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Spin and reverse swing on menu in Port Elizabeth

7th March, 2018
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Nathan Lyon of Australia celebrates David Warner of Australia after Lyon ran out James Vince of England during day one of the First Test Match of the 2017/18 Ashes Series between Australia and England at The Gabba on November 23, 2017 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Expert
7th March, 2018
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Spin and reverse swing again loom as the biggest factors in the second Test between Australia and South Africa starting tomorrow in Port Elizabeth.

Leading into this four-Test battle there was a sense the pitches may well be juicy after the Proteas served up two green monsters in their recent series against India.

Instead the surface for the first Test at Durban was unusually dry and abrasive, offering great assistance to the spinners and allowing both teams to gain reverse swing from quite early on in each innings.

By comparison, it won’t come as a surprise if the Port Elizabeth pitch is parched and spin-friendly as this is its natural state. Port Elizabeth has long been the best Test venue for spinners in South Africa, and has also fostered many remarkable displays of reverse swing bowling.

One such spell was delivered by Proteas champion Dale Steyn the last time these two teams met in Port Elizabeth four years ago. Australia were 3-153 in their second innings when Steyn gutted their innings, dismissing Michael Clarke, Steve Smith and Brad Haddin in a matter of overs.

Steyn had the ball reversing in both directions, leaving the Australian batsmen flummoxed and leading South Africa to a thumping 231-run win. Spin also played a major role in that Test.

Australia’s tweakers took eight wickets, with Nathan Lyon snaring six wickets amid a massive workload of 63 overs and part-timers Steve Smith and Michael Clarke each making one breakthrough.

Nathan Lyon

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Meanwhile, in the most recent Test at Port Elizabeth three months ago, SA spinner Keshav Maharaj ran amok with 5-59 in the second innings as the Proteas thumped Zimbabwe.

The left armer troubled all of the Australian batsmen on a favourable surface at Durban en route to nine wickets for the match.

He again looks likely to be a central figure in the second Test if the pitch plays true to form. Crucially, Maharaj shapes as the bowler most capable of working over Smith, the world’s number 1 Test batsman. After years of opponents searching for a chink in Smith’s armour the first Test left no doubt it is left arm spin which challenges him the most.

The Australian skipper was caught behind while trying to cut Maharaj in the first innings at Durban, and then trapped LBW by part-time left-armer Dean Elgar in the second dig. Not long before being dismissed by Elgar Smith had escaped a perilously close LBW shout against Maharaj.

If reverse swing becomes a significant factor then the Proteas will look to pace prodigy Kagiso Rabada to make the most of this movement. Rabada is SA’s go-to reverse swing bowler in the same way that Australia love to throw a weathered ball to Starc.

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The Aussie left armer matched Maharaj’s wicket-haul at Durban and was particularly brutal against the SA tail.

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In the first innings Starc sliced through the Proteas’ lower-order with a spell of 3-2, and in the second dig Starc finished off the Proteas with a three-wicket maiden.

Starc looks like being the danger man for the Proteas across this whole series, as my Roar colleague Glenn Mitchell detailed this week.

Nathan Lyon was always going to be a key player at Port Elizabeth given its history of aiding spinners. But the Australian off-spinner will need to rebound from a disappointing second innings at Durban, where he went wicketless in 32 overs.

As that innings progressed, Lyon fell into the old habit of rushing through his overs, and duly lost the tantalising loop that has made him one of the world’s leading Test cricketers over the past year.

Australia will be hoping Lyon can relax and regain that teasing flight. It is he and Starc who seem as though they will be most suited to the Port Elizabeth conditions.

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