Even Ashwell Prince has never seen Newlands play like this

“Some of the things I've seen today, I’ve never seen at Newlands before,” said Ashwell Prince, someone who knows the ground very well, after Wednesday's astonishing first day's play of the second Test between the Proteas and India. 

Prince played 35 first class matches here, 11 of those Tests, in which he averaged over 50 and scored two centuries. He also coached the Cape Cobras for four seasons. This ground has certainly not seen anything like what unfolded on the first day of the second Test against India here.

“I’ve played a lot of cricket at this ground, also been a coach here, I’ve never seen the pitch be that quick on day one. Usually it speeds up on day two," the former Proteas batter said.

"It started quite quick and as batters you don’t mind the pace in the wicket, but you need the bounce to be consistent. The bounce was a little inconsistent, some kept low, some bounced quite steeply.”

It was that bounce more than anything else that proved disconcerting, best exemplified by Lungi Ngidi’s over, which started the incredible collapse that concluded India’s innings. Having struggled to find the right length in two spells that totalled five overs - in which he pitched the ball to full - Ngidi suddenly hammered the pitch harder just back of that full length and picked three wickets in his sixth over. 

Those were the first half of six wickets falling for no runs in 11 balls, with India bowled out for 153, giving them a healthy 98-run lead after they’d bowled South Africa out for 55 in the first session. 

Understandably comparisons were made with the 2011 Test here with Australia, when 23 wickets also fell in a day, though on that occasion it came on day two. 

Prince, however, said the two matches aren’t the same. 

“It is completely different, that was mid-game when all of that started happening not on day one. Shane Watson bowled a fantastic spell, then Vernon Philander on debut landed balls in the right place.

"It's difficult to explain. I wouldn’t say on that occasion that the surface was doing things that I’d never seen.”

Everyone will be searching for answers. The Western Province Cricket Association, which is hosting the first New Year’s Test with crowds in four years, would, as Prince mentioned, have wanted the match to last a lot longer than the two or three days that will occur this time.

Certainly the new groundsman, Braam Mong, will be asked to account, and in searching for answers, Prince pointed to the construction that has taken place at Newlands recently that includes a vast glassed, office block at the Kelvin Grove End.

Making a comparison to Trent Bridge in Nottingham, where two new stands were built and that led locals there to suggest the nature of the wicket had changed, Prince said it may be the same at Newlands.

“Obviously there is a lot of construction that has taken place here and whether that is affecting the surface, I don’t know.” 

Of the 23 wickets that fell on Wednesday 15 were taken by bowlers charging in from the Wynberg End and thus bowling towards the Kelvin End. Those numbers suggest some merit in Prince’s point and may give Mong respite. 

It is certainly not good for the Test format, which is facing continued scrutiny over its future especially this week in the wake of Cricket South Africa’s decision to send a weakened team to New Zealand. 

“You have to ask yourself, how do you rate the pitch? One team can get bowled out, that can happen,” Prince said.

“If you give a top quality bowling line-up …, bowler friendly conditions, then they can do some serious damage. I think, to sum things up, if both line-ups can’t bat on the surface, then that says a lot.”