Scott Boland shines against South Africa but rain dominates again

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Scott Boland had to wait a long time. Scott Boland took a wicket as soon as he got a chance. It was the same story on day two of the second Test at Gqeberha as it had been on day one, with rain delaying play, this time until deep into the afternoon. When a wet outfield had finally dried enough to allow play to resume in African sunshine, South Africa lost three more wickets to finish on 97 for 5.

It was 3:45pm, six hours after the planned start, when Boland got to finish the over that he’d started the day before. Four balls, one driven by Temba Bavuma to the boundary. That happens from time to time because Boland goes full, inviting that shot while searching for an edge. That’s how he got Aiden Markram and David Bedingham the day before. Seven balls into day two, that’s how he added Marques Ackerman.

South Africa’s left-handed opener, who has never done the job before in first-class cricket, is known as a dasher but had been circumspect on debut. He had faced 32 balls to collate five runs on day one, then had to wait 27 hours before facing balls 33 to 38. That was as far as he got: again that perfect Boland length, looking full without being full enough to be safe. The dasher dashed; seam away meant his dash was done. Caught behind for 6.

Matthew Breetzke would have been a more qualified opening candidate, having done it domestically, while Ryan Rickelton had the job in the previous Test at Durban. With Rickelton moved into the middle order for this Test, and Breetzke brought into it from outside the squad, both may as well have started at the top, given how little cricket had been played by the time they found themselves under a pace-bowling microscope.

Breetzke came and went first, lasting a shorter time than either opener before he nicked a wildly ambitious back-foot punch against Mitchell Starc on 4. By this time South Africa were four down for 40, and in danger of complete collapse. Rickelton, though, managed to dig in with Bavuma through a tough passage of play, the left-hander targeted by Pat Cummins over the wicket bowling into his ribcage, and more than once hitting it.

The strategy almost worked late in the day, Rickelton glancing to leg slip, but with ball travelling out of shadow into sunlight, Marnus Labuschagne chested it down instead of catching it. Bavuma, with his relative lack of height, was better able to handle the short stuff, getting under one such ball to literally hook it into the street outside St George’s Park. His patience and his ability to wait for balls to come to him rather than pushing at them were the feature of his 41 not out, while Rickelton celebrated his reprieve by driving Cummins for four to raise a fifty partnership.

But what happens after Boland has to wait a while? Rickelton’s luck twisted in the last four overs of the day as Australia’s talisman returned, this ball not as full as his other wicket-taking efforts, just wide enough to leave, but liable to seam in either direction, and this time seaming away. Alex Carey for some reason allowed the edge to pass him by, but Matt Renshaw at first slip did not, throwing out one hand and surprising nobody more than himself that the ball lodged in just above the turf. Boland ended the day with 4 for 31, Rickelton with 31.

Five down for under 100 is a rough spot to be in with three days to play. This too without Josh Hazlewood on the field, missing the half-day’s play with illness. Australia’s plan will be for him to return for a four-bowler squeeze, constricting the first innings score, before they bat into enough of a lead through the fourth day that they can push for a win. That relies on their overcoming Kagiso Rabada, the man who took 11 wickets last time these teams played here. But as Boland’s career is testament to, it doesn’t take a marquee name to shape a Test.