A narrow gap between two grandstands at St George’s Park is the margin by which Marnus Labuschagne finds himself on the edge of losing his Test place as South Africa eye the series victory that would emboss their status as world champions.
Proteas captain Temba Bavuma has flagged the importance of his team embracing the title of world No.1, something he felt they did far more effectively in Gqeberha. Labuschagne, meanwhile, is fighting for Test cricket survival this week as the Australian selectors ponder their options with the series locked at 1-1 and the final Test starting in Cape Town on Tuesday.
As a strong wind whipped across the ground on the fourth afternoon of the second Test, Labuschagne had established a partnership with Travis Head and just evaded the tightest of lbw decisions on review. The sunny uplands of a long awaited-big score beckoned.
But the spin bowler Labuschagne was contending with was Simon Harmer, an Eastern Province local with deep knowledge of the coastal breezes that occasionally stir into something more like the gales that battered the ground that afternoon.
The western stand, which recently had a roof upgrade ahead of next year’s ODI World Cup, provided some shelter from the wind. So too did the instantly recognisable Duck Pond End terrace, which adorns the St George’s Park logo.
Having played here many times before, Harmer recognised the gap between those two stands as a source of pushback for airborne shots. With Marco Jansen posted at a deepish mid-on, he tossed the ball higher and dared Labuschagne to hit up. What followed was the moment that put Australia, and Labuschagne, in considerable trouble.
“Those are the nuances of playing here in St George’s,” Bavuma said. “You can see a shortish boundary … you can underestimate the fact that the wind plays a factor. He didn’t get all of that ball, Marnus, and the wind did what it did.
“It held it, and you probably had the guy with the safest hands in the team; Marco Jansen, to catch it. Those are the small things [about] playing here at St George’s. If you haven’t played, they can get you.”
Bavuma, who gave his team a chance with a sublime 179 after the hosts had slipped to 6-110 early on day three, spoke with empathy about Labuschagne’s lengthy run of handy but insubstantial scores.
“I think I’m probably the last person to speak in terms of getting starts and not going big, but I guess he’s within that phase, right?” Bavuma said. “As a cricketer, that’s probably the frustrating thing as a batter when you are getting to 30 and 40, and you’re not able to go and get the big scores. I mean, he’s doing all the hard work.
“From what I’ve learned, it’s more a mental thing, and I think only he will know what’s happening in his head when he gets into those moments. He’s definitely going to be thinking about it when he gets to 30 and 40.
“I think the moment he sees himself getting past those moments, that’s when he’ll kind of get his confidence and belief.”
Bavuma acknowledged that his men had been chirpier and more aggressive in Gqeberha.
“We were just probably just looking at things a lot more internally in terms of what has allowed us to play well, and I think part of it is being aggressive in situations, not necessarily having to have a word with our opposition, or look for fights, but be aggressive in how we approach it.
“Look for opportunities to make the play for the team, and be ruthless in doing so. There’s obviously certain individuals within the team who enjoy a little argy bargy, and I mean, you allow those guys to go about doing that within the rules. Yeah, there was a little bit more verbal chatter about it.”
Partly, this was because the South Africans spoke after the Durban Test loss of being more comfortable with the pressure that comes from winning last year’s WTC final at Lord’s.
“I think sometimes, as a team, we forget that the target is on our back, and everyone wants to have a go at us. Everyone wants us to show our mettle as the current world champions, and everything that we do is under the microscope.
“So I think our performance, the game up in Durban was a realisation of that, but also a realisation of what it means coming up against super-strong opposition.
“From a pride point of view, from a belief point of view, we’ve definitely strengthened that by being able to perform like that from a pressure point of view and expectation point of view, that’s probably going to keep increasing individually, but within a team.
“And I guess the case for us is just to keep embracing that, keep going towards that pressure, rather than kind of allowing it to hit us in the face.”
Bavuma added that there had been plenty of introspection to get to 1-1, a feeling Labuschagne will know well this week.
“You definitely have many conversations,” he said. “I think when you front up to the media, you try to keep a steely face. But when you’re there alone in your room, you can’t kind of lie to yourself. So, I mean, you do the whole thing. You analyse you batting innings, and you look at it from a technical point of view.
“I think from a mental point of view, you kind of tune yourself to making sure that you’re ready for battle. You’re out to compete, and if the opportunity is there, you wanna make the play for the team.
“For me, it was a lot of that from a mental point of view. Spent the time in the nets as well to kind of try find something, some sort of rhythm or feeling that I was confident I could go into the game with.”
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