Why do we like Test cricket? Crisp technique, stroke play that’s pleasing to the eye, resilience and patience - some of the hardest physical and emotional attributes of a player are tested to an extreme in a format where time can seem endless and suffocatingly short for two sides at the same time.
That’s why underdog stories, redemption arcs and tales of defiance are so popular in the game’s purest form. Ask South Africa.
The Proteas finished day two of the one-off Test against India, having lost four wickets for 236 on the board and still trailing by a Herculean 367-run margin in the first innings.
If you’re a South African player or even a fan, it’s easy to feel a bit overburdened by uncontrollables. Imagine having a weak spin attack for a Test to be played on what was shaping up to be a dust bowl. Imagine coming into the game with your best pacer (Marizanne Kapp), not bowling due to injury management, your second-best pacer (Ayabonga Khaka) miles away from red-ball cricket after a potentially career-threatening injury, and a serious dearth of spin resources. Add a complete lack of a red-ball base in your nation to this. The baggage is fairly heavy and was tied up neatly with a bow when India hounded an unsteady bowling contingent en route to a mammoth score of 603.
But then, Sune Luus and Marizanne Kapp happened. Two warhorses who have time and again pulled unreal shifts for their nation did it once more as they defied India through the day.
After Laura Wolvaardt fell cheaply, the onus of rebuilding the innings fell on the two senior pros. Luus first stitched a 63-run stand with Anneke Bosch for the second wicket and then put up a 93-run third-wicket stand with Kapp to help South Africa gain ground in Chennai.
“Obviously, we needed to bat through the whole day and get some partnerships going. I think the big thing was just to be patient. (The balls) outside off, be patient with that, not to go fishing too early on. (The idea was to) just keep the straight one out and make sure that your defence is very good and every shot you play is just very solid and how you planned it,” a tanned and tired Luus told reporters after the day’s play.
There was plenty of uncertainty about the Chepauk pitch. Ahead of the Test, South Africa anticipated jitters handling India’s spin attack and focussed on different variations in the nets. Wolvaardt looked shaky, Tazmin Brits struggled to time her sweeps and there were plenty of instances of players getting beaten.
Of the 164 balls Luus faced, 129 were from India’s spin quartet of Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sneh Rana and Harmanpreet Kaur and made a conscious effort to not get frazzled by anything even mildly dangerous from the tweakers.
“It’s either going to roll or there’s going to be even bounce. I don’t think you can play for the one that doesn’t bounce. It’s obviously very unpredictable. I think we just stuck to our game plans and we obviously had certain plans against the various bowlers and we felt using the depth of our crease was probably the way to go today… just keeping a straight bat. I think that’s the only thing we probably could have done better is just keep the bat straight instead of looking square early on in the innings,” Luus said in hindsight.
Day 2 Report - Luus, Kapp help South Africa gain ground in against India on Day 2
The heat did not make things easy for the side. At every drinks break, Protean subs would bring out a large umbrella for the batters in the middle to briefly escape under, temporarily shielded from the harsh sunlight. Ice packs and countless bottles of water were exhausted. Kapp even looked to have some discomfort in her lower back paired with cramps towards the end of the day courtesy of the sapping conditions here.
“I think Perth felt like winter compared to Chennai, now that I look back. Today was really one of the hottest days I’ve ever experienced in my career. It really was a good challenge as a cricketer today. I think mentally you just had to stick in there and forget about the heat however you could. We had four days in between the ODIs and the Test. It feels long but we only had two days to prepare for this. I think our game plan was just to bat longer, be patient and have a good defence.”
Wolvaardt’s dismissal is an example of a momentary loss of composure which resulted in a wicket. Sneh Rana set up Wolvaardt perfectly. She kept angling the ball in, attacking her on the pads. After one vociferous appeal was negated, Sneh got her wicket, with Wolvaardt trapped plumb. Deepti too was remarkably stingy. In 15 overs, she gave away just 40 runs taking one wicket at an economy of 2.66.
“The two offspinners bowled exceptionally today. They were hitting those revs and we didn’t know where to go - back or forward - or when the balls were popping or staying low. Our priority was to build partnerships - whether we were on zero off 20 or zero off 30 balls. As long as we stayed there, I thought we’d have the best chance.
