Only three days into the series and the troubles appear to be mounting for South Africa beyond the dominant position England have established in this Test match. The world’s No1 side, dare one say it, are creaking.
Their captain, Hashim Amla, a reluctant leader since taking over from Graeme Smith in June 2014, is feeling the strain. In 2013 he stepped down as the one-day vice-captain citing a need to concentrate on his batting and two years later he once more finds himself in something of a funk.
Amla averaged 16.86 during the 3-0 Test series defeat in India and could have been out twice during South Africa’s first innings against England here before Stuart Broad eventually found the edge of his bat and he was caught behind for seven, having been dropped on one and survived a feathered edge a run later.
But of greater concern to Amla than his own diminishing returns with the bat will be the status of his two leading players – the fast bowler Dale Steyn and the batsman AB de Villiers – as well as word from his predecessor that all is not well in the camp.
In Steyn’s case the news that the spearhead of South Africa’s attack requires a fitness test on a shoulder injury before the fourth day is a clear concern, given that before this match he had been out for seven weeks with a groin problem.
The 32-year-old underwent a scan during the evening session having twice aborted overs after lunch because of pain in the joint. That Steyn attempted a second spell, after treatment with an ice pack off the field, is testament to his bravery. To those watching, however, it looked foolhardy.
While Steyn’s scan results proved inconclusive, bowling him again in this Test would appear a huge risk, especially as there are only two days of scheduled rest between this Test and the second in Cape Town starting on Saturday. The Proteas are already without his new-ball partner, Vernon Philander, after all.
De Villiers, meanwhile, has been involved in a curious subplot during this Test regarding his future in international cricket. A report in the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport on Sunday morning suggested he was considering retirement, something the 31-year-old discussed in an interview before the start of play on the third day.
While De Villiers denied the report to the host broadcasters SuperSport, he went on to state that “moving forward, it’s important to look at my schedule. That’s the talk in the camp, maybe for me not to play all kinds of cricket.” And so, in the middle of a Test match a player who has only recently been pressed back into wicketkeeping service has concerns over his workload.
De Villiers has a contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore that is worth a reported $1.1m a year, making it unlikely that he would sacrifice his Indian Premier League commitments, particularly with the South African rand currently weak.
But despite South Africa being at the top of the Test tree, they need De Villiers’ runs more than ever, with their batsmen, bowled out for 218 on the third day, having now gone eight innings without mustering a total above 250.
Stirring the pot from the sidelines amid all this is South Africa’s former captain Smith, who in his role as a commentator for BBC’s Test Match Special, reacted to De Villiers’ words with the suggestion that greater issues were, in fact, at play.
“His interview this morning wasn’t that convincing,” said Smith. “It left a lot of doubt. If he is struggling with his workload, it just makes the decision to make him keep wicket in this Test even more ridiculous. My sense is that there’s a few rumblings in the South African camp at the moment.”
Smith went on to question the absence of the wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who scored a century at the weekend in domestic competition, and the selection of the opener Stiann van Zyl, who has scored only 56 runs in his last six Test innings.
Since taking over the captaincy Amla has not sought to tap the knowledge of the man he replaced and Smith has expressed his disappointment.
After a day in which the Test match drifted out of Amla’s control, his best quick became a fitness doubt, his leading batsman expressed concerns about his workload and three clear-cut catches went down in the field – two dropped by De Villiers – a call to Smith, a man with 11 years’ experience of leading South Africa, might not be the worst move.
