Ken Borland

The Wanderers pitch is not easy for batsmen but South Africa boast an amazing bowling attack, Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore said after his team had been bundled out for a record-breaking low of 49 on the second day of the first Test on Saturday.

Pakistan’s total is their lowest ever in Test cricket, worse than their 53 against Australia in Sharjah in 2002/3, and South Africa’s lead is already 411 after they reached stumps on 207 for three in their second innings.

“It’s not an easy wicket to bat on but the way South Africa bowled was incredible. I have not seen two hours of relentless, incredible pace bowling as I witnessed today. Most of our batsmen got out to terrific balls and you really need to give credit to the opposition.

“If you look at the facts and not emotion, then the reason for our score was a combination of a difficult pitch and incredible bowling,” Whatmore said.

While the former Sri Lanka and Bangladesh coach admitted that he felt the pitch was too difficult for the second day of a Test, he declined to comment on the inconsistent application of the HotSpot technology by third umpire Steve Davis that saw every decision using that camera go against Pakistan.

“We’re not meant to speak about that and we’ll make our comments in the right channels,” was all Whatmore would say, but the animated discussion he and manager Naveed Cheema had with match referee Jeff Crowe after the end of play suggests the International Cricket Council should expect a complaint from Pakistan.

But it did not detract at all from Steyn’s magnificence or South Africa’s dominance.

The world’s number one ranked bowler said it was just one of those days when he was able to hit his stride from the outset.

“We had spoken about the morning being the best time to strike at the Wanderers and I woke up early today, Skyped the missus in LA and dominated our morning game of footie … I just had so much energy today, the ball was coming out sweetly and it was a lot of fun today,” Steyn said of his phenomenal haul of six for eight in 8.1 overs.

The 29-year-old produced a top-class display of fast swing bowling and he said a pep talk from captain Graeme Smith, who is leading a Test team for an unprecedented 100th time, had helped provide a spark.

“We don’t often have these conversations because you don’t have to tell anyone in this team when they’ve done something wrong, but Graeme sat us down, he felt the urge for just a two-minute chat, and said he wanted a 100% day from us because he didn’t feel yesterday was a 100% effort.

“The ball swung more as it got older, but the new ball swung a decent amount too and the pitch obviously assisted as well.”

Steyn brushed aside the Pakistan top-order with three wickets in his first two overs on Saturday and he said that had pleased him the most.

“For the first time in a long while, I got the first three wickets and was able to break through early. I was pretty stoked about that.”

Whatmore praised Steyn for the way he led a marvellous South African bowling unit.

“He’s one of four seamers who never took the pressure off, we scored 34 runs in two hours, about 25 overs, which is unheard of. His skill level plus that of the other three is amazing,” Whatmore said.

South Africa enjoyed a position of complete dominance on 207 for three, leading by 411, after the second day of the first Test against Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday, set up by Dale Steyn’s astonishing bowling earlier in the day.

Steyn took six for eight in 8.1 overs as Pakistan were shot out for just 49, the lowest total in their Test history, worse than the 53 they scored against Australia in Sharjah in 2002/3.

It was the third time South Africa had dismissed a team for less than 50 in the last two seasons. Only England, against Australia in 1887/88 and twice versus South Africa in 1888/89 have done this before.

South Africa bowled Australia out for 47 at Newlands in November 2011 and New Zealand for 45 at the same venue last month.

Pakistan’s 49 is also the lowest ever Test score at the Wanderers, the previous worst being 72 by South Africa against England in 1956/57.

Steyn’s magnificent swing bowling, backed by two wickets apiece from Jacques Kallis and Vernon Philander, gave South Africa a 204-run first-innings lead and, after declining to enforce the follow-on, they cruised to 207 for three in 53 overs before stumps.

Coming into bat soon after lunch, Steyn taking the last three Pakistan wickets without conceding a run, openers Graeme Smith (52) and Alviro Petersen (27) were quickly into their stride as they compiled an opening stand of 82 in 21 overs.

Umar Gul removed both openers just four overs into the post-tea session and South Africa then slipped to 99 for three when Jacques Kallis (7) skied an attempted sweep off Saeed Ajmal into the hands of Asad Shafiq at deep midwicket.

But Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers attacked to great effect as they added 108 off 159 balls before stumps, both completing unbeaten half-centuries.

Pakistan had begun the second day on six without loss after making a fine start to the series on day one, but their first innings was a procession of batsmen as Steyn took advantage of their lack of footwork in bowler-friendly conditions.

He ripped through the top-order with ease, having Mohammad Hafeez (6) caught behind off a superb away-swinger, trapping Nasir Jamshed (2) lbw and then having veteran Younis Khan caught in the slips for a duck in his first two overs.

Kallis then removed Azhar Ali (13) and Pakistan captain Misbah ul-Haq (12) with aggressive short-pitched bowling, before an incisive two-wicket burst just before lunch by Philander reduced the visitors to 40 for seven at the break.

Steyn then made an impressive return after lunch, having Saeed Ajmal caught behind off a precise away-swinger and then snaring Sarfraz Ahmed in his next over, wicketkeeper AB de Villiers again taking the catch.

Rahat Ali was then caught at fourth slip by Faf du Plessis for a duck off Steyn to complete a top-class catching display behind the wicket by South Africa, wicketkeeper De Villiers finishing with six catches, a career-best that equalled the national record shared by Denis Lindsay and Mark Boucher (four times).

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Graeme Smith showed that his head was still cool, calm and collected when he won the toss and elected to bat first amid all the hype and hullabaloo at the Wanderers on Friday morning.

