Two prodigal sons go round the outside

Times Media - February 22, 2014

TELFORD VICE, Port Elizabeth

Two prodigal sons came in from the cold yesterday to help SA gain the upper hand after day two of the second test at St George’s Park.

JP Duminy’s 123 ended his unlucky run of 13 innings without scoring a century while Wayne Parnell, who hasn’t played a test in four years, took 2/19 and had a catch dropped.

But AB de Villiers’ 116 was the key performance for SA, who recovered from 11/2 to total 423. By stumps, Australia had stumbled to 112/4 - still 311 runs behind.

Duminy was demoted a place from the No. 6 berth he has filled in his last three tests. Worse yet, his old spot was taken by debutant Quinton de Kock.

Although he maintained he was “not worried” about his minor demotion, Duminy admitted there were “butterflies around, I knew it was going to be a big day for our team and for me”.

Parnell struck with his first two balls when he had Alex Doolan and Shaun Marsh caught behind with deliveries that seamed appreciably.

De Villiers, the only SA batsman who was able to handle the heat Mitchell Johnson generated to take match figures of 12/127 in the first test in Centurion, picked up where he left off seamlessly by steadying his team after their early wobble and then capitalising as the ball aged and the bowlers tired on a slow pitch.

De Villiers and Duminy took their sixth-wicket stand to 149, and even though SA lost their last five wickets for 74 runs yesterday - Nathan Lyon was rewarded for his patience and discipline with a haul of 5/130 - they had kept Australia in the field for 30 overs longer than they had managed in both innings of the first test.

In fact, Australia last fielded for longer than the 150.5 overs SA detained them for in this match when India batted for 154.1 overs against them in Hyderabad last March, or 14 tests ago.

The signature moment of yesterday’s play came in the second hour, when Michael Clarke joined Doolan, Marsh and Steve Smith as the fourth man stationed like a cordon of slips at short midwicket. Then Peter Siddle ran in to bowl to De Villiers, who took up the challenge with a mighty smite over those four fielders’ heads that sailed away for six.

Everything Australia tried SA were able to counter in a way they couldn’t in Centurion, where Australia won by 281 runs with a day to spare.

When SA took the field yesterday, the pitch was no longer the dead slab it had been for Australia’s bowlers. Instead, Vernon Philander trapped Chris Rogers in front in the fourth over before Parnell dealt with Doolan and Marsh in the 10th - the first time in the match that edges had carried. Philander returned to induce a checked drive from Clarke that blooped to Dean Elgar in the covers.

With that, the Australians had lurched to 81/4. But they might have been in more trouble before the day was out.

De Villiers failed to hold a chance offered by David Warner, on 43, off an unusually fired up Morne Morkel, and nightwatchman Lyon was eight not out when umpire Kumar Dharmasena failed to see a clear edge off Dale Steyn. SA did not refer the decision. Lyon was 12 not out when Duminy dropped him in the gully off Parnell.

Warner, who has now survived five chances in the series, will resume today on 65. His performance is as key to Australia’s fortunes as to SA’s.