To succeed, Parnell must be boring

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Cape Town

WAYNE Parnell had a good hair day on Wednesday. Beneath his flopping mop, freed from what had become known in the previous few weeks as the “parneytail”, his eyes burned with furious focus. Beneath them, his nostrils flared like a pair of Volksie fenders. Beneath them, his mouth was alive with oaths.

Beneath all that, his limbs and body morphed into a blur of finely controlled motion. He was fire made flesh, spirit distilled into doing, action and satisfaction all wrapped up in one shimmering human package.

He was, in a word, magnificent. And he was rewarded with a haul of of 4/42 in the fifth one-day international between SA and West Indies at Centurion.

Rain enlivened the pitch and nothing could enliven the Windies batsmen at the end of a long and winding road of, mostly, defeat on their tour to SA.

But, in the absence from SA’s attack of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander and in the presence of potential rivals like Kyle Abbott and Marchant de Lange, Parnell knew he had to take his chance.

He did, hurrying batsmen into uncomfortably played strokes and bowling fewer poor deliveries in his nine overs than he often does in one over.

Parnell had a referral for Denesh Ramdin’s wicket turned down, was hit for six by him and conceded the single that took Marlon Samuels to 50 before he claimed his first wicket - a throat ball that Ramdin could only fend to midwicket, where Hashim Amla slid in to take a smart catch.

Five balls after that, another bouncer got big on Jonathan Carter, who shoved it down third man’s throat. With his next delivery, Parnell jammed Andre Russell and had him caught behind. Three balls later, Jason Holder blipped out to mid-on.

“His first spell was good and when he came back he was just as good,” Amla said after Wednesday’s game. “His thinking was brilliant.

“Setting the field is easy with him because he has an understanding of what he wants to do and what kind of field he wants. He broke the backbone of the West Indian team.”

Had JP Duminy on the midwicket fence not lost Darren Sammy’s lofted flick in the lights, Parnell might have had five - which he would also have had if he held Sammy’s stinging return catch.

“Wayne has really worked hard the least couple weeks and he is a talented cricketer,” Russell Domingo said. “He has got the ability to change a game.

“He’s now got 64 wickets in 45 games, which is one-and-a-half wickets a game, which is really good. If you’re doing that in one-day cricket, you are doing exceptionally well.”

But only four times in his 42 bowling innings has Parnell taken four or more wickets. He has conceded less than a run a ball in just 27 of those games.

Steyn, Robin Peterson, Morne Morkel, Duminy and Ryan McLaren all have better economy rates than Parnell, while Morkel, McLaren, Steyn and Lonwabo Tsotsobe all strike more often.

And yet, on days like Wednesday, Parnell was a better bowler than any of them. His problem, then, is the C-word.

“Consistency,” Oscar Wilde said, “is the last refuge of the unimaginative.” Put kindly, Parnell is among the most imaginative cricketers SA are able to field. He does not lack for ideas or options, and he has the cajones to try them all.

Perhaps Parnell was born without the boring gene. If so, he is going to have to fake it until he makes it. He had a chance to practice his fakery in Potchefstroom on Saturday, when he was to play for SA A in a 50-over game against the England Lions along with World Cup squadmates Quinton de Kock and Aaron Phangiso.

“This opportunity will give these players some valuable gametime after some time on the sidelines over the last few months,” Domingo was quoted as saying in a Cricket SA statement.

“Quinton and Aaron are coming back from injury while Wayne only played two matches against West Indies. I think they can only benefit from one last run of competitive cricket before we head to the World Cup on Wednesday.”

Go on, Wayne: let your hair down. Again.