Smith was celebrating his 32^nd birthday and also the momentous milestone of becoming the first cricketer to play 100 Tests as captain, so Johannesburg, his place of birth, was  abuzz with tributes and Biff-mania.

There was a great sense of expectation that the world’s number one side would honour their magnificent leader by blowing Pakistan away at the Bullring and the pitch was sporting enough grass for many to back the idea of unleashing the potent South African pace attack.

But Smith, courageously and unselfishly, saw the cracks already present and reckoned it would be preferable to bat out a tough opening session rather than have to bat last.

It was the correct decision for the team, despite Smith, as an opening batsman, having to come out and face the music straight away.

The left-hander was by no means on top of his game, but he and Alviro Petersen added 46 for the first wicket as they saw off the new ball in the first hour-and-a-half. South Africa were on their way and, even though Smith (24) and Petersen (20) fell within five balls of each other before lunch, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis put the hosts back on top as they carried them to 125 for two midway through the afternoon session.

But the South African batsmen seemed to have other matters on their minds – could they have been distracted by all the Smith hype? – and they frittered away their remaining eight wickets for just 128 runs, nothwithstanding a 64-run fifth-wicket stand between AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis.

It was a similar experience for a Wanderers crowd of just under 10 000 on Friday to the much-anticipated Test against Australia in 2011 when South Africa, 1-0 in the two-match series, won the toss, batted first and were bowled out for 266 in just 71 overs on the first day by an attack that was one man short. South Africa were 122 for two and 241 for four on that day, and a less cavalier attitude would have seen them score at least 400 and shut Australia out of a series they went on to share.

After De Villiers and Du Plessis fell just before the second new ball was due, Dean Elgar was left alone with the tail and when he tickled off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez down the leg-side into the gloves of impressive wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, the off-spinner was able to run through the lower-order and finish with a career-best four for 16.

Lady Luck had not smiled on the left-hander and she was also blamed for the dismissal of Du Plessis, who felt that the delivery that he had played on to his stumps from Junaid Khan had kept low.

But there was no doubting South Africa’s batsmen had put on a distracted, unfocused display, while Pakistan were disciplined with the ball, brilliant in the field and thoroughly deserved their success.

“From 199 for four, we should have got more and there was not enough from the bottom six, but it was quite tough for batsmen coming in. We were looking for 320 as par, but when AB and myself were together we thought we could get 350 which would have been very good. We got ourselves in position … ” Du Plessis said.

To get only 253 was a particularly poor effort when one considers everyone in the top seven made at least 20, but Kallis was the top-scorer with just 50. Smith and Kallis both played badly-executed shots, although Asad Shafiq, who had to make considerable ground around the leg-side boundary, took a fine catch to dismiss the latter.

Everything Pakistan captain Misbah ul-Haq touched turned to gold on Friday and even part-time medium-pacer Younis Khan was able to make a crucial breakthrough when he removed Amla for 37, thanks to Azhar Ali hanging on to a screamer at gully.

The current Proteas management fobs off criticism of their decision to make De Villiers keep wicket and play a specialist batsman at seven, but there is a hint that the policy is engendering a rather devil-may-care attitude amongst the top-order. With so many batsmen, there seems to be a feeling that someone else can finish the job if I score a breezy 40, much like the 90 for five syndrome in the 1990s when South Africa had tremendous batting depth with Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Nicky Boje in the lower-order.

Pakistan openers Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed fended off an over apiece from Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn at the end of the day and the South African attack will need to strike early on the second morning if they are make up for an off-colour display by their batsmen.

Questions will be asked as to just how mentally sharp South Africa were on the opening day and it is difficult to shrug off the feeling that they were distracted by all the hype around Smith. Hopefully the Proteas can return to their clinical best on Saturday and ensure Smith has a suitable celebration.

FRESH storm clouds are set to gather around Gauteng cricket on Monday night when the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB) holds its deferred annual general meeting at the Wanderers.

The GCB is being run by an interim board of directors set up by the Langa commission after Cricket South Africa (CSA) took over administration of the union two years ago, after the board sitting at the time became the first to question disgraced CEO Gerald Majola.

That interim board was meant to settle on a new constitution for Gauteng cricket but has failed to reach agreement with the clubs. With its two-year term now over, the future of the current board is uncertain.

It is expected that the board will ask for an extension of its term at the meeting on Monday night, but there is a strong groundswell among the clubs that the current administration should be called to book and replaced.

“The clubs want to vote and they want a new board. The current board are probably going to ask to continue for another six months in order to introduce the new constitution, but if they haven’t been able to do it in two years, why do they think they’ll be able to do it in six months? Besides, the new constitution should not be a private document that only the current board are privy to. We want to elect new representatives to work on the constitution,” a club chairman told Business Day at the weekend.

The legitimacy of the current board has also been called into question following the revelations in the Nicholson Commission of Inquiry that led to Majola being dismissed by CSA and the former GCB board being proven right.

There is a strong desire for self-determination among many Gauteng clubs, who feel they have had no say in the running of cricket in their province for the last two years.

The decision of the board to dismiss Alexandra Cricket Club chairman Dan Phetla, a vocal proponent of control to be returned to the clubs, as a director on Friday night makes it clear the incumbents from the Majola era will not go without a fight.

Thabang Moroe, a fellow director and the chairman of the Black African Cricket Clubs (BACC) grouping, threatened to get the Gauteng Sports Council (GSC) involved in the cricket administration if Phetla was not removed.

The GSC are expected to be present at Monday night’s AGM, with certain clubs accusing the BACC of using them to intimidate those looking to return control of Gauteng cricket to the clubs.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/cricket/2012/12/10/gauteng-cricket-faces-constitution-debacle