A day for the dogged

Having the strength of one’s convictions was a key feature on a mad sporting Saturday in Perth and Dublin

Ben Stokes’s post-match interview on Saturday morning (European time) was a better eye-opener than any double espresso. The England captain, whose team had just spent a session or two chasing leather at Travis Head’s behest, repeatedly told Isa Guha that this was one of those wickets where prodding and defending wasn’t going to get you anywhere.

Stokes may have reworded a few things from the cliché closet as Guha pushed him to admit that England could, in hindsight, have batted a little differently to avoid defeat inside two days at the Perth Stadium. But he might as well have said “there was a ball with your name on it” as he doubled down on the idea that his men’s shot selection had been part of a coherent strategy that stood up to reason.

I won’t dive into the merits of his thinking, other than noting a couple of top-line arguments doing the rounds after a match in which only Head was able to dominate with the bat. A) Head’s highly aggressive, match-winning second innings illustrated Stokes’s point. B) Head’s innings did nothing of the sort, because he played himself in, executed better and England’s last-innings bowling was rubbish. C) The pitch was an up-and-down affair and very tricky for batting. D) The pitch was fine, but the bowling in the first three innnings was superb.

Thanks to Guerilla Cricket legend and colleague Jeremy ‘Messy’ Henderson for this shot from the Members’ Reserve!

What interests me more is the dogged clutching to a team philosophy that simply won’t stop making headlines (guilty!). Of course, there are elements of brainwashing and propaganda in almost any changing room – it starts with the “Play for your mates” stuck up on the wall for the under-nines and runs unbroken all the way through to the “We’re here for the beer” notice you might find on a senior social team’s caps. But Bazball, with its shrugging disdain for the notion of a batsman conceding an inch to good bowling, is the cult-like apogee of the phenomenon.

I don’t want to get into the merits of the England approach here. Just to observe that Stokes is a key member of the cult leadership and cannot be seen to falter. Under the regime he helped to build, he cannot blink when the microphone is shoved beneath his nose – even after a loss that screamed out for self-reflection. In public, at least, he must cling to this element of fatalism or abandon the whole thing. The fascinating question is whether it could be wearing on him behind closed doors. Or is it impossible for a cult leader to waver in their own conviction?

Ireland get set for a painful evening - Adrian’s my mole on the ground this time

On a wild Saturday of sport, this wasn’t the only example of stubborn tenacity around a game plan. The Springboks displayed a little of that when they defeated Ireland in Dublin in the evening. Early in the match, it became clear that the Boks were able to physically steamroller the Irish, to an extent remarkable even for this team’s followers. They kept that steamroller going in top gear for 80 minutes…and won by 11 points.

Maybe it’s because I watched the game on delay and was rather keen on getting to bed as midnight approached, but my big takeaway is that the margin should have been more. Given the level of South Africa’s superiority, that test ought to have reached the point that I could have turned in before the final whistle. And the reason I couldn’t do so was that the Springboks got seduced by their own success. They couldn’t adapt to things going as well as they did.

Don’t get me wrong. Rassie Erasmus made a good plan to topple Ireland away, an elusive item on his resume. Along with any Springbok follower, I would have taken an 11-point win with both hands on Saturday morning. Well done to Erasmus, Siya Kolisi and their world champion troops. But ‘job done’ does not mean everything was perfect and there is nothing to be learned. Playing against as few as 12 battered men, as the hosts were depleted by yellow cards, I would argue that 11 points isn’t much. And that had South Africa not got stuck in a bullying rut, it could have been a runaway.

Second-half action courtesy of Adrian

Let me also be clear that I hate it when people revert to tired clichés and label the Boks as nothing more than hulking body-breakers – I am not doing that here! This team is as rounded as they come – yes, the backs actually do score tries – but critics will see what they want to see. Dublin, however, really was a celebration of up-front power, and that’s fine. The Springboks certainly found the right point of attack. So what’s my problem?

When the execution went better than even Erasmus could have dreamed, with Ireland in absolute shreds, South Africa stuck doggedly to showing off their power…instead of turning the domination into points. That failure displayed Stokesian symptoms on a small, single-match scale.

Failing to keep the ball in hand when they had three extra players for a brief period at the start of the second half? Opting for yet another scrum after the umpteenth scrum penalty? If there is any truth in the old rugby adage that you soften them up front and thus earn the right to go wide, the Springboks did not appear to believe it as their forwards continued to thrash away at the fleshy pulp cowering before them. The right to width had long since been earned. There was even more space across the park than usual, given the players in the sin bin…but the Big Eight preferred humiliation to points. It felt like mob mentality had triumphed over smart leadership.

They got away with it, but this was not a game in which South Africa played smart. Those looking for chinks in South Africa’s armour have something to clutch at here, because it’s not the first time. There was a day earlier this year when the Boks didn’t get away with it. Remember Ellis Park? It was almost Dublin in reverse – the Boks got swept up in the beautiful rugby that had got them to a handsome, seemingly impregnable 22-0 lead, then refused to tighten up as Australia launched one of rugby’s great comebacks.

Photographer Chris was inside Lansdowne Road (sorry, we refuse to pander in these pages!) early to witness the calm before the storm

To end with a trivial aside, this Saturday for the dogged offered two very different outcomes in terms of spectator time investment. The cricket boiled down into a fast-forward game which felt almost like four T20s spliced together. Like it or not, that meant more sleep for those watching in England and (even) more Barmy Army beer sales for Perth’s pubs. The rugby, on the other hand, was enough to bring the neutral to their knees. What with the endless scrum resets – not so entertaining if you’re not a Bok fan or not in the stadium – cards, replacements and big-screen replays, it was made for a fast-forward button. In this regard, it looks like rugby and test cricket are moving in opposite directions.

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