Johannesburg - South Africa's pace attack has developed a
complementary synergy in the on-going second Test against New Zealand at
SuperSport Park, says attack leader Dale Steyn.
New Zealand’s first innings collapse of 214 all out was led
by an all-round contribution from the pace attack, which has gelled into a
formidable unit, largely due to their contrasting skills sets.
Steyn says he’s thrilled with the performance from the
bowlers on a day where 13 wickets fell, and expects the fourth valuable prong
to the attack, off-spinner Dane Piedt, to be the last piece of the puzzle in
the important fourth innings.
Steyn said of Philander: "Vernon is a phenomenal
bowler. He keeps it so tight, he is really good. It is probably something that
we lacked when we played against England, he is the kind of bowler that doesn't
give you anything, he goes nowhere.
"To be able to bowl with him always feels free, you
feel like you can run in and do what you want to do because you know at the
other end he is going to tick over at two runs an over to be safe, and he can
still knock guys over when he hits the cracks, he is so skilled.
"Then you have KG (Rabada) who is bowling at 150 kmph,
he is hitting the deck and he is getting wickets at a phenomenal strike rate.
It’s a great partnership at the moment between the three quicks.
"The key is to find the opportunity where the three
quicks can operate at their best all of the time, the spinner will have to come
into play in the fourth innings.
"We saw a little bit of turn and bounce for Dane so
hopefully in the fourth innings there will be a lot more on offer for
him."
Steyn explained the decision not to enforce the follow-on,
saying they would rather wait to be in a position that will give the team the
best opportunity to win the match with two days still to play.
He added: "We have three seamers, we will probably do
the bulk of the bowling so it was probably a good idea to give the guys’ legs,
even if it’s just the evening, a little bit of a rest and then go again.
"There are two days left in the game. If we can bat
until lunch time, who knows? We will give ourselves enough time to bowl them
out but we will sit and chat about that after the day’s play.
"The longer we hang out there, the longer the sun bakes on the wicket and the wider the cracks get, it’s going to be more difficult to bat, that’s the plan. The deeper this Test match goes it will get more and more difficult."