HogG wash
| by Gilbert Hogg
It Just Doesn’t Get Better
Cricket has been defined as baseball on Valium by Americans, and the fifth day of the second
and final test between Sri Lanka and South Africa, held at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground,
Colombo, 24 to 28 July 2104, would clearly seem to validate this claim, and the Americans
would most probably upgrade Valium to Zolpidem.
S
“
tarting the day at 38-1, South
Africa added just 121 runs off 94
overs, opting for defensive batting
rather than press for a win” was the dry
text describing the events on 28 July.
121 runs off 94 overs is just 1.28 runs per
over. Compare this to an average T20 game,
where scores of over 200 runs off 20 overs
(10 runs per over) are not unusual. In the
ODI version, 250 runs scored off 50 overs
(5 runs per over) is regarded as pedestrian.
So 1.28 runs per over must be worse than
watching paint dry, right?
No. A most definite no. Every ball bowled
and every shot played, or not played, was
far more exciting than those sixes struck
during those truncated one day games.
And every time the batsmen padded up to
the leg spin bowlers, it was a contest to
equal those far off days in the Colosseum.
It was a titanic battle, which kept me riveted
to my seat all day. It was pure cricket gold,
and exactly why the five day game is still
regarded as the supreme test of skill and
endurance by cricket aficionados.
For those who are unsure as to what I
am talking about, or who believe that my
marbles have gone AWOL, let me try and
explain. When Elgar and de Kock strode out
to the middle that hot and humid morning,
not many gave South Africa a chance of
surviving 90 overs of wily Sri Lanka spin on
a wearing pitch, and most believed that it
would be game over by midday.
At stake was the number one spot in the
Reliance ICC Test Rankings, and a draw
would suffice, as South Africa had won
the previous test and a series win was the
cherry on the cake.
But as the hours went by, and in the final
session as the minutes ticked by, all the
batsmen played their part, grinding it out
ball by ball.
Petersen had set the trend the previous
day, not scoring a run in anger off 25 balls,
and then Elgar, de Kock, de Villiers, du
Plessis, Duminy, and Steyn conspired to
frustrate the Sri Lankans, before Philander
and Tahir completed the act of defiance,
facing 564 balls in total, in
between short rain delays,
and the final bit of comedy
dished up by Tahir as he
attempted to waste time
as he writhed in agony
from self-induced cramp.
Not entirely cricket, but even
the Sri Lankans found it
funny.
So there you have it, five days
of absorbing cricket culminating
in a pulsating fifth day, and
complexities and variations on a
theme that baseballers can only
dream about. It was a draw, but
a draw of epic proportions. No
ways is test cricket baseball on
Valium. It is more like baseball on
a combination of hallucinogenics
and amphetamines, gulped down
with bourbon.
| words in action
70
september 2014