Ken Borland

Amidst all the exultation over South Africa’s exceptional series win over India there has been the added positive of two exciting new faces exposing their talents with excellent performances in the Proteas Test team.

Keegan Petersen, who had played just two Tests before tackling arguably the best bowling attack in world cricket, ended as the Man of the Series, scoring 276 runs (the most) at an average of 46.00. He batted with tremendous poise, skill and toughness, but also played a pleasing array of strokes.

Marco Jansen, the 21-year-old who made his debut in the first Test at Centurion, took 19 wickets, second only to KG Rabada’s 20, at 16.47. The beanpole bowled with pace, fire and bounce, but also exhibited the priceless ability for a left-arm quick to move the ball both ways.

“We had two youngsters who just came in and played very good cricket,” Proteas coach Mark Boucher said. “Keegan did not start as well as he would have liked in the West Indies and at SuperSport Park.

“But he always showed signs of being the player we see right now. He stuck to his guns and Dean Elgar really backed him. He’s a tough nut and playing at No.3, especially in South Africa, you’ve got to be.

“You’ve got to know your game and I’m a bit lost for words at how well Keegan did. It was a big series against big players, he won Man of the Series, which was fully deserved and I’m very happy for him,” Boucher said.

While Jansen’s selection may have surprised some people, Boucher was always comfortable with it having seen what the Potchefstroom product had shown as a member of the touring squads to Pakistan and the West Indies in the last year.

“There were a lot of questions around Marco‘s selection, but we saw what he had in Pakistan and the West Indies,” Boucher said. “It was just a matter of him coming through because we knew his skill-set and the variation he brings.

“Now everyone can see what a find he is. He’s only 21, so he still has a lot of cricket to learn, but we’ve seen a lot of great signs. And he can bat as well.

“He’s going to be a superstar in the future,” Boucher said.

Two things that are obvious in this current Proteas team, highlighted by their tremendous series win over India, is the amount of fight and potential that resides in this squad.

By triumphing over the challenge of an Indian team featuring two of the best fast bowlers in the world in Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, as well as a side featuring the batting talents of a top six that are all inside the top-35 of the ICC rankings, the Proteas have done their reputation a world of good. For a team in transition to claim the scalp of the No.1 side in Test cricket must rank as one of the best achievements since isolation.

The series win was marked by the arrival of two exciting players for the future in batsman Keegan Petersen and left-arm quick Marco Jansen, whose potential with the bat has already seen him claim the No.7 spot of the typical all-rounder.

The 21-year-old Jansen only made his Test debut in the first Test at Centurion because Duanne Olivier was not yet fully fit for five days of cricket after a bout of Covid. But Jansen has cashed in on friendly bowling conditions in quite remarkable fashion, taking 19 wickets at an average of just 16.47. Only Kagiso Rabada (20 at 19.05) took more wickets in the series.

Jansen’s bounce, pace and priceless ability to move the ball both ways means he has looked right at home in Test cricket and he has also shown the tough temperament you want from your fast bowlers.

Petersen scored just 15 and 17 at SuperSport Park but then found his groove with three crucial half-centuries in his last four innings. And he did all of that in the tough No.3 position, with Aiden Markram’s continued failures meaning he came to the wicket early in every innings.

It led to suggestions that perhaps Petersen’s path into Test cricket should be eased by dropping down the order a bit, but the 28-year-old has emphatically made the No.3 position his own for at least the rest of the summer. The leading run-scorer in the series with 276 at an average of 46, Petersen’s temperament and mental toughness, excelling in tough situations when the pressure was on, has been even more impressive than his slick strokeplay.

With Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma also having good series and Rassie van der Dussen playing important roles in the two daunting run-chases at the Wanderers and Newlands, it would be silly to contemplate too many changes to the batting order.

One player who might have played his last Test as an opening batsman though is Markram. As talented as he is and as well as he has done previously in the position, a return of 80 runs in his last eight innings is not good enough. Sarel Erwee, who has acted as his understudy for the better part of a year now, was the leading run-scorer for SA A against India A last month and deserves to get a chance in New Zealand next month.

As for Markram, there has been talk of him playing as a middle-order batsman, which would be interesting, but he needs to go back to domestic cricket and force his way back into the team in that position through weight of runs.

Coach Mark Boucher also deserves to have a deeper well of public support for his role in inspiring the team to such a memorable, unexpected triumph.

After a poor performance in the first Test, well done to the Proteas, who were without a key fast bowler in Anrich Nortje, for fighting back and then lasting the distance in what has been a fascinating series. The action has been gripping and the twists in fortune quite riveting.

