Cape Town — Keshav Maharaj has heaped praise on the Proteas coaching staff for the invaluable lower-order batting contributions that have often been the decisive difference in Test matches over the past season.
Maharaj’s primary role is, of course, that of left-spinner. A duty he performs admirably in a pace-orientated attack.
But like against England in the first Test at Lord’s last week when his services weren’t required in the first innings with the fast bowlers dismissing England for just 165 in just 47 overs, Maharaj’s overall value to the Proteas came to the fore during the visitors’ batting effort.
With the Proteas delicately placed at 210/6 with a slender 45-run advantage, Maharaj joined Marco Jansen at the crease and “Bazballed” the England bowlers into submission, adding a quickfire 62 runs for the seventh wicket in under 12 overs.
Maharaj’s 41 off just 48 balls, along with Jansen’s 47 and No 10 Anrich Nortje’s 28 enabled the Proteas to take a game-defining 161 run lead.
Lord’s was not an isolated occurrence either. During South Africa’s unbeaten Test run this year, which now stretches to five Test matches, the lower order has consistently made telling contributions.
In February in the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, the match was in the balance with SA’s second innings delicately poised at 114/5 before the lmiddle and lower order pushed it to 354/9.
Wicket-keeper Kyle Verreynne held it together with 136 not out, but was ably supported by Wiaan Mulder (35) and Kagiso Rabada (47).
Equally, at St George’s Park against Bangladesh in the second Test, Maharaj led the way with a career-best 84 that took SA from 271/5 to 453 all out. Once again, he was supported by Verreynne (22), Mulder (33) and Simon Harmer (29).
“When (Proteas coach Mark) Boucher took over, he really wanted to work on the middle-to-lower order, in terms of contributing because we know how vital those 50-60 runs can be from No’s 7/8/9/10/11,” Maharaj said ahead of the second Test against England at Old Trafford on Thursday.
“If you observe our nets, you will see a lot of the bowlers actually spending a lot of time facing bowlers, getting throws from Bouch, Sammo (batting coach Justin Sammons), and Onty (fielding coach Justin Ontong). The guys really are putting in the effort with us, and it's nice to see that we’re getting the rewards. A lot of it is due to hard work that Boucher has implemented with us. Sammo has been an exceptional man for our batting unit as a whole, but in particular encouraging the lower order in terms of topping up on our skill, and taking care of the nitty gritty that we need to and it's good to see the dividends now.”
Maharaj’s batting average for 2022 is in fact a very decent 29.37 compared to his overall 16.29. To put it into perspective, specialist batters Aiden Markram (16.77) and Rassie van der Dussen (27.37) averaged respectively over the same period. Does he feel that the top order are perhaps taking it for granted that the bowles can contribute with the bat?
“I don’t think it'’ a case of the guys relying on the middle-to-lower order to score the runs. As a batting unit you are always wanting to score more centuries. Our top six/seven are very driven to score centuries,” Maharaj said.
“I am sure we are going to see some centuries in the second and third Tests. SG (Sarel Erwee) showed really good signs of application, and just the way he went about his business, as well as Dean (Elgar). The opening partnership really set the foundation for us, the middle order probably didn’t fire in the last Test, but we know the quality they possess. They have been working really hard, and the game in Kent showed what they can do.”
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