“No bowler is good enough to bowl on the same spot every single ball for how many ever overs are required. We knew at some point she (Sneh) would give us something, either just to get off strike or to get that boundary. But we just needed to be patient.”
South Afric’s Sune Luus plays a shot against India during the lone test match. | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B/The Hindu
Luus credits a spin camp for the batters held weeks ago for some of the confidence the Proteas showed with the bat on Saturday.
“We’ve got a new batting coach – Baakier Abrahams – with some new ideas and a fresh perspective on things. He really helped us just to tweak one or two things. Not big changes to our game; I think it’s very hard to change just before a series, but just to add some elements to the game that could help us in this situation. Using the depth of the crease, coming forward…All those things came into play today and helped us get to those 40-50 runs and expanded our games a little.”
Through their defiant innings, Kapp – who came into the series nursing a back issue – was seen holding her hip and leaning on her bat for support while standing at the non-striker’s. Standing in the field for an entire day plus an hour and a half on day two did not make life easy for the Proteas.
“There were a few conversations about whether they were going to go for 1000 runs or declare before lunch. But we were prepared to stand in the field for however long. I think this is what you train for. This is why we go to the gym..why we run. So we were prepared to stick it out and try and fight for those wickets.
“I think they were kind of batting to get those centuries so it was sweet to get them out. Obviously, you’d love to see people you played with to get those milestones, but I’m glad we took those wickets and we could go off before lunch.”
Kapp and Luus’ partnership was a confluence of different energies. While Luus dropped anchor, Kapp scored at a brisk ODI pace, keeping the Indian field on its toes. She was eventually forced to take her foot off the pedal when wickets began falling at the other end. Much of her zen was maintained with some help from Luus at the non-striker’s end.
South Afric’s Marizanne Kapp plays a shot against India. | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B/The Hindu
“There were a lot of conversations about keeping her calm today because she felt she was hitting the ball so nicely. In that space, you feel like you can just hit every ball and it’ll go where you want it to go. But she knew that she needed to be patient, and she still had a long way to go. My job today was really just to have those conversations with her. She needed to be level-headed today and she asked me to help her out with that,” Luus revealed.
Kapp is no stranger to lone-wolf efforts with the bat. In the one-off Test against England in 2022, she scored a brilliant 150 which eventually proved crucial in securing a draw in the side’s first Test in eight years. Luus, for one, would love to see an encore.
“It’s very impressive to bat with someone([like her). Her game is just sorted. She knows what she wants to do. She looks invincible at the moment, and I’m hoping she gets another 150 and maybe converts to 200 tomorrow.”
Another thread that ties these players together is how crucial they’ve become with bat and ball for their countries. Luus is a handy leg-spinner alongside being a top-five batter. However, the 28-year-old has swapped to off-spin recently for reasons neither she nor the team management has explained.
With South Africa’s spin contingent struggling to contain the Indians, it was puzzling to see Luus bowl all of three overs in the innings. Delmi Tucker told the media that Wolvaardt intended Luus to come in to give the mainstream spinners a breather and nothing else.
While Luus looks disillusioned with being a leggie, the desperation Wolvaardt might feel for her to get settled into life as an off-spinner is not lost on her.
“It’s obviously still very early days with the off-spin. I only started this a month ago. So it’s very new. I wasn’t expecting to bowl in India at all. So it was a bit of a challenge. That said, it’s nice to get the ball in hand again. I’ve missed it. So hopefully I can just continue to work on it and make it a permanent thing and be that extra spinner that Laura needs whenever. I think I always look at myself as someone who can make an impact, whether it’s with the bat, the ball, in the field. I know the team needs that extra allrounder and I am trying to get there.”
The phrase ‘on paper’ can carry heavy prejudice. Not many people gave South Africa a chance against a team as dominant in Tests as India, particularly on its home turf. Given the magnitude of that first innings score, it might even be safe to call it improbable. That said, India’s bowling muscle was expected to trigger a collapse, expected to draw out a submission akin to what it managed against England and Australia last December.
That Luus and Kapp could resist in this manner, with barely any red ball infrastructure to work within, might be the positive that keeps the Protean spark alive, in this game and in this format.
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