Image Credit- Getty
On the first day of the New Year’s Test, South Africa
was taken aback by the pace of the Newlands pitch, but neither batting
consultant Ashwell Prince nor acting captain Dean Elgar made direct criticism
of the surface.
“It (The pitch) generally plays a little bit
slower and as a batter you can adjust to that. This one just seemed to get
quicker as the session went on,” Elgar told Star Sports in his post-match
interview.
Notably, there was a difference in bounce at both
ends. The bounce was up and down for bowlers operating from the Wynberg End,
where Mohammed Siraj grabbed his first-inning six-fer, while some deliveries
reared up at the Calvin Grove End, where Lungi Ngidi took three wickets in an
over.
More definitive in his findings, Prince stated he had
“never seen a Newlands pitch like this before,” as the ball not only
rushed off the surface but also varied in bounce and seam movement. Prince
played the majority of his career with Cape Town as his base.
“I’ve never seen the pitch that quick on day
one,” Prince said at the post-match press conference. “I don’t think
as batters you mind the pace in the wicket but then you need the bounce to be
consistent. The bounce was a little bit inconsistent with some keeping low and
some bouncing quite steeply. There’s also the seam movement, which you don’t
mind on day one but if you have the seam movement with consistent bounce, then
it’s a different situation.”
“There was a lot steeper bounce that way,”
Elgar said, pointing to the crease he would have been standing at with Ngidi
bowling to him. “And that side, it was a little bit lower. So I don’t know
what to make of it.”
Asked if he would rate the pitch poorly, Prince chose
his words carefully. “One team can get bowled out. I remember a Test in
India, where they had a formidable batting line-up, and we bowled them out
before lunch on day one. If you give a top-quality attack, bowler-friendly
conditions then they can do some serious damage,” he said. “To sum
things up, if both line-ups can’t bat on the surface, that says a lot.”