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There are few more visceral thrills in cricket than the sight of stumps being demolished by an inswinging yorker and though the batsman, Dawid Malan, might not have appreciated this as he lay sprawled on the crease, Kagiso Rabada had just delivered one such moment.
England were warned by the South Africa captain, Faf du Plessis, that his gun fast bowler was straining at the leash following the one-match ban after a sweary send-off for Ben Stokes at Lord’s. And how he delivered, ending Malan’s first taste of Test cricket with a swerving, snaking, heat-seeking missile that upended the newcomer and rattled the timbers.
Rabada, whose celebration remained PG-rated but still helped vent some of the frustration from missing Trent Bridge, has previous here too, having ruined the similarly left-handed Nic Maddison’s maiden outing for Australia last year with a near identical toe-crusher in Adelaide.
Malan, who trudged off with a 17-ball one to his name mid-afternoon and perhaps a sense of injustice that such a delivery should come his way so soon, was one of three newcomers for England in this crunch third Investec Test. While his Middlesex team-mate Toby Roland-Jones is yet to enter the fray, there was a slightly longer look at Tom Westley of Essex at No3.
Arriving at the crease in the fourth over after Vernon Philander had continued his stranglehold over Keaton Jennings with an edge to third slip – the opener has faced 23 balls from South Africa’s nibbling menace this series and been removed three times – the early signs from Westley, the right‑hander with the penchant for the leg-side, were encouraging.
His 90 minutes in the middle for 25 runs may have been little more than a start but in testing conditions against the new ball and the glaring spotlight of international cricket, Westley appeared steady in temperament and unfurled some eye-catching shots along that matched the authority of his turned up collars.
An off-stump guard to the seamers is unashamedly designed to make best use of his strong suit – there was no surprise when he got off the mark fifth ball with a neat flick through midwicket for four off Morne Morkel –, while Westley opens up a touch more to spin.
Keshav Maharaj, brought on in the 13th over, was slapped through cover before Westley slotted the pick of his five fours – a delightfully wristy stroke through midwicket – to see the early experiment with the left-armer ended after six balls.
His dismissal, four balls after an early lunch, will doubtless be an area international attacks look to exploit, with the outswinger on fourth stump from Chris Morris that flew to slip played a touch too straight. But like the rain-affected day as a whole, this first foray in Tests left the Oval crowd likely wanting more.
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The coming weeks represent an opportunity for Westley and co to book spots on the winter’s Ashes tour. While this point should not be dwelled on too greatly given the size of the challenge at hand, it will also be a nervous time for a selection panel that will be desperate to stick after what has felt a never-ending spell of twists.
They have now handed out two teams’ worth of new Test caps since James Whitaker took the lead job in October 2013. England’s 22 debutants is seven more than Australia and South Africa during this time, and double the number for India, and yet only Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali can claim to have truly established themselves.
There are those still hoping to join the pair. Mark Wood is battling against his body to achieve optimal pace, Haseeb Hameed sits in cold storage after an encouraging first winter was followed by a binary return to county cricket, and Jake Ball, similarly still in the foothills of his Test career, is on the cusp of full fitness after a knee issue.
And there are feathers in the caps of Whitaker, Angus Fraser, Mick Newell and Trevor Bayliss during this time too, such as the recall for Jonny Bairstow, the faith shown in Chris Woakes last year– how his absence has been felt this summer – and a revival of the one-day team.
But while selection remains an art and not an exact science – Paul Farbrace, the England assistant coach, rightly noted before this match that the jump to Test cricket contains an element of the unknown – and judgments on the newcomers should be reserved for now, England’s tally of tried and discarded is starting to mount up.
(THE GUARDIAN)
