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The big picture

Trying to contextualize this Test series has ironically taken something away from this Test match, especially as far as South Africa is concerned. The hosts have already qualified for the final of the World Test Championship after defeating Pakistan by two wickets at Centurion, and so there is not necessarily a bigger picture to play for. However, they have won eight consecutive Tests at home against Pakistan, and have never won a home series against these opponents, and in this bilateral context, there is much left to play for.

In the days since South Africa qualified, some attention has been paid to the perceived soft nature of their draw en route to the World Test Championship, for which their coach Shukri Konrad made “no apologies”. . But with no Test cricket between this Test and the WTC final, South Africa will want to reach the final in style, and extend a winning streak that already stretches to six games.

Pakistan’s WTC hopes went up in smoke long ago, but they need to get out of the habit of slipping into winning positions, which is a habit in this particular cycle. As a result, they have now lost seven of the last nine Tests, and all of the last eight in South Africa. Centurion was the closest to breaking that hood, at one stage two wickets away from a stunning win and South Africa still 49 runs away from victory. But, as has often been the case with Pakistan, they struggled to finish off the tail with the ball, and saw another slip through their fingers.

Newlands play a bit more to their strengths, which South Africa lacks in pace. It’s a surface where both captains are expected to take a bit more spin than the Centurions, and should revert to their natural qualities after a strange Test against India that ended in a day-and-a-half last year. Both sides are expected to field spinners, while Pakistan’s seamers and swing bowlers may have more to enjoy, especially in the early stages of the Test before the surface settles down. With South Africa winning just two Tests in three decades of playing here, a victory here – and series draw – would go down as their most impressive away Test series result in years.

Form guide (last five full matches, most recent first)

South Africa: WWWWW

Pakistan: LWWLL

In the spotlight

With spin likely to play a more prominent role at Newlands than Centurion, Keshav Maharaj returned to the team. But considered the home of slow bowling for all Newlands, the left-arm orthodox spinner has a surprisingly indifferent record in Cape Town, picking up just 9 wickets at an average of 52-plus in 6 matches. This is almost double his average of 30.44 in the South. Africa in general, and Maharaj are coming back from an extra push that knocked them out of the ODI series. Whether he can begin to overturn his Newlands record could be an interesting plot point as the Test develops.

This is not an old age for openers in Test cricket, and especially not for Pakistani openers. Until the last Test, he had not had a partnership of more than 15 all year, but showed glimpses of that changing with 36 and 49 with the new pairing of Saeem Ayub and Shaan Masood. But none of the openers could go ahead. Either innings, Masood brought up as a point of frustration in Centurion. Scoring runs for the first wicket against the kind of world-class new bowling attack South Africa has is not easy, but Pakistan desperately needs them all.

Team News

South Africa have made changes after the first Test, with Maharaj, Wayne Mulder and debutant fast bowler Koena Mafaka in the squad. Opener Tony De Zorzi has a thigh problem, while fast-bowling all-rounders Corbin Bosh and Dan Pietersen have also dropped to the bench.

South Africa: Ryan Rickleton 2 Aidan Markram, 3 Wian Mulder (capt), 4 Tristan Stubbs 5 Temba Baoma (capt) 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Vereen (wicket), 8 Marco Johnson, 9 Keshav Maharaj 10 Kagiso Rabada 11 Koena Mafaka.

Pakistan are yet to name an eleven, unsure whether to play Nouman Ali or Salman Ali Agha as the lead spinner.

Pakistan: 1 Shaan Masood (captain) 2 Saeem Ayub 3 Babar Azam 4 Kamran Ghulam 5 Saud Shakeel 6 Muhammad Rizwan (wicket) 7 Salman Ali Agha 8 Aamir Jamal/Nouman Ali 9 Naseem Shah 10 Muhammad Abbas 11 Khurram Shahzad

Pitch and conditions

“I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about the wicket,” Temba Boma joked during a press conference after the all-short Test here last year. It has less grass than the Centurion, though, with spin later in the Test.

Stats and Trivia

  • Keshav Maharaj is seven wickets away from becoming the first South African spinner to take 200 Test wickets.

  • None of the current batsmen in the Pakistan team has a real record in South Africa. Babar Azam’s 275 at 34.37 makes him the most successful, while no active Pakistani in the country has a century.

    • Quotations

    “The series is still on the line. So, as much as we have ticked that box of being in the final, we still want to be clinical in the series. Our eyes are on two nil. Our focus, our motivation is still there. Yes, as a team, as much as we won last week, we accept that we were not at our best, batting and bowling, so we would like to improve in those areas Much better.”
    South African captain Temba Buoma Feels like there is still a lot of room for improvement on his part.

    Daniyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000



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