After South Africa gave up 575 for 8 at the MCG, bowling coach Charl Langeveldt urged Kagiso Rabada to develop his control on flatter fields in the same way that Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins did.
South Africa’s bowlers were unable to contain their opponents on a flatter surface in Melbourne over three brutal days in the field as David Warner made a double-century, Alex Carey a century, and Steven Smith, Travis Head, and Cameron Green all made half-centuries to grind South Africa into the ground after causing Australia’s batters all sorts of problems in the two-day Test in Brisbane on a lively green monster.
Anrich Nortje received high plaudits for his efforts after taking three wickets while bowling at a breakneck tempo. Meanwhile, Langeveldt singled out Rabada as the only South African bowler to allow more than five runs per over, finishing with statistics of 1 for 144 from 28 overs with only one maiden.
If I may pick him out, I think KG wasn’t on tune, Langeveldt stated. He constantly gets wickets for KG, hence he is a wicket-taker. He faces a constant problem in trying to exert control over that. I believe that Cummins first let in a few runs but eventually became reliable and aggressive.
And I believe that will be [Rabada’s] task moving forward: to become a superb bowler. He is now among the top wicket-takers in red-ball cricket. However, I believe that playing on flatter wickets in the future would be difficult for him.
Rabada is the first player in Test history with more than 200 Test wickets and a strike rate below 40. He is now the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket in 2022. The strike rate of 39.8 for Rabada is higher than the 46.5 for Cummins. Although Rabada’s career economy rate of 3.38 is much more costly than Cummins’ 2.73, Rabada has a little higher average than Cummins.
The entire group, according to Langeveldt, should pay attention to Australia’s run rate of 3.96 in the first innings because it was greater than the Bazballers’ run rate of 3.89 against South Africa in Manchester in August.
It’s absolutely a warning sign, according to Langeveldt. “Bowling 18 consecutive balls in a row is something we always take great satisfaction in, and it’s kind of one of our KPIs. And since we haven’t done it in this game, it’s a warning sign for the future. We have to do better than that.
“I think as a bowling team, the last three days have been difficult for us. We probably didn’t get off to a good start in the first session. The only issue is something we can control. We should talk about it, in my opinion, so that we can make improvements.
Although they have played a few tests together, their youth as a bowling attack is not an excuse. It’s just being able to maintain run rate control for extended periods of time. However, I was pleased with the lads’ excitement. I consider them to be brilliant. They are faultless.