The pride and prestige of being ranked as the best test nation in the world no longer belongs to England. Yesterday South Africa secured that status by completing a 2-0 series victory, courtesy of a narrow win in a fascinating final test match. The last five days have been a superb advertisement for test cricket, combining aggressive batting with probing bowling, to create a tense finale to a brilliant game of cricket.
There could only be one winner though, and that honour fell into the hands of South Africa, who now displace England at the top of the test rankings. Over the three test series, the Proteas have earned the privilege of the illustrious ranking, through some outstanding batting and menacing bowling. England meanwhile have fought gallantly, but lacked the killer instinct to seize the opportunity when they were on top, such as after the first day of the first test.
The start of the series was largely overshadowed by the excitement of the Olympics, and the final test has been engulfed by the saga surrounding Kevin Pietersen, yet the standard of cricket, especially from the tourists, has been fantastic. For the first time in the last few years, England’s bowling attack has been unable to dismantle an opposition’s batting line up. The visitors’ top four have all scored hundreds, with Hashim Amla particularly impressing largely due to his fantastic triple century in the first test.
Even when the top order have struggled others such as Jacques Ruddolph, J P Duminy and Vernon Philander have shone, causing further tribulations for the England attack. James Anderson bowled well without much luck, particularly in the final test, whilst Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan weren’t able to make the impact of past series. Most worryingly though was the continuation of Graeme Swann’s poor form. The off spinner looks a shadow of the bowler from twelve to eighteen months ago, and has endured a challenging summer, taking only ten wickets in five test matches.
I said before the series that the difference between the teams may well be Swann, but with only four wickets at 77 a piece, my thesis was proved incorrect. Instead South Africa’s attack looked the more threatening, with the pace contingent of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Philander, and Jacques Kallis all impressing. England only passed 400 once in the series, which demonstrates how well the visitors bowled. Moreover England’s top order didn’t fire like South Africa’s, with the first four wickets falling early on three occasions.
One stark statistic is that Hashim Amla scored more runs in one innings, than any of the England batsmen did in the whole series. Matt Prior was the top scorer with 275 runs, whilst only the controversial Pietersen and young Jonny Bairstow, who only played in the final test, averaged over 50. In contrast South Africa’s top four all average over 50, with Amla topping the chart scoring 482 runs, followed by his captain Graeme Smith.
This is the second time England have been defeated over the past months, after the dismal showing in the subcontinent against Pakistan. The series victory against West Indies improves the outlook, but over recent times England have been far from their best. To make the situation worse, the acrimony surrounding Kevin Pietersen looks as if it may have signalled the end of his England career. Pietersen is undoubtedly talented, and one of the best batsmen at England’s disposal, but his presence currently seems to jeopardise the mood of the England camp.
His text messages to his South African counterparts supposedly insulting his teammates, seem to have been the final straw, and he was dropped for the final test, despite making an apology and dismissing it as ‘banter’. The bridges between his fellow players appear to be burnt, and in that way it looks difficult to find a path back to the England set up for the mercurial right hander. His omission from the England squad for the forthcoming one day series against South Africa, and the Twenty20 World cup reiterates that.
Yet for now England have other problems in the test arena. Their grasp on the world number one spot has been broken, and they must now fight to return to the lofty heights of twelve months ago. The Ashes will return next year, and England will have to improve on recent performances if they want to retain what is viewed as the holy grail of English cricket.