Succeeding in Test cricket isn’t all fun and games, even if England makes it look like it. That’s the word from returning South African batsman Rassie van der Dussen, who prefers a balance of power in the red ball game to the run-dominant approach England have taken since Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes took over in May.
In the Bazball era, England scored faster than anyone else. at 4.77 to the other side, and won seven of the eight Tests they have played. Their most recent victory over Pakistan in Rawalpindi was built on the back of four centuries in the first innings, a brave statement in the second innings and quick scoring – with 6.50 and 7.36 runs in the two innings – and is spoken of as a win that would could change the way Test cricket is played. But Van der Dussen is not so convinced.
“If there’s ever a place to play like that, it’s probably Pakistan,” he said, quickly recalling that South Africa wasn’t quite as smashing when they toured there in early 2021. we didn’t play like that when we were there. But if you look at the English side, they’ve been very vocal in the sense that they’re going to support their guys even after a few failures. They’re out of the world test Championship (WTC) for this run, so it’s almost a game that has nothing to lose that they can play.”
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