Hall closes door as Kumble lurks with intent

The big left-hander misread the Kumble under-spin and fell to the leg-spinner almost the same way he did in the second innings in the drawn Galle Test against Sri Lanka back in August. On that occasion, he kicked the ball into his stumps when attempting to knock it away.

It was then that Hall, knowing there was a battle to be waged, settled in for a long stay. He was like the castle, solid and responsible, taking on the probing bishop, working to lay a foundation to the innings designed to give South Africa some leverage on day one of this first of two Tests.

He could be quite happy with his handiwork at stumps, rescuing a side that was in danger of succumbing to Kumble’s wiles and supported by an enthusiastic crowd. An undefeated innings of 78 was his reward while his partner, the quiet Boeta Dippenaar, collected a tidy and equally responsible 46.

There may be those, without knowing the man’s background or his big match temperament, willing to criticise Hall’s tactics. He was the missing puzzle piece in the Sri Lanka tour jigsaw and it showed. In the circumstances of this South African innings, when two wickets — Jacques Kallis and Jacques Rudolph — fell shortly before tea and Kumble was sitting on a hattrick, you cannot fault him.

He batted with the knowledge that it was a gamble by the tourists’ team management to promote him to the role of opener. In that case he knew he had better bat like one as well. It was smart thinking by the all-rounder and curbed his natural attacking instincts.

Hall, though, is no stranger to playing the role of a battler. He carries the wounds of both skirmishes with the muggers, and when you think the strength of mind needed to overcome such mental traumas, it explains much about the psyche of the 29-year-old all-rounder. So to suggest that he is a genuine street fighter, and knows what is like to bat in the trenches for his country, is a pretty accurate description.

He’s a genuine guy, too. The sort Kepler Wessles once said South Africa needed to take into battle against mentally-strong sides like Australia. Though Smith admitted it was a gamble rather than a hunch to play Hall as an opener, it worked and displayed the South Africans’ anxious desire to show that they are better then their recent record indicates.

In the absence of Herschelle Gibbs, it was expected that the South Africans would go into the game with the left-handed combination of Smith and Jacques Rudolph. Then comes the theory, and probably accurate as well, that Hall is the sort who likes the ball to come on to the bat and that batting lower in the order is wasting his talents.

Juxtaposed with his Kanpur innings was that at Headingley last year when he played an important role for South Africa during their tour of England. With the series level at 1-1 at Leeds, Hall changed the character of the second innings when he plundered the England bowling, turning it into a nightmare.

In an impressive undefeated 99 off 87 balls, he wiped the smug look off the collective faces of the Poms, terrorising their bowlers. Batting at eight in the order, Hall routed the bowling, charging Kirtley and thrashing him for a six to reach 98 in a last wicket partnership of 54 with Dewald Pretorius. It is hard to compare such colourful strokeplay with such forward defence last proffered by Trevor Bailey, in the South Africa’s cause it is perhaps more important than the Leeds innings. Just how important depends on the unfolding strategy the tourists have in mind.