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Proteas must defy history
25/07/2008 14:27 - (SA)
Rob Houwing
Cape Town - Were he alive, Herbie Taylor would tell you how tough it is to beat England at Edgbaston, something the Proteas aspire to do in the third Test to secure the series next week.
The opening batsman captained South Africa in their first ever Test at the Birmingham venue in 1924 and his team came a rather nasty cropper: defeated by an innings and 18 runs.
Not only that, but the tourists were routed for a humiliating 30 (12.3 overs) in their first innings, only saving some face with a follow-on effort of 390.
Ever since, Edgbaston has been a bogey, winless ground for South Africa - four further Tests there have seen England win once more (by 100 runs in 1960), and draw the other three in 1929, 1998 and 2003.
If there is some consolation for Graeme Smith's 2008 side, promisingly leading the four-match series 1-0 after two, each of the post-isolation Tests at Edgbaston were significantly weather-affected, so we'll never know whether South Africa might have broken their duck at the ground earlier.
Certainly they were right on the front foot on the last tour, in 2003, when Smith himself and Herschelle Gibbs ran riot on the opening day of the first Test, taking the Proteas to a dreamy score at stumps of 398/1.
Smith went on to a famous 277 after Nasser Hussain's fabled "Greg Smith" introduction gaffe at the toss, and South Africa compiled 594/5 declared. But the loss of the entire second day's play to rain took much of the sting from their win plans as the game petered out to stalemate.
The 1998 match only produced three innings (two by England) as the Midlands elements again wreaked some havoc - Mike Atherton scored 103 for the home side and Jonty Rhodes 95 in South Africa's sole knock.
Edgbaston, of course, is also the ground where the Proteas got their heart-stopping, but ill-fated World Cup 1999 semi-final tie against Australia.
So an ice-breaking Birmingham Test win next week (the match starts on Wednesday) would give South Africa double cause for delirium ...
- Sport24
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