Nasser Hussain was highly critical of England’s tactics on the third morning of the Centurion Test after they resorted to frequent use of the short ball.
England were unable to remove nightwatchman Anrich Nortje for more than an hour on day three as England’s bowlers frequently deployed the bouncer with little success. A source of frustration for former England captain Hussain was how England’s tactics differed so vastly from Vernon Philander’s approach on day two that earned him figures of 4-16 from 14.2 overs. While Nortje was eventually dismissed by a Jofra Archer bouncer, the other two wickets to fall in the morning session came from pitched up deliveries as South Africa piled on 125 runs in 24 overs.
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“I can’t understand it at all to be honest,” said Hussain on Sky Sports during the lunch break. “You have to look at the way South Africa bowled, where did they get their wickets? How many were caught behind in the slip cordon? Eight? All caught behind. England when they bowled and bowled well in the first innings (it was by South Africa) eventually nicking off to the slip cordon.
“Suddenly England think, ‘do you know what, we’ve got a cunning plan, we’ll do it completely different. We’ll just bowl bouncer after bouncer after bouncer.’ If you just do that there’s one or two modes of dismissal. Fend off to short leg, that’s your mode of dismissal. There’s no bowled, there’s no caught behind, there’s no lbw, so you better get that spot on. It was bizarre. Look how Vernon Philander was bowling out there. On an up and down pitch, park it on the stumps, get the batsmen coming forward. It was bizarre.”
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Quinton de Kock was the main beneficiary of England’s tactic. Coming in after the dismissal of Rassie van der Dussen, de Kock was greeted by two Archer bouncers in his first over at the crease, both of which were dispatched for six.
Hussain added: “Quinton de Kock comes in, three men out. It started last night. Ben Stokes bowled the last over, they had three men out and it was six bouncers in a row. England’s planning is just not switched on at all. There’s no feel for the game. In New Zealand on a flat pitch when it’s doing nothing think out of the box. Here when it’s doing a bit, top of off, top of off, top of off.”