Long live Test cricket!

“In our minds we will be back in the game if we get Virat Kohli early tomorrow,” Proteas batsman Keegan Petersen admitted on Wednesday after the Indian captain steered his team to 57/2 and a lead of 70 runs at stumps on the second day of the third Test at Newlands.

Having surrendered a 13-run first-innings lead despite Petersen’s defiant career-best innings of 72, South Africa rocked the Indian second innings by removing both openers with just 24 runs on the board. But Kohli (14*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (9*) then steadied the innings. The pair of experienced batsmen shared a first-innings stand of 62, Kohli going on to bat for four-and-a-half hours, scoring 79, and the Proteas know just how important it will be on Thursday morning to nip their current partnership of 33 in the bud.

“We’re a bit behind the eight-ball and these two batsmen have been a bit of a headache for us,” Petersen said. “Virat is one of the best batsmen in the world, he’s shown that time and time again.

“If we can get him early then it will break open the game, in our minds we will be back in it. Taking a few early wickets on Thursday will be key.”

Petersen initially struggled to establish himself in Test cricket, scoring just 76 runs in his first five innings, but he was not helped by having to come to the wicket with less than 10 runs on the board in all those knocks. There was speculation that he should drop down the order in order to ease his passage into the international game, but he has now scored half-centuries in successive Tests in his beloved No.3 position.

“It has been a challenge, the most difficult attack I’ve ever faced, but I like batting at three, I’ve batted there for most of my career,” Petersen said.

“It’s been tough for the openers on the pitches we’ve played on, and Aiden Markram is just going through a rough patch, but he’s a quality batsman who will pull through.

“But if I can make the No.3 position mine, I’d be very happy,” Petersen added.

Scoring 162 runs in his last three innings there suggests he is well on course for that.

It was in December 2013 ahead of a Test against India at the Wanderers that former Proteas coach Russell Domingo spoke about the DNA of South African and Indian teams and how pace bowling was the strength of the home side and the weakness of the subcontinent team.

“They have always had issues playing pace in South Africa and that is what history shows. It is a South African strength. It is the way that we were brought up playing cricket,” Domingo said.

“Subcontinent sides will always turn to spin and South Africans will turn to pace because that is in our DNA. Having a four-pronged pace attack is important for us against a country like India in our conditions.”

An epic Test match followed in which India dominated the South African bowling, Virat Kohli scoring 119 and 96 and Cheteshwar Pujara confirming his pedigree as a special player with 153, his first century overseas. An incredible final innings saw the Proteas flirt with chasing down 458, before settling for a noble draw on 450/7.

Although South Africa then won in Durban to win the two-match series, India had shown they were on the brink of rustling up a pace attack fit to compare with any in the world. When they returned to the Wanderers in 2018, they beat the Proteas by 63 runs with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami both getting five-wicket hauls.

Now the tourists are back at a venue where South Africa have not been able to beat them in five attempts, India actually winning at the Bullring in 2006 and 2018. And India showed in the first Test at Centurion just how wonderful their current pace attack is, and it is the Proteas batsmen who have the issues trying to handle the heat.

Out-bowled as well as out-batted at SuperSport Park, South Africa may well consider playing an all-pace attack at the Wanderers; with Quinton de Kock already having to be replaced, Duanne Olivier coming in for spinner Keshav Maharaj as the only change would be the least disruptive selection.

But Maharaj, even though he is not a broad-chested alpha-male in the mould of a Graeme Smith or Jacques Kallis, is an important leader in the team and captain Dean Elgar has spoken of his reluctance not to have him in his XI.

As much as Marco Jansen has shown he can deliver useful runs as a batsman, No.7 is surely too high for him at this fledgling stage of his career. So South Africa will have to choose between having four frontline seamers and an all-rounder (Wiaan Mulder) at 7, three specialist pacemen, a spinner and an all-rounder, or just four bowlers, including Maharaj, and an extra specialist batsman.

Needing to deliver a win at the Wanderers to maintain their hopes of winning the series, the Proteas should perhaps put the responsibility of bowling much better than they did on the first day of the first Test, and getting 20 wickets, on four bowlers and thereby strengthening the fragile batting with someone like Ryan Rickelton coming in at No.7.

Kyle Verreynne is likely to replace De Kock at No.6 and the uncapped Rickelton, who is a top-order batsman for the Central Gauteng Lions, has scored centuries in his previous two innings at the Wanderers.