The Art of Bowling: Kagiso Rabada’s Struggle for Wickets at Centurion
CricketPanditFor a while on Thursday, the Centurion Test resembled the opening act of a bullfight, where pristine capes are waved just out of reach, always avoiding the sharp horns, and no blood is shed.
From the very first ball of the match—misread by Shan Masood, who deflected it to short leg off his thigh pad—to the 78th, an inswinger that he edged onto his pad, the hot, heavy air of the Highveld was thick with anticipation, both real and imagined.
Both deliveries were bowled by Kagiso Rabada, a human dynamo ready to explode, who seemed capable of claiming a wicket just by returning to his mark.
Yet, he ended up with none.
Rabada has developed a knack this home summer for bowling like a champion without reaping the rewards. He has consistently outsmarted both the bat and the batters, but the wickets have eluded him.
This was unexpected after he took 6/46 and 5/37 in consecutive innings in Mirpur and Chattogram in October. Surely, what Rabada achieved on Bangladesh’s unyielding pitches would pale in comparison to what he could accomplish back in familiar conditions.
However, that has not been the case. He has gone five bowling innings in South Africa without claiming more than two wickets, and it’s not due to any shortcomings on his part.
Batters have focused on weathering the storm of Rabada and the new ball, aiming to capitalize when the change bowlers come on. He has endured this frustration with a poised, simmering intensity.
Marco Jansen has faced a similar struggle, though to a lesser extent. Still, he enjoyed the thrill of taking 7/13 and 4/73 against Sri Lanka at Kingsmead earlier this month. In that first innings, the near misses often turned into hits.
So, it felt familiar when Masood and Sayim Ayub reached the drinks break with their wickets still intact. The next delivery, however, would change that, and it was a moment to remember.
Corbin Bosch, making his debut on home soil, bowled a short and wide delivery, and Masood sent it straight to gully.That made Bosch the 25th man and the fifth South African player to take a wicket with their first ball in Test cricket. Only England has had more players achieve this feat, with eight in total. The sell-out crowd erupted with joy at the success of one of their own. And rightly so—they spent over R1 million (about USD 53,000) on beer at the venue on Thursday.
“I was just happy it bounced,” Bosch shared. “The nerves weren’t as intense as they were on Sunday when I made my ODI debut against Pakistan at the Wanderers, but they were still there, especially since I had to wait a whole half-session to bowl. I kept thinking, ‘Am I even going to get a chance to bowl in this game?’ But KG was bowling beautifully. Then Temba [Bavuma] handed me the ball, and I just let it go. I put some good energy into it and let everything else fall into place. Luckily, he went for one that maybe he shouldn’t have. But I’m not complaining.”
Bosch’s father, Tertius Bosch, played his only Test against the West Indies in Barbados in April 1992 and passed away in February 2000. The first of his three wickets was that of Brian Lara. Did taking a wicket on his first ball surpass dismissing one of the game’s legends?
“I think when I get to heaven one day, he’s going to tell me that Brian is a little bit better,” Bosch replied with a smile.
Dane Paterson capitalized on the opportunity Bosch created by taking two wickets in consecutive overs—first, he had Ayub caught behind with an inswinger, then he induced a loose shot from Babar Azam that flew to third slip. Just seven balls later, Saud Shakeel gloved Bosch’s delivery down the leg side and was caught out.
After surviving the first hour, Pakistan quickly lost four wickets for just 56 runs in the next 32 minutes. By that point, Kamran Ghulam had faced five balls without scoring. He would go on to see another 66 deliveries, scoring 54 runs. In his third Test, he found himself in a duel with Rabada, one of the world’s top pace bowlers, who was playing in his 69th match.
Ghulam repeatedly stepped away from the crease as Rabada charged in to bowl. At one point, Kyle Verreynne had toRabada shot a glare at Ghulam, who he often bested. Out of Ghulam’s eight fours, only two were off Rabada, with one coming from an inside edge. There were bouncers and brickbats from Rabada, and disbelief when Jansen, despite his height and agility, couldn’t hold onto a chance Ghulam offered when he was on 48. That dropped catch allowed Ghulam to reach 50, leaving Rabada slumped in the middle of the pitch.
Five overs later, Ghulam managed to escape once while lurching and swinging at Paterson, but not the second time—Rabada caught the high ball as he jogged in from fine leg. It was fortunate for him; had he been the bowler, things might have turned unpleasant.
This marked the end of a solid partnership of 81 runs off 118 balls between Ghulam and Mohammad Rizwan, the only half-century stand of the innings. Agha Salman and Aamer Jamal added 47 runs, but Pakistan crumbled, losing their last four wickets for just 22 runs, finishing at 211 all out just three balls after Tea.
Amidst all this, Ryan Rickelton sprinted from point and dove to dismiss Salman, completing Paterson’s second five-wicket haul following his 5/71 against the Lankans at St George’s Park.
Paterson has faced narrow-minded criticism from uninformed social media users simply for being selected at 35. Was he chuckling at their exposure as mere attention seekers?
“If people have something to say about you, they should, because we all have freedom of speech,” Paterson remarked. “I probably won’t be a fan favorite because I’m 35 and bowl at 124 kilometers an hour. But you want to prove people wrong. By doing that, you put the team in good positions.”
The joke is on his ignorant critics, especially since Paterson appears to be on track for a spot in South Africa’s XI for the WTC final at Lord’s in June—if they manage to win at least one of their two Tests against Pakistan.
“Lord’s is a long way off,” Paterson noted. “I’ll be 36 years old. But that’s the goal. The team is focused on it.” Bosch took advantage of some poor strokeplay to claim four wickets when Jansen induced a dismissal.Bosch took advantage of some careless strokeplay to claim four wickets when Jansen got Khurram Shahzad to play a loose shot that was caught at mid-on, bringing the innings to a close. Was the debutant upset about not taking five? Not at all. He sprinted from deep third, roaring and pumping his fist as he made his way to join his new teammates in a lively celebration.
South Africa stumbled to 66/3, with Shahzad’s inswinger proving deadly for both Tony de Zorzi and Rickelton, the left-handers who were bowled and caught behind. However, that marked the end of Pakistan’s momentum, as Aiden Markram and Bavuma guided their team to stumps, trailing by 129 runs.
The fact that all 13 wickets fell to pace might have been lost on Ernest Hemingway, who famously said: “Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters.”
Forgive him; h
