Kallis the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle
Johannesburg: It may have been a reflex action but the sight of Jacques Kallis going through the motions of warming up would have no doubt begged the question of whether the extra seamer would not have added to England pressure on the first day of
Trevor Chesterfield
26-Nov-1999
Johannesburg: It may have been a reflex action but the sight of
Jacques Kallis going through the motions of warming up would have no
doubt begged the question of whether the extra seamer would not have
added to England pressure on the first day of the opening Test of
the series.
There was a thought, which even Graeme Pollock was bold enough to ask
why had David Terbrugge been left out and Paul Adams included in the
Wanderers Test where the condition were made for the sort of bowling
which was always going to favour the fast men over the first two to
three days?
Kallis was the missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle in the South African
attack in the bullring with the theory that when Kallis works in
tandem with Lance Klusener, the Natal all-rounder is a better bowler;
certainly the duo would have added the pressure missing when Hansie
Cronje brought himself on after the first hour had subsided and
England, at the drinks break were 34 for four after 12 overs.
By that stage the time for the extra seamer to be introduced would
have made the difference to knock over the England top order and in
the absence of Kallis perhaps Terbrugge might have been the extra
ace. It is just a theory and these can be dispatched as quickly as the
next delivery.
Then of course we get the inevitable question of what would have
happened had Nasser Hussain won the toss, asked South Africa to bat
first and let loose his pace quartet?
It would, as Donald suggested, the batsmen ``leaving the ball well
alone on the bounce'' which, apart from the delivery to dismiss Mike
Atherton the majority of the England top order ignored. Not the clever
thing to do at all.
What also helped South Africas cause was how much Mark Boucher has
done to help ease the problem: he is catching far better than he was
in England last year during that series and there is also a notable
improvement since the World Cup. Whether this is a matter of
Boucher growing confidence or not does not matter so much as how
his work rate has added the sort of dimension which only a injury will
see the selectors being forced to make a change.
There have been several catches taken this season which can be classed
in the brilliant category and his keeping on the first day, the way
the ball was kidding around was as perfect an example of the
difference between a good, skilled professional side and the other
team. Boucher so far has a haul of 95 in 22 Tests - an impressive
record all right and one which deserves acknowledgement.