INDIA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2018

Very subcontinental feel to the Centurion pitch - Morne Morkel

by Tristan Holme • Last updated on

"I've played cricket here all my life, and I've never seen a wicket like this at SuperSport Park," Morkel said. © Getty

Morne Morkel's favourite question came right near the end. 'Would you compare the conditions in this Test as being quite close to bowling in India?' he was asked. A smile spread across Morkel's face.

"100 per cent," he replied. "It's unheard of that a spinner bowls that amount of overs on the first day. We even took the option to open in the over before lunch with a spinner (on day two). There's a very subcontinental feel to it. It's tough scoring, tough to get people out. Luckily we've got some experience of that in the bank. But they are not the conditions that we want here in South Africa."

It seemed to be the question that Morkel was hoping for. It allowed him to express South Africa's dissatisfaction with the groundsman failing to deliver the pitch that they had in mind. "I've played cricket here all my life, and I've never seen a wicket like this at SuperSport Park," he added. "It was really hard work. In the heat, with conditions really tough, it was right up there with one of the hardest spells I've bowled."

In truth, Morkel doth protest too much. Barring significant rain on the final two days, the second Test looks set for a final-day finish - possibly a close one, too. It was Richie Benaud who spoke about how the expectation of groundsmen was to prepare a pitch that can produce a result in the final session of day five. That has rather fallen by the wayside in recent encounters between South Africa and India, when preparing pitches in favour of the home bowlers has been the trend.

South Africa will say that India started it. The last time that India were here, both Tests went to day five, and wickets in each cost 37 runs apiece. The South Africans were complaining then, too. "Don't be fooled. I think this wicket is pretty slow and they've obviously had time to adjust and get in," Vernon Philander said during the Wanderers Test. "If it had to be a quicker wicket like we had in the ODI game it would be a totally different ball game."

The insinuation was that conditions had favoured India. Ahead of the second Test in Durban, coach Russell Domingo gave a similar reading of the Kingsmead surface. "It's not going to be a short 180-all-out game," he said. "It's going to be another tough Test under conditions which probably won't be of major benefit for us."

When South Africa arrived in India in 2015, they found that the game had changed. The pitch for the first Test in Mohali looked underprepared, leaving Faf du Plessis to admit that South Africa were expecting "the worst." Playing to their strengths, India won two of the Tests inside three days, and bowled South Africa out in two sessions in the washed-out Test in Bangalore. Only the Delhi match went to the final day.

The average runs per wicket in that series were telling: 17.35 in Mohali, 29.4 in Bangalore (thanks to India making 80 without loss), 16.3 in Nagpur and 24.7 in Delhi. The batsmen - but especially South Africa's batsmen - were unable to contend with the turn on offer.

Newlands last week was different and yet the same. Where 33 wickets had fallen to spin on a Nagpur pitch rated "poor" by the ICC, 38 wickets fell to pace at Newlands. Wickets cost, on average, just 19 runs apiece. South Africa were playing by India's rules.

Conditions at Centurion have simply been a return to neutral territory, or perhaps a form of cricketing no-man's land. Too slow for the quicks to run riot, or the batsmen to score freely, and not enough turn for the spinners to have a genuine upper hand. For the first time since India's last visit, wickets cost more than 30 - so far 732 runs have been scored at an average of 33.27 runs per wicket. It seems a fair balance, particularly with the pitch likely to deteriorate on the final two days as you would hope. "You can't risk doing anything that could jeopardise the longevity, or length of the match," groundsman Bryan Bloy said ahead of the match. Given that this is the only Test Centurion will host in a bumper summer, that is fair enough.

A better issue is whether the surface has produced entertaining cricket. The first three days have looked like hard work for the players, and at times watching has been hard work. Morkel confirmed that his four wickets were his hardest-earned at the venue. Asked what was most frustrating, he said: "I think the pace of the wicket. You've got a small little window with the new ball. Maybe because (the pitch) is under covers overnight, in the first hour the ball seems a little bit quicker off the deck. But after that, there's actually been no pace in the wicket. Especially from the pavilion end, I found it's very tennis ball bounce."

Only one of Morkel's victims was caught behind the wicket. To bowl India out, South Africa had to "try a lot of things", but bowling straighter at the stumps was not an option. "They are very good players when you attack the stumps. You can't really attack middle stump, it's too straight for them and they can take the game away. The ball keeping low, reverse swing, those are the options we will discuss tomorrow. We'll work out some different fields. But at first getting the ball outside the eye line with extra bounce and pace is the key for us."

South Africa might not have got what they wanted in the pitch, but perhaps they got what they needed. This battle between the two top-ranked sides in the world has too often been settled by conditions. If the Proteas can find a way to win on something like neutral ground, it will say a lot more about their quality than rolling India over on a succession of greentops.

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