Boucher believes Proteas can fight for a draw

South Africa are in deep trouble in the second Test against England but coach Mark Boucher believes they can still fight for a draw or even a win, while Jimmy Anderson, the tourists’ leading bowler, gave them some hope in the aftermath of a tough third day at Newlands on Sunday.

England closed on 218 for four in their second innings, a lead of 264. Two wickets in the last two overs of the day turned a pretty bleak day for the Proteas into something a tiny bit brighter. Boucher, typically, said his team were not yet out of the contest, but the bowlers will have to be much better on the fourth morning.

Boucher said on Sunday: “Bowling for a long time is always tough, the hard work of the first innings took its toll and the ball got soft. But the crack just didn’t seem to misbehave as much, maybe the conditions changed today. It definitely looked like the pitch has flattened out and it was a tough day. England are ahead of the game and our characters have to come out tomorrow.

“We’ve got those characters in the changeroom, even though I understand our batsmen are under pressure. First, we have to bowl them out and we want to go for the win. But good teams are also able to bat it out for the draw. But the bottom line is we have to bowl well tomorrow and it’s definitely better that they are four down rather than just two down.”

Boucher played in the game in Perth in 2008 when South Africa scored 414 for four to beat the then-mighty Australians on their way to a famous series victory, and captain Faf du Plessis, veteran Vernon Philander and batting coach Jacques Kallis are also in the current changeroom having played in the Test in 2013 when the Proteas batted for 136 overs and scored 450 for seven to draw with India at the Wanderers.

“We have to break it down and also do a lot of strategic planning, we’ll maybe have to be more positive against [spinner] Dominic Bess. But we’ll have no chance of chasing down a big score without big partnerships, we need one or two guys to bat for a long time and get hundreds. In those sort of chases, there are times you put the bowlers under pressure, and other times you have to absorb pressure.

“To win or draw this Test would be a great statement, but it would be more about the boost that would give to the confidence of our batsmen. They haven’t had the performances lately they have wanted and although it would take a lot of belief, we didn’t really believe we had a chance in Perth, but we did it and then took a lot of confidence from that,” said Boucher.

Anderson, who quickly wrapped up the South African first innings on Sunday morning to finish with five for 40, said the England batsmen were able to stay in quite comfortably on Sunday because the pitch has become flatter.

“The guys who batted today said it felt flatter. It’s been strange that both here and in Centurion, when the clouds come over the pitch seems to flatten out, which is completely the opposite to what happens in England. We’ll be hoping for sun tomorrow [Monday] and for the pitch to deteriorate.

“It’s hard to say how much of a lead will be enough because it depends on whether the pitch will be as flat as today. The odd one today misbehaved, but not nearly as many deliveries as on the first two days. I think we’ll want at least 350 runs, unless the pitch deteriorates. If you are patient as a batsman, we’ve seen you can stick around and score runs,” Anderson said after his England record 28^th five-wicket haul.

Boucher said the seemingly negative tactic of spinner Keshav Maharaj bowling over the wicket into the rough outside the leg stump for long periods of time was due to the lack of assistance the pitch was providing for the Proteas attack.

“Kesh bowled really well in the first innings and in the second innings England immediately took him on. There was not much turn from the straight so we decided to use the rough outside the leg stump. Unfortunately, he couldn’t land the ball in the right areas for long enough, but he is a work in progress because we’ve made a couple of changes to his bowling.

“Vernon also didn’t have as much venom as usual maybe because he felt a bit sick this morning. But Anrich Nortje looked like he had good rhythm and we decided to try something different towards the end of the day, because no one likes to face 150km/h from around the wicket. We just wanted to gain any inch we can, even if it came at the end of the day,” Boucher said.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.