- by Vijay Prashad
- The Guardian
- Issue #2174
Photo: Patrick Case – pexels.com (CC0)
Travis Head walked out to open the batting for Australia’s second innings in the first test of the Ashes series in Perth. It seemed surreal that the England had already batted twice and that Australia was coming in to chase a little over 200 runs to win on the second day of the five-day test. How could things have collapsed so rapidly for both sides, with neither batting line-up able to steady the ship by the middle of day 2?
In England’s first innings, the highest score was 52 (Harry Brook), while Australia’s highest score was only 26 (Alex Carey). In the second innings, Gus Atkinson struggled to get to 37. The scores had all been very low on a fast pitch with significant bounce.
So, Head pushed himself up the order and came out there with debutant Jake Weatherald. In 69 balls, Head scored a century and then got out 14 balls later with a score of 123. He left when Australia was just short of victory. Captain Steve Smith hit the winning run, and the test ended with three days to spare.
Meanwhile, in Guwahati (India), on a pitch that resembled a road, the high-quality Indian batsmen crumbled to 201 (first innings) and 140 (second innings) compared to the mammoth South African totals of 489 and 260 for five declared.
Things seemed quite on track when Jasprit Bumrah used the hard surface to entice Aiden Markham into the drive and then castled him. That was the first wicket to fall in the test. But then the runs began to pour in, with most South African batsmen setting in for the long haul. It took Senuran Muthusamy 206 deliveries to make his 109 runs. There was some electric hitting from Marco Jansen, who made 93 off 91.
By and large, this was a steady innings – not the baseball-like ‘bazball’ of the reckless English side. It was a pleasure to watch the South Africans move the ball around, play with the field, take their time. Because that is what the test format affords – time. If a batsman is intelligent, they can use their talent to frustrate the bowler and then take advantage of the loose ball to get runs.
It was India’s second innings that puzzled me. South Africa had built an enormous lead – 548 runs – setting the Indians a target that would have been a country record (the highest successful run chase by India was 403 in Port of Spain, 1976). After reckless shots by Dhruv Jurel and Rishab Pant in the first innings, one would have thought that sober play was the need of the hour. But no.
When Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul went out to bat on the final day, India had to either score 549 runs or not lose their wickets over the seven hours of play till 4pm. India had done this recently against England in the 4th test in Manchester. Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan went without scoring in the first over of the second innings as India faced certain defeat (first innings for India at 358 and for England 669). There were going to be 150 more overs and eight wickets for England to get easily (with India 300 runs behind).
Then the test drama began. Shubman Gill and KL Rahul took charge, Rahul batting for 230 balls for his 90 and Gill 238 balls for his 103. The two of them saw India through the fourth day, ending the day from 2 wickets for no runs to 2 wickets for 174.
And then on the final day, Washington Sundar (101 in 206 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (107 from 185) saw India to the last ball and frustrated England into a draw. Jaiswal and Rahul could not do this against South Africa. Jaiswal gave away his wicket with a cut that went wrong, and Rahul played across the line and was bowled. It went downhill from there, with South Africa’s spinners wreaking havoc.
I love watching a test match. I wish I had the time to watch more tests. The form is incredible, a long game that relies upon skill and patience, temperament really, much more than brute force. England’s bazball technique, inherited from the T20 format, has created players who believe that they must score quickly and that they do not need to take advantage of the time afforded them to build scores, tire and frustrate bowlers, and allow their presence on the field to rest their own bowlers. A good batsman will not score quickly but will score when the ball allows itself to be hit into a vacant area or to the fence.
Our frenetic culture wants to know who scored the fastest century in time and balls. I am interested in the slowest (by my own records, the slowest in terms of balls faced is Graham Gooch against the West Indies in 1991 – 270 balls; in terms of time at the crease, it is said that Mudassar Nazar spent nine hours to make his 100 against England in 1977). In many ways, the last day of the Manchester test reminded me of people like Gooch and Nazar, methodical players who knew when to hit the ball and when to let it zip by, not tempted by the short ball or by the outswinger, and certainly not tempted – as Harry Brook often is – to take two steps to the leg side and clobber the ball to the fence through the covers (or, in a test, miss the line and be bowled).
People sometimes say that a test match is boring or anachronistic, but then they are not watching it based on its own rhythm. A test match is from another era, true: the time of walking in a park, and sitting down to listen to the radio, the time of long novels with complex plot structures. But those features of another era teach us about the exquisiteness of patience and artistry.
There is a novel in the twists and turns of the Manchester test and in the high drama of the Perth test, and in the disappointment of the Guwahati test. Other stories could have been written, as they were imagined by the spectators or those who listened on the radio. I still like to find an internet radio that gives me the live news from a test match (if you search for them, you can sometimes find them in mysterious places).
I like to occasionally tune in between things I am doing to find out the latest score and to piece together, without looking at espncricinfo, what could have happened that brought us to this pass. It sounds like this:
What, Sai Sudarshan out! But Washington Sundar and Jadeja are at the crease. They will pull off in Guwahati what they did in Manchester! Oh no! Simon Harmer sends one in a bit faster and Sundar is indecisive, sending an edge to Markham….. The magic partnership does not even begin. What will Nitish Kumar Reddy do? He tries a reverse sweep! What! On this pitch and with Harmer bowling the way he does! Of course, Reddy lobs a catch. 8 for 138. India cannot survive.
I wish I was in Brisbane for the second Ashes test in early December.
