About the time South Africa’s top order crumpled for the third time in as many innings, Jonty Rhodes was asked by Damien Fleming about whether he ever had much chance to watch Shane Warne’s domination of Daryll Cullinan from the other end.
In fact, Rhodes replied in the Seven commentary box, his customary position in the order was immediately after Cullinan’s: Rhodes joked that he stood poised to walk to the middle as the team pondered how Warne would run fresh rings around a player who was otherwise one of their best.
Kyle Verreynne has proven himself to be a valuable cog in an under-fire South African middle order.Credit:Getty Images
It would be churlish not to forgive Proteas wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne for having a similar sense of anticipatory readiness this series. He has been given very little reason to take confidence in the batters above him – not that anyone had much confidence in the Gabba’s trampoline pitch.
“I’m a purist, I want to see the game go to four or five days and the way, the nature of it, and how it played with some seriously steep bounce with the old ball, you are on a hiding to nothing as a batting unit,” skipper Dean Elgar had said of Brisbane.
But this time around, the MCG’s surface was not quite so prancing as the Gabba’s last week, nor the Boxing Day deck last year, and a warm, sunny day served also to dry its morning moisture at the same time it drew 64,876 spectators to the ground.
Equally, Australia’s fast men were not immediately at their most precise after Pat Cummins sent the visitors in. Pressure, when imposed, was intermittent, and Elgar, in particular, seemed to be settling in for a long stay, having survived a testy return catch for his opposite number in the first half hour.
In his nuggety style and intent to survive, Elgar had the capacity to play the sort of innings that Ed Cowan once did on debut for Australia against India on a similar surface here in 2011, carving out 69 from 177 balls to set the platform for victory in a low-scoring but engrossing Test match. And how Cowan would have loved to get to Elgar’s mark of more than 5000 Test runs.
So, it was with both surprise and some dismay that spectators witnessed Elgar haring away for a single fewer than 10 minutes before lunch. Possibly timing the ball a little better than he thought, Elgar opened himself up to execution by Marnus Labuschagne – the throw was unerring, and the captain was run out for the first time in his 81 Tests.
Jonty Rhodes in full-flight for South Africa in 2002.Credit:Getty Images
For someone who, by his own admission, is harshly self-critical, Elgar’s exit was of the kind to recall the following lines by Roger Ebert, reviewing North in 1992 (that’s if you substitute “run out” for “movie”):
“I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it.”
The next ball, Temba Bavuma was drawn into edging Mitchell Starc’s precisely pitched scramble seamer and another sickly South African first innings loomed large.
Verreynne, however, has been one of the quietly improving components of a South African side that has had to deal almost perpetually with early retirements to the Twenty20 circuit: Quinton de Kock’s, aged 29, appeared a major blow earlier this year.
In domestic cricket, Verreynne was not only a dasher but a heavy scorer. A first-class average comfortably clear of 50 is nothing to be dismissed on bouncy South African surfaces.
His initial appearances in the side, as a specialist batter, were halting at best. A top score of 30 in eight innings did not suggest permanence. But an unbeaten century against New Zealand in February represented something of a breakthrough – Verreynne has since averaged close to 40.
Combining poise with punch and an impish presence in the middle of the MCG, Verreynne began to conjure memories of none other than Rhodes himself. His lower order union with the tall, angular Marco Jansen was worth a priceless 112.
Separated by the intervention of Cameron Green, Verreynne and Jansen had nonetheless given the Proteas the barest foothold in the same way Rhodes often did against Australia and Warne in Cullinan’s wake.
A formidable South African bowling attack was duly given the chance to get into the match a little more fully than they had done at the Gabba – and Kagiso Rabada soon found Usman Khawaja’s outside edge with angle and seam.
But as the shadows lengthened, David Warner marked his 100th Test with a sparkling start, footwork sharp and intent clear. In doing so, he added to reasons why Elgar will likely be kicking himself about the run out long after this series is over.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
