Ray Williams’s moral support to fellow cricket writer Dicky Rutnagar’s defiance of the smoking ban inside the Kingsmead press box on Christmas Day in 1996 was applauded by those who loved a puff or two.
The old attendant did not even bother to put up a smidgen of protest; he did not want a run-in with the most respected sportswriter of the land, who gave greater credit to low hanging clouds than to the whims of the well-versed seam bowler for the ball swerving.
Williams’s long writing career had seen him work for Sunday Mail (Salisbury in erstwhile Rhodesia) and at Johannesburg with The Star , Rand Daily , Sunday Times and SAPA.
Upright at 70-plus, ‘Uncle Ray’ passed a remark that did not seem off the cuff, after the early finish (in three days) to the first Test at Durban.
“India is lucky. Had the clouds been low, it could have been much worse (for India).”
100, 66 and all that!
India had been beaten hollow — shot out for 100 and 66 — and the veteran writer made it a point to bring the cloud aspect into the picture.
It was a dismal start to the series.
New-ball operators Venkatesh Prasad (five for 60 and five for 93) and Javagal Srinath (two for 36 and three for 80) had exploited the conditions to restrict South Africa to 235 and 259, with opener Andrew Hudson scoring a half century in each innings.
Fascinating contest
There was a fascinating contest between Sachin Tendulkar and Allan Donald and the latter won the battle by clean bowling the champion batsman with a screamer of a delivery.
While most observers mocked at India’s tame show, South African rival skipper Hansie Cronje told this reporter: “It was a close match. If India had another seamer like Srinath and Venky, it would have been a much tighter finish.”
India did use a third seamer in David Johnson, who dismissed Herschelle Gibbs and Brian McMillan in the first innings, but the selectors had probably erred in not picking Abey Kuruvilla for the tour.
‘Uncle Ray’, a serious cricket writer in the 1960s and 70s, had in 1996 acquired the reputation of predicting things correctly and was spot-on about the cloud factor at Durban. He said the Indians would improve.
Though India lost the second Test at Newlands, Cape Town, by 282 runs, Sachin Tendulkar (169) and Mohammad Azharuddin (115) showed their class.
India had a great chance to win the third Test at Wanderers, but Darryl Cullinan (122 not out) and Lance Klusener, who played out 117 minutes, and rain frustrated the visitor.
It was in the high altitude venue that Rahul Dravid made 148 and 81 and said it took three Tests for him to get used to the bounce in Rand country.
Eventful tour
The following tour in 2001 saw the arrival of Virender Sehwag with a bang at Bloemfontien. He and Tendulkar pummelled the South African fast bowlers to notch up centuries, but India still went down.
At Port Elizabeth, Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Deep Dasgupta and Shiv Sunder Das were fined heavily for intimidating the umpire, Tendulkar for changing the condition of the ball and captain Sourav Ganguly for failing to uphold the spirit of the game.
The third Test at Centurion was ruled as unofficial.
India won a Test match each in the next two tours at the Wanderers (2006) and Durban (2010) but lost the 2013 tour 1-0 with the likes of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and Jacques Kallis taking 30 wickets.
In the previous tour, Steyn and Morkel had taken 36 wickets. While Srinath and Prasad excelled in the 1996 series, S. Sreesanth turned out to be a formidable opponent taking 27 wickets during the tours of 2006 and 2010.
He was instrumental (eight wickets) in winning at the Wanderers in 2006 and contributed to the Kingsmead Test in 2010, with Zaheer Khan and Harbhjan Singh playing their part.
India has competed well in South Africa and with a bit of luck could have won a handful of Tests more than what it achieved.
India in South Africa
17 Tests over six series
South Africa won eight; India two
Highest run-getters:
SA : Jacques Kallis (974 runs, 4x100); India: Sachin Tendulkar (1161 runs, 5x100)
Centuries:
SA: 18; India 13 (Tendulkar — 5; Dravid, Sehwag, C. Pujara, M. Azharuddin, V. Kohli, W. Jaffer, Kapil Dev and P. Amre)
Highest scores:
SA: 201 not out (Kallis); India: 169 (Tendulkar)
Most wickets:
SA: Allan Donald (40 wickets at 17.83); India: Anil Kumble (45 at 32.02)
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