South Africa’s Bowling Resources Beginning to take an Impressive Shape

Parnell came and went without doing much, but in the short while that he played for the South African team, the young left-armer showed a lot of promise and in a cricketing nation that hasn’t traditionally produced left-arm seam bowlers, Parnell was rated highly and counted upon to be a big, name in the near future. Now, he is on the verge of making a comeback and if early comments are to be believed, his pace and his penetrative ability have
only improved. He would add more fuel to a bowling attack that is slowly but steadily getting back to its old glory days. With Ntini aging and Pollock no longer able to horse-carry the bowling attack, things were getting a bit difficult for Graeme Smith. However, with Mornie Morkel and Dale Steyn rising to the challenge and the young De Wet being added to the mix, things are improving very quickly. Further, all these bowlers are very young, quick, well-built and seem to have it in them to present a dependable pool at Graeme Smith’s disposal. I dare say that the Aussies might be beaming a lot about their own bench of bowlers but the SA bowlers look at par and they are a lot younger and devoid of those painfully repetitive Aussie on-field antics.

Both SA and England stuck with lower-order batsmen: Lack of Aggressive Bowling?

I realize that saying so would mean undermining the usual tenacity shown by the Proteas bowlers but the fact remains that England was able to save the first test match purely due to the inability of the South African bowlers to dismiss the late batting order of England. For starters, they allowed Graeme Swann to make a half-century and give England's total
a sense of respectability and on the final, decisive day of the test match, the South Africa bowlers just kept bowling outside the off-stump or so short that the ball never made an impact. I was wondering what happened to Ntini and his ilk who would get under the batsmen chin and in their toes as soon as the number seven onwards batting of the opposition took stance against them. Is it just lack of intensity or are the bowlers bowling too much of the regular line and length type bowling? The same holds true for England in the second test match against South Africa. They could have easily restricted South Africa to about 270 but then Steyn took over and carted the England bowling to all parts. Stuart Broad kept bowling what is generally regarded as the conventional, decent line, without trying to bounce out Dale Steyn. I believe England are missing someone like Harmison and Flintoff whose height and overall bowling style made them a headache for the lower-order batsmen. Onions and Anderson merely kept on pitching around the good-length area without trying out the slower balls or yorkers that are becoming so useful these days, considering the amount of ODI and T20 cricket being played…just strange!!