Crawley keeps on getting better, Faf loses another toss and England's 500,000th run...TEST MATCH TALKING POINTS

SAM MORSHEAD looks back at events after a rain-interrupted first day of the final Test in Johannesburg, where England initially dominated before South Africa fought back

crawley240101

Zak attack

Zak Crawley keeps on getting better, and that is excellent news for England.

Although he may well be disappointed not to have reached three figures at the Wanderers - well set as he was on 66 when he dangled his bat at a Philander delivery like a sleepy fisherman might his rod by the lake - the Kent youngster appeared to be in supreme touch.

Several flamboyant cover drives to the fence displayed an increasing confidence that can only truly come from achieving a sense of belonging, and he showed courage to shrug off an 92mpg Anrich Nortje bouncer to the helmet, too.

Even though he may only be 21, and having arrived on the Test scene somewhat ahead of schedule, Crawley does seem to have banished any lingering self-doubt. His maiden half-century here represented his fifth Test best knock in five Test innings - should he surpass his PB again second time around in Joburg he will do what no man has done in England colours and beaten his best in six successive walks to the middle from debut.

Rory Burns is out for another three months, maybe more. All of a sudden Crawley has the opportunity to make himself undroppable. While 40s and 60s won’t necessarily do that,  Burns will not be able to walk straight into the side no questions asked.

Which brings us to a wider point.

Remember when we were lamenting England’s opener drought, all those years waiting for successors first to Sir Alastair Cook and then Sir Andrew Strauss?

Well, now it is starting to look like there are three useful options all available at once - plus a man with a 44 average in Asia in the shape of Keaton Jennings ready to call on for the upcoming trip to Sri Lanka, if the selectors so choose.

Dom Sibley and Crawley’s century stand was the first by English openers in nearly four years, and the first involving an opener not named Cook since 2006, when the current No.1 and No.2 were still in primary school.

Most consecutive inns with increasing scores at start of Test career for England:
G MacGregor (0, 1, 2*, 9*, 16) 1890-92
FL Fane (1, 3, 8, 65, 143) 1906
H Larwood (0, 5, 17*, 32, 70) 1926-28
IAR Peebles (2*, 3*, 6, 18*, 26) 1927-28
Z Crawley (1, 4, 25, 44, 45*) 2019-20
*Credit: Andrew Samson (@AWSStats)

Seam over spin

Both sides, lured by the forecast rain, green conditions and Joburg’s altitude, dropped their specialist spinners and went for five-pronged pace attacks.

Out went Keshav Maharaj (five wickets and a combative half-century in the third Test) and Dom Bess (five crucial first-innings wickets in Port Elizabeth) - both of whom could be reasonably disappointed with the calls.

South Africa’s options were almost immediately exposed as being a tad samey - let’s face it, Dwaine Pretorius is not a particularly thrilling fifth seam alternative - and their collective lack of experience (Philander aside, the four other frontline quicks had a combined 18 Test wickets going into the match) was all too clear as the tourists put on 107 for the first wicket.

England could still find themselves in a similar position - they have not won a Test without a specialist spinner since 2001 at Headingley, when Mark Butcher’s 173 not out saw off Australia.

stokes240101_(1)

Ben Stokes was involved in a verbal altercation with a spectator after his dismissal

Stop Faffing about

Faf du Plessis has now lost seven consecutive coin tosses in Test cricket.

Luckily for the South African skipper, there seems to be no way he can claim the world record.

Du Plessis is reported to be ready to call time on his captaincy in the coming months and - with just two Tests in the Caribbean to come before the T20 World Cup - he does not even have the opportunity to draw level with Nasser Hussain, who famously once went on a 10-toss losing streak.

“I’m a world-class tosser,” Hussain said, stoney-faced, on commentary on Friday.

Archer’s pain

The notion that Jofra Archer does not particularly care about playing Test cricket for England is lazy and hollow, and all the proof anyone could ever need took place on the Wanderers outfield just prior to the start of play.

Archer’s difficult winter - first on placid pitches in New Zealand, then amid a clutch of injuries in South Africa - has led some to suggest that he is does not have his full focus on the job at hand.

Yet the seamer’s evident distress at being told he would not play any part in the fourth Test - a decision seemingly made incredibly late, with Archer being informed in the middle after the warm-up - was not the reaction of a man who’d happily put his feet up and play Fortnite while his teammates toiled on the Highveld.

Archer needed consoling - by coach, captain and colleagues - and was evidently upset not to have made the cut. He has been working hard to get over the elbow problem which has blighted this trip and looked in tremendous nick in the nets in the build-up to the match.

"We couldn't guarantee he was going to get through the whole game. Very disappointing for him,” Joe Root said at the toss.

“He's worked very hard to try and get himself back.”

Archer is different to the typical English seamer. His body language, gold chains and approach to the game are different, too. For some, that’s enough to judge character. Really, it tells us more about the character of the judgement-maker.

jof240101

Jofra Archer suffered a recurrence of his elbow problem before play began

Bum deal

One of the best-loved viral video cricket clips from 2019 featured a slapstick scene from Spondon Cricket Club.

Nathan Trussler, a 24-year-old chocolate machinery sales executive, racked up the retweets with a direct hit on the backside of a teammate, bent over on his knees only a few yards in front of him.

Now, we don’t know for sure whether Vernon Philander is an avid follower of UK village cricket, or a prolific user of social media, but on Friday he certainly gave his best impression of Trussler.

Taking aim at the non-striker’s stumps after fielding the ball at mid-on, Philander - playing in his final Test - missed one target but struck another flush.

The only problem? The target in question was his partner in crime Dane Paterson’s rear end.

Half a million

When Joe Root pushed Beuran Hendricks into the covers for a single to take England onto 186 for 4, he brought up a sizeable milestone for his country.

The run took the side to 500,000 in men’s Tests, from 1,022 matches and for the loss of 15,506 wickets.

Australia are second on the list, with 432,706. No one else even comes close (for good reason - England have played 192 more games than the Aussies, and 477 more than anyone else).

Nothing beats cricket for meaningless statistics.

Comments

LATEST NEWS

STAY UP TO DATE Sign up to our newsletter...
SIGN UP

Thank You! Thank you for subscribing!

Edinburgh House, 170 Kennington Lane, London, SE115DP

website@thecricketer.com

Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.