86 no balls this season mean the Proteas have a very big problem

No balls were a problem for the Proteas on Sunday. They have been for the entire season, and if not resolved they could lead to catastrophe at Lord’s in June.

South Africa has bowled 23 of them across the two Pakistan innings, but over the course of the international season, it’s an issue that has been boiling behind the scenes, with the fact that no wickets have been taken off a new ball probably making it easy to mask. 

Because of the number bowled in this match, Proteas bowling coach Piet Botha knew what was coming his way when he faced the media after play on day three. Pakistan, having fought back hard after being asked to follow-on, finished the day on 213/1, thanks to their captain Shan Masood’s sixth Test hundred. 

“Yeah, I’m not surprised that was the first question,” Botha said after being asked why SA’s bowlers breached the front line so often. 

“It’s disappointing, but it is something that creeps into the game from time to time. It crept into our game in Bangladesh, but we sorted it out for the Sri Lanka series and now it has crept back in,” he said. 

Botha must have misremembered the Sri Lanka series and even the first Test in Centurion, because in the six Tests since the tour to Bangladesh (including this one) SA have bowled a total of 86 no balls — an extra 14 overs.

Kagiso Rabada alone has bowled 44 no balls and given the work rate concerns about him, the fact that he’s bowled an extra seven overs should be an area of grave concern for him, and suggests a technical problem that needs to be resolved urgently. 

Luckily, none of the breaches have occurred when a bowler has taken a wicket. Every time a bowler overstepped in the second innings — which has happened 10 times — a sheepish Botha was shown on the big screen at the ground.

He’s not a man who is comfortable in the spotlight, so it’s certain Botha will be holding some hard talks with the bowlers before the start of Monday’s fourth day.

In this Test Rabada has bowled 10 no balls, while Wiaan Mulder has been called eight times. Rabada was also chiefly responsible in Bangladesh, where SA bowled a total of 25 no balls in those two Tests, with the Proteas spearhead responsible for 18.

“It is different for different players and the reasons vary, the ground, the wind, a slope, fatigue or it’s something that happens on a particular day.

“It’s also a concentration thing. Once you bowl one you must adjust and it seemed in this game t when we did bowl one, we struggled to adjust,” said Botha.

SA faces an important first session on Monday, despite firmly holding the upper hand. 

They weren’t as good with the ball in Pakistan’s second innings in which Shan and Babar Azam, who scored 81, shared an opening partnership of 205. 

South Africa, said Botha, have been forced into being more attacking simply because of the dominance of the game, which has resulted from a first innings of 615 and then bowling Pakistan out for 194 in their first innings. 

“When you get frustrated and start searching [for wickets], like we might have done in the second innings, by bowling too straight, you start leaking runs, going at four and five runs an over and you don’t want to do that. The goal may be instead of talking about taking wickets, aim for a scoring rate of three an over, then a false shot will come,” said Botha.

Babar explained that despite a number of rash shots in Pakistan’s first innings — most notably from Mohammad Rizwan — the tourists had kept the same mentality for their approach in the second.

“We did not expect the pitch to be like this, not after Joburg,” Babar laughed about the ease of pace and lack of movement off the Newlands surface. 

“But we spoke about forming partnerships and we did that today. It is challenging against Keshav Maharaj because it is spinning, and there is a bit of bounce.”