South Africa vs England: Improving tourists prepare to rewrite history

No 3 Nick Compton is the kind of player the more attacking players can bat around, according to England’s head coach, Trevor Bayliss (Getty Images)

England’s mission now is to repeat the trick here in Cape Town. Belief may be with them but history, which is always a welcome ally in such matters, is firmly in the other camp. It is 59 years since England won a Test at Newlands. Sometimes, in the intervening period, it has seemed as though they are destined never to prevail there again, that it is simply not meant to be their domain.

Eleven years ago, they arrived feeling most pleased with life – a win at Port Elizabeth having been followed by a draw of which they had much the better in Durban. They were promptly duffed up to the tune of 196 runs.

Six years ago, they had seen off South Africa by an innings in Durban and had to hang on for dear life, nine second-innings wickets down and a mile behind.

Players keep calm but fans can party

England were a relaxed, unbleary-eyed bunch as they boarded the plane for Cape Town. Not for them an excess of celebrations following the 241-run win in the first Test.

Many are travelling with wives and families and, if that did not curtail some partying, there was the additional factor of there being only two rest days between Tests. The small gap is against ICC regulations, but hang the players as long as the crowds roll in.

It seems that Newlands will be full(ish) for at least four days, though the self-backslapping of the local cricket association (“Our fans have demonstrated the allure that good Test cricket still holds,” runs the official release) is a bit hard to take. The reason for the crowds is that there are around 10,000 cricket followers from the UK in town.

Nor is it only England. Since South Africa re-entered international cricket in 1992, they have played 28 Tests at Newlands, winning 19 of them and losing only four, all to Australia.

Having noted all of which, there comes a time in the affairs of man when the course of history changes. This seems as good a moment as any. England’s win by 241 runs at Kingsmead was as clinical and thorough as they come. South Africa, happy to have won the toss on a brooding Boxing Day morning, had no response when that did not work.

There is now being conducted in the host country an exercise in navel-gazing and anxious reappraisal which seems to be de rigueur everywhere when teams suffer heavy defeats. Long gone are the days, if they ever existed, when a bunch of blokes could be simply beaten and they would pick themselves up, dust themselves down and start all over again without the accompanying angst.

South Africa, who picked a squad for the first two Tests, have made amendments to it already and, therefore, seem willing and ready to change the starting XI. They have concerns over opening batsmen, a brittle middle order, the fitness of bowlers, quotas and heart. England must not and will not be remotely worried about the opponents – as their head coach, Trevor Bayliss, confirmed: “What happens next door in their dressing room, that’s up to them to work out.”

There is plenty for Bayliss still to focus on. He is a coach who watches, waits and weighs. Gradually, he has become aware of what potential he has with this England team but he is not investing them with properties they do not possess. “We are by no means the finished article,” he said. “I thought both innings in Durban we left 100 runs out there. I liken it to a young batter trying to get his first hundred, getting over the hump.

A dismissal that was hard to handle

England’s most recent victory at Cape Town, in 1957, was a triumph for the great Johnny Wardle. Too often overlooked as a master practitioner, he took 12 wickets, including 7 for 36 in the second innings, and 26 in the series with his left-arm chinamen.

That Newlands match was also notable for being the first in which a batsman was given out handled ball in a Test. Russell Endean, of South Africa, attempted to brush away a ball from Jim Laker that looked as if it would hit his stumps.

“They were tough conditions but the best teams, there are one or two guys who will score hundreds in the tough conditions, scores of 130, 140. And then we make an extra 100 runs. Then the result is a foregone before the third innings starts.”

But even Bayliss, a man maybe careful to ensure that his glass is both half-full and half-empty at the same time, could not conceal the obvious truth that there is an excitement beginning to pervade this team. He simply does not wish it to run ahead of itself.

“Definitely,” he said. “Hopefully, the message it sends to young players back home is there is an opportunity to get into this team. One, if you perform well but, two, we’re a team on the way up and everyone wants to be a part of that.”

Bayliss does not overtly criticise but never shirks from the fact that his players have improvements to make if they are to continue to make progress. He makes gentle suggestions which never seem less than appropriate or considered. If he can give a straight answer to a straight question, then that is the route of choice.

The first Test has left England with food for thought over their top order, their wicketkeeper and their bowling attack. It was intriguing to hear Bayliss talk of the top three – Alastair Cook, Alex Hales and Nick Compton, the last of whom played an almost perfect game in Durban.

“He’s probably closer to Cooky’s style of play,” Bayliss said of Compton. “I think I’ve said before that ultimately I’d like to see two of the top three guys as attacking-style batters. But if you haven’t got them, you pick the best available. What he’s proven at the moment is that, of the guys around, he’s in the best top three. I think with our team at the moment, with the middle order we’ve got – a lot of guys that play shots – if those guys can bat around Cook and Compton, that could be the way ahead for us.”

Struggling Steyn loses top ranking

Steve Smith has reassumed his position as the world’s No 1 Test batsman from one-week wonder Kane Williamson. Reward for plundering easy runs from West Indies. After nearly two years as top bowler, Dale Steyn, who was in Durban, has ceded to  R Ashwin of India. Fun these rankings, but piffle.

Bayliss offered his qualified backing to Jonny Bairstow, England’s recently elevated wicketkeeper. No one should underestimate Bairstow’s iron determination to prove himself the man for the job despite the two lapses in Durban, a dropped catch and missed stumping, both not straightforward, both accessible. But he deserves a bit of a run.

“He’s a good enough player – batter and wicketkeeper – but he can make improvements,” Bayliss said. “He works hard at his keeping. Yes, he’s got some things to work on, maybe a little bit of concentration when it comes to his keeping. Directing all of his energies to doing his job and concentrating.”

Bairstow would be wise to take that as advice, not criticism. Bayliss, an Australian, knows that he and England can set history on a different course this week. Though, as it happens, the last time they won in Cape Town to take a 2-0 lead in the series, South Africa came back to level it at 2-2.