It's all over
At 12.50pm on Thursday, December 30, 2021, India have breached yet another fortress. Only the third loss for South Africa in 27 Tests in Centurion. It took only two overs after lunch. And we leave you with the top of our final report.
India began the year by defending Sydney with their lives and then breaching Fortress Gabba. At 12.50pm on the final day of Test cricket in the year, they finished conquering Centurion, South Africa’s best venue, beating them only for the third time in 27 Tests. India’s complete and deep attack provided a resolute South African batting no respite and kept coming at them until the pitch yielded or the batters made a mistake, beating them by 113 runs despite a whole day’s play lost to rain and more showers expected on the final day.
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Endgame
All the hard work put in the last session yesterday and the first session today, and the wickets are coming thick and fast now. Jansen and Rabada loose in the first two overs, and South Africa are now nine down. Such a good and deep attack, you can only resist them for so long.
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Runs: 123, wickets: 3
That's what these teams require as we now go into the final two sessions of the Test. South Africa have done really well to dig in on this surface against this attack, but despite giving away 88 runs in this session, India will feel they have made important strides with three wickets. None of them came easy, which will please them more, but that for them will only be in hindsight if they finish the job. Right now they will be thinking of how to get the remaining wickets.
Second new ball 14 overs. away. Rain, according to forecasts, is at least four fours away, which should be enough for us to have a result either way. See you after lunch.
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Shami's seam. Instagram it
One of the things of minimalistic beauty in today's cricket. A simple, direct approach. Release the seam upright, absolutely proud and upright. It is a 60-over-old ball, mind. Then it pitches on a length and just outside off, and seams just a little having made the batter commit to a shot. Seaming at 60 overs. If there's something in the pitch, rest assured, Shami will extract it. It takes the edge. Just the smallest bit of edge. It is such a small edge that the seam is still upright. Wiaan Mulder gone. South Africa 164 for 7. Oh go Shami, you god of small things.
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de Kock plays with fire... and burns himself
The idea is, of course, right: counterattack, get catching men out of sight, and make India defend runs as opposed to attacking all the time. He gets off to a good start too, but there is one shot that must bother South Africa. It is the dab that he plays so well but it works on true surfaces. In the first innings, too, he chopped on. There have been four or five recent attempts to late-cut the ball backward of point, but none has materialised. In this over, too, he has been beaten once. Siraj is bowling round the wicket and not allowing him the angle. Two balls ago he has been beaten on the dab. And now he ends up chopping on. Second time in the Test. Once again, excellent bowling from India. They gave de Kock nothing to hit without such a risk. South Africa 161 for 6.
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Swing after bouncing
Jasprit Bumrah has got Dean Elgar with a ball that reminded me of Ryan Harris to Alastair Cook at the WACA Ground first ball of an Ashes Test. It pitched short of a length, then it seamed, but not in a straight line. The ball kept swinging in. Sort of like how it does to wicketkeepers in England after passing the batter. Elgar tried to kind of adjust to the seam movement, but as the ball swung further he tried to catch up with it, but his pad was in the way and he hit it with his bat. For a ball that good to be that accurate and not bounce high, Elgar stood no chance. It might not have looked spectacular but it was a great great ball.
Edit Just saw some stills from that ball again. The seam is upright when the ball lands. On a crack. Then it seams in but also the seam now tilts towards fine leg, which perhaps explains the swing, but not why it swung in that extremely short window between pitching and reaching the batter. The more you watch it, the more you are convinced: that ball is devilish.
And a bowler can't strive to bowl these balls. Harris's to Cook was Cricinfo's Ball of the 21st Century. We spoke to him about it. This is how he described it.
"A lot of people have asked me, 'How do you get the ball to swing after it bounces?' But that's not me doing that. My job was to put it on a good length and line and then keep the seam upright, so I give myself every chance to swing it or get it to seam when the ball hits the wicket. It's quite amazing how [the Cook delivery] bounces and swings away as it did. In England you can see it swing a lot after pitching, but that's usually three quarters of the way to the 'keeper."
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Life for Elgar
63 Dean Elgar's score when Mohammed Shami dropped him in his follow-through. South Africa were 111 for 4
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Another fortress about to be breached?
2 Number of Tests, out of 26, that South Africa have lost in Centurion. One of them was the infamous double-declaration Test against England
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Sun is shinin'
The first thing anyone wants to know is how is the weather? It is nice and sunny, and the feared thundershowers are not expected till 4pm, according to the app that I am using. That means India have at least two sessions to take these six wickets and go 1-0 up. How long can South Africa keep resisting this awesome bowling attack? Welcome to day five in Centurion.
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