By Richard Edwards
Paul Adams was once described by Mike Gatting as having an action which resembled “a frog in a blender” – but after watching England being put through the mixer at Trent Bridge he finds it understandably hard to put a positive spin on the hosts’ chances of winning the series with two Tests remaining.
Speaking to The Cricket Paper from Cape Town, Adams is in chipper mood after watching Keshav Maharaj take six wickets in the match – one of a series of decisive contributions for the visitors in a Test which ended in a humiliating defeat for Joe Root’s side.
Adams took 134 Test wickets with his far-from orthodox left-arm chinaman, all delivered while looking skyward rather than down the pitch. Maharaj is more of a classical left-arm spinner, but is proving equally as effective.
He has now taken 36 wickets in his first nine Tests and took 6-63 across both innings at Trent Bridge – and Adams believes he will have a crucial role to play in the final two Tests as England attempt to claw their way back into the series.
“I’ve seen Keshav grow up and play a lot on the circuit,” says Adams. “He brings a very consistent approach and that’s the beauty of how he has got his wickets in this series. The way he has gone about taking those wickets, the pace he has bowled, has to be encouraged. Having him in this mindset can only be positive for South Africa’s attack.
“The pitches are likely to be pretty dry and the Oval will offer some spin after the summer you have had. He will get some turn so hopefully it will be more of the same.
“The fact is that he has been able to offer some control to this South Africa side and allowed the quicks to rotate at the other end.
“I think he’ll have a big role to play because I don’t think England are going to want to offer too many seamer friendly surfaces against this South African side.
He has masses of confidence too, which he’ll carry into those final matches.”
The excellence of Maharaj was in sharp contrast to the lack of control exhibited by England’s spin pair of Liam Dawson and Moeen Ali, neither of whom will look back on their experience at Trent Bridge with any great pleasure.
Maharaj took his 6-63 off 22 nagging overs. England’s spinners, meanwhile, had match figures of 5-167 off 42.
England’s twin spin strategy came in for heavy criticism at Trent Bridge and Dawson is likely to be the fall guy at the Oval and Old Trafford for the final two Tests of a topsy-turvy series.
“Keshav’s three dismissals in the first innings were all a result of the batsmen not getting to the pitch of the ball,” says Adams. “He’s getting a good amount of over-spin on the ball and he’s creating doubt in this batting line-up.
“The pressure is now on the England batting line-up, but it’s worth remembering that South Africa was in that situation after the first Test. Everyone was saying how woeful South Africa’s batting at Lord’s, now everyone is saying the same about England.
“England have those four seamers, so it will be interesting to see what they do. I think they’ll probably load up with an extra batsman and a single spinner. There seems a strange balance to this England side at the moment.”
Adams himself toured England in 1998 and played a full role in an ill-tempered series that saw England upset the odds in a 2-1 win, coming from 1-0 down to win the final two Tests of the series at Trent Bridge and Headingley. He also made his debut against England at Port Elizabeth at the age of just 18, taking eight wickets in his first two Tests.
Maharaj’s rise has been nothing like as meteoric, with the left-armer making his Test bow against Australia at Perth last November at the age of 26.
His impact on this side cannot be overstated, though, and with ten wickets already under his belt in the series, he could yet have the crucial say on the ultimate destination of the D’Oliveira Trophy.
*This article originally featured in TCP’s 21 July 2017 edition.
