THE Third Test between South Africa and India will resume on Saturday despite fears over the Wanderers pitch which was described as “dangerous” and caused an early stoppage on Friday, officials said.
“The on-field umpires, in consultation with the match referee, and after speaking with both the captains and groundsmen, have decided that the Johannesburg Test will resume on time on Saturday,” said an International Cricket Council statement, with the match on the brink of becoming just the third Test abandoned over a dangerous pitch in Test cricket’s 140-year history, and the first outside the West Indies.
Umpires Aleem Dar and Ian Gould, in consultation with match referee Andy Pycroft, took the players off the field earlier than scheduled on the third day after South African opener Dean Elgar was hit on the grille of his helmet by a short ball from India’s Jasprit Bumrah.
The Wanderers pitch, with areas of good length at both ends but where bounce was unpredictable, had come under severe scrutiny over the first three days with a series of batsmen taking hits. Those batsmen included Hashim Amla (ribs), Ajinkya Rahane (elbow) and Murali Vijay (hip).
There had been several discussions between the umpires earlier in the day because of unusual bounce and deviation on a pitch which former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar had earlier described as “dangerous”.
Both captains – Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli – were called into a meeting with Pycroft and the umpires in accordance with International Cricket Council regulations.
Indian manager Sunil Subramanian made it clear that India wanted play to resume on Saturday. India were in a strong position with South Africa 1-17 after being set to make 241 to win.
“Play on Friday was suspended shortly before scheduled close because the on-field umpires wanted to consult the match referee regarding the condition of the pitch,” added the ICC.
“The on-field umpires will continue to monitor the pitch, and consult the match referee should the pitch deteriorate further.
“The welfare of the players is paramount and two of the most experienced match officials are in charge of the game and will take appropriate decisions.”
Rahane (48), not picked for the first two Tests, played some sublime shots in difficult conditions and wanted the game to continue.
“Our approach is that we want to play and we want to win this Test match,” he said.
“That ball (to Elgar) was back of length, a hard length. It kicked off with slightly more bounce than usual. The bounce on this wicket is completely natural. Not dangerous, it is completely similar for both teams.
“Yes, the odd ball we got hit on the hand or the glove, but that’s the nature of the wicket, we cannot control that.”
South Africa coach Ottis Gibson says his team also wants to complete the Test.
“We are here to play cricket. We still want to play cricket,” Gibson said. “Throughout the whole game on both sides, you saw batsmen wearing a few. India didn’t complain and we didn’t either.”
However, Gibson said the wicket had caused a stir among the players.
“When I spoke to Faf at lunch, he said that if a ball is going to hit you on the finger and the bowlers are bowling at 140 and you haven’t got time to react or respond or take evasive action, then the umpires have to think that they have to look after player safety,” Gibson said.
“If you think it’s getting a bit dangerous – and the umpires in the middle were saying that before lunch – Faf said, ‘A couple on the fingers, we can get away with, but when the ball rears up and hits you on the face then it’s a different situation’.
“Throughout the whole game on both sides, we saw batsmen wearing a few on the body, and we are not complaining. I hope you are not sitting here thinking we are complaining.
“But obviously Dean got hit in the face when he wasn’t able to take evasive action, and there was one before that that he went forward to that he was going to leave that bounced up and hit him on the hand. But again he wasn’t able to take evasive action. Once they (the match officials) tell us what the decision is, we’ll get on with it.”
Gibson said the delivery that hit Elgar did not bounce naturally.
“Dean went forward and the ball took off from a length. Whether it was 8m or not, even on a third-day pitch, you are not expecting the ball that pitches at 8m to take off and hit the batsman on the head without the batsman even having the time to take evasive action,” Gibson said.
“At the end of the day, the umpires will make a decision, which they did. Before you go on about India batting twice on the same pitch, yes they did. And there were balls that were taking off from a length, and our captain was saying that, ‘I’m not sure that this is fair either.’
“So it’s not like we are sour grapes or anything. We felt this morning that when balls were taking off off a length, it was obviously a little bit tricky and a decision would have to be made.”
Disagreeing with that assessment, Rahane insisted the wicket was not too dangerous to continue.
“You cannot call it a dangerous wicket just because Elgar got hit,” he said.
“Most of the batsmen got hit, even Amla got hit in first innings, Vijay got hit. Pujara batted well in first innings, Virat batted well, they got hit. We never complained about it being a dangerous wicket. We just said it is a challenging wicket. They prepared this wicket, we never told them to prepare a track like this. They prepared this wicket so we want to play.”
Only two Test matches have previously been abandoned because of dangerous conditions in the 140-year history of cricket’s longest format – both relatively recent.
In January 1998, England were 17 for three against the West Indies at Sabina Park in Jamaica when the umpires stopped play because of a hazardous pitch.
And a match between the same two teams in Antigua in February 2009 was called off after 10 balls, because a soft outfield was regarded as dangerous for bowlers and fielders.
