Late-blooming Proteas underline their value

New Proteas opener Pieter Malan clearly knows more about the location of his off stump than most people do about the whereabouts of their most prized possessions.

The 30-year opening batsman gave a master class in leaving the ball during the second Test against England at Newlands. Time and time again England’s bowlers and slip cordon gasped and fired insults at Malan as the ball missed the stumps by centimetres.

Malan on debut, remained calm and unfazed, ignoring the sledging as convincingly as he left the ball. He judged the bounce and angle to perfection, covering that off stump with GPS-like precision. On the basis of his belligerent second innings 84, which took six hours and six minutes to compile there are going to be many more frustrated bowling units in the future.

Pieter Malan of South Africa makes his ground during day 5 of the International Test Series 2019/20 match between South Africa and England at Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town on 7 January 2020 © Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

There was as much pleasure in watching a craftsman such as Malan leave, as there is in watching Ben Stokes flay. They are at opposite ends of the Test batting spectrum, but that’s what makes the format so compelling. Malan and others such as Rassie van der Dussen are vital to the narrative of Test cricket. They do not easily throw away their wickets and they put pressure back on the bowlers through obstinance.

“In the last three or four years, that (leaving) has been a massive part of my game,” Malan said after the Newlands Test. “Leaving the ball well and eliminating dismissals that I felt were soft was important. As a new-ball player, you want to make the bowlers bowl at you.

“In South Africa, it’s tough opening against the new ball, there’s a lot of things happening, there's nip, there's bounce, so the less you can give the bowlers, the better. In their third and fourth spells, that's where the real runs are.”

The new South African batting pair are less likely to be profligate with their wickets knowing that after nearly decade of each slogging through the semi-professional and professional game to carve out a living, this might be their one chance to establish themselves.

Requiring a near impossible 438 to win, South Africa had to survive nearly five sessions to earn a draw. That they came within 30 minutes of achieving their target was largely due to Malan’s contribution.

It was vital that the Proteas had a steady anchor and Malan, and later Van der Dussen, who took three hours and 14 minutes for 17, defended their wickets with skill and courage. Their ultimately failed heroics were honed over years of toiling in the backwaters of first-class cricket.

Playing in front of thousands at Newlands, despite the pressure of the situation, was a much better proposition than performing in front of a smattering of people in Benoni or Pietermaritzburg.

“Somebody asked me earlier about being out there and feeling pressure, but that's not pressure... that’s privilege,” Malan said after the South Africans ultimately lost by 189 runs.

“Pressure is playing in a semi-professional game with nobody watching, fighting for your career.”

It’s this sense of perspective that has allowed Malan and Van der Dussen to come into the Test set-up as 30-year-olds and show they belong. Neither are gifted talents such as AB de Villiers or Aiden Markram, but both are determined characters making the most of their comparatively limited abilities through years of graft.

Former Australian great Mike Hussey is the pin-up of late bloomers in Test cricket, having also made his debut as a 30-year-old. He went on to play 79 Tests in eight years, scoring 6,235 runs at an average of 51.52.

Malan and Van der Dussen may not obviously be in the same class as Hussey, but early indications are that both are set for lengthy spells in the Test team because of their attitudes, more than their abilities.

“I’m just lucky that my character lends itself to being calm,” Van der Dussen told Daily Maverick last December.

“What I consciously have learnt over the last few years is to take a second longer and think about a situation and try and look at it from an outside perspective.

“Pressure for me is something that’s created internally. Yes, the game pressure will be that you need 10 runs off two balls but you can, to a very large extent, control the pressure in your mind. Often, if you can take that second longer to think and get that outside perspective, you realise you’re not under as much pressure.”

Test cricket, and especially batting, is a game of dealing with setbacks and surviving and thriving against the odds. Bowlers have hundreds of balls to snare a wicket while a batsman seldom has more than one chance at this level. A rash shot or momentary lapse of concentration inevitably leads to dismissal.

Having been through the emotional peaks and troughs of batting at first-class level, Malan and Van der Dussen appear to be able to deal with the setbacks with the right amount of introspection and stoicism. Both have a mature level of understanding of themselves as people and as players, which translates to success on the field.

“I don’t think I did myself any favours when I was younger,” Malan admitted.

“I took a lot of stuff for granted and I didn’t really put in the hard work that, in hindsight, I needed to put in. It's also a matter of opportunities and them being limited and then not taking them when I did get them.

“It’s been a long road, but a road that I’m glad I took because it’s made me a better cricketer and a better person. It’s made me appreciate playing for the Proteas. It’s been tough, but it’s been worth it.

“Being out there in front of the Barmy Army, with Jimmy Anderson running in... it felt like a video game at one stage," he said. “It was unbelievable and I felt very privileged to be in a position where I could fight for the team.

“I’ve walked down these stairs a lot of times playing for WP and I’ve even played a club game here. I always take a second or two to look up at the mountain and appreciate where we play. It’s very special for me.”

Injury to Markram opened the door for Malan after five years of heavy scoring in the domestic game. He did his part for years without ever earning an opportunity at Test level, but he never became disillusioned or downbeat. He just kept working and plugging away with help from Cobras coach Ashwell Prince until the door opened at his home ground last week.

“Ashwell played 60-odd Tests, averaged over 40 and scored hundreds so when he tells you something, you listen,” Malan said. “We work on small technical stuff that we just keep refining.

“It’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game, where you improve something, then the bowler spots another weakness, and you end up going back and forth. He is very good with that. And then also from the mental side, he pushes all the time and I enjoy that.”

With the series locked at 1-1 with Tests in Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg to come, both of the Proteas’ late bloomers will have time to fully blossom. DM