amla, in conjunction firstly with AB de Villiers and followed by Faf du Plessis, set about sifting through the rubble in search of any signs of life in a few hours that was a nod to a more attritional age.

In 86 overs on a surface that has firmly stuck to its ‘I’m going to do next to nothing’ guns, 212 runs were added, well, ground out, for the loss of a solitary wicket.

Pure, unadultereated entertainment of the shot a ball type it was not but I doubt Amla and his charges will give two hoots.

They needed a restorative tonic after the fearful flogging administered by Stokes and the upshot of the captain’s effort should be a drawn contest which will allow the South Africans to go to The Wanderers in a more upbeat frame of mind than could have been the case.

Amla, desperately short of runs after a poor series in India, batted throughout the day to finish unbeaten on 157 while du Plessis, in even worse form than his senior partner, took advantage of the movement-free pitch to move to a first Test half-century in 12 months.

There was also the contribution of de Villiers who, while far from his fluent best and given the hurry-up by Steven Finn on the odd occasion, looked well set for another international century only to pick out midwicket off the Middlesex man a dozen short.

If de Villiers made England pay to some extent for Joe Root’s fluffed chance when he had five, Amla was in equally ungenerous mood for lives granted.

Shelled by Anderson at slip on 76, Moeen Ali the unfortunate bowler, and 120 when Nick Compton palmed a full-bloodied cut around the post at cover point, Finn the one left uttering the curses, Amla simply put his head down and ploughed on.

The England attack tried everything at their disposal and Alastair Cook could hardly be faulted for letting the game drift by, but there was nothing doing. Hell, even Alex Hales had what can only be loosely be described as a bowl.

The odd boundary was picked off but other than that it was watchful defence, careful leave, watchful defence, careful leave ad nauseum.

Amla and de Villiers put on 183 in a fraction under 70 overs and the former and du Plessis then added 95 in a further 35 and a bit.

And the equation now reads a deficit of 276 with the draw preparing to get its shoes on and head to the bookies to collect his winnings.

Five wickets fell on the first day, three on the second and one on the third. To follow that pattern through, expect this pair to still be going tomorrow evening.