Published: Mar 04, 2014, 11:22 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 27, 2014, 09:52 PM (IST)
Mar 4, 2014
First it was David Warner, now it’s retaliation time from Faf du Plessis. Previously in the evenly-contested ongoing Test series between South Africa and Australia, Warner alleged that the Protea quicks were tampering with the ball, which consequently got them the vicious amounts of reverse swing. After the third day’s play in the third Test, du Plessis returned the favour by hinting at the same allegation on the Australian quicks, who dismantled the hosts for just 287 inside 83 overs.
Du Plessis, who survived the longest of all the South African specialist batsmen, scoring a 135-ball 67 on day Three, later explained not only how difficult it was to face the Australian pacemen during that period, but also how surprised he was at having to do so.
“The first innings I think the pitch didn’t rough it up,” du Plessis told the Sydney Morning Herald, about the first two days where South Africa’s bowlers were unable to generate more than a hint of the reverse-swing.
“I must be honest, I was really surprised to see the ball reverse from their side. I think it was 27 overs when the ball started reversing — especially (surprising) after rain and a wet outfield,” du Plessis added.
“I was really surprised by that, so … let’s leave it at that.”
Du Plessis arrived at the crease after Ryan Harris claimed Hashim Amla‘s off-stump with a vicious in-swinger that came in late to clatter into his stumps. Du Plessis was almost dismissed for a golden duck by Harris’s next delivery, pitched slightly shorter but which followed the same trajectory to narrowly miss the right-hander’s inside-edge on its way through to Brad Haddin.
Mitchell Johnson called the delivery Harris produced to remove Amla as “a Steyn-like delivery”, in reference to Dale Steyn‘s sharp shooters, which accounted for the wickets of Brad Haddin and Steven Smith in the second Test.
“It’s always exciting when your teammate, your mate at the other end, does really well and can produce balls like that,” Johnson added.
Johnson said the ground conditions at Newlands on day three were conducive to reverse-swing, a factor he said made for “a different game” once it emerged.
“The wicket was abrasive enough to bowl cross-seam. I don’t always hit the seam so I can hit that rough side, get it nice and rough and shine the other side.
“Once we saw the ball wasn’t swinging normally we did that straight away. We’re not surprised that it went.
“It would have been a few overs, maybe six or seven. It was definitely something we’d been thinking about. We know the ball reverses here. It was rough enough on one side and shiny enough on the other – it was perfect.”
Johnson said he was very happy for Harris’s success, who came into the match with a disastrous series record of three wickets at an average of 74.33. “I actually gave him a bit of stick because he came to training the day before (the match) and normally fast bowlers don’t turn up to the optional session,” he added.
