Newlands Test XI ft. Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar and Dale Steyn
A Newlands faithful picks his XI and standout performances at the venue since the turn of the century
An outrageously talented batsman, Gibbs was an enigma at times, but when he was in the mood to turn it on, he was one of the most entertaining batsmen. He played some memorable knocks at his home ground, not far from where he grew up and was educated. A fantastic 142 against the West Indies in the 2004 New Years' Test was a highlight in the Gibbs' knocks at Newlands, but it was his double-century in a record opening partnership with Graeme Smith in 2003 against Pakistan that secured his place in this team.
Smith joins his former opening partner to anchor the innings for our Newlands' XI. Smith relished batting at Newlands from the outset, scoring 68 in his debut Test against an Australian attack comprising Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Shane Warne. He scored 151 alongside Gibbs, when the pair hammered their record opening stand of 368 against Pakistan in 2003 and in all collected four centuries and six fifties in his 17 tests at Newlands. He scored a fourth-innings century in a great win over Australia in 2011. However, the standout performance must be the massive ton against England in 2010 that put his team on the brink of victory.
One of the greatest cricketers of all time, Kallis basically picks himself and would be the first name on the sheet. Kallis saved many fantastic performances for his own home ground, scoring nine centuries and bagging 42 wickets in 22 Tests at Newlands. He's also the top run-getter in Tests at Newlands by almost 800 runs. In 2011, Kallis scored 161 and 109* in the same Test against India, an outstanding all-round performance, but his double-century against Sri Lanka in the next year surely goes down as one of the moments of his career.
The Little Master takes the No. 4 spot as he usually did for India in Tests during his illustrious career. Tendulkar enjoyed batting at many grounds, including Newlands. He averages 81.50 in four Tests at the venue. He scored 51 Test centuries, many of which were fluent and exhilarating, and this writer counts himself lucky to have witnessed one in 2011 which came under severe pressure and is arguably as good as any he scored. This knock secures his spot in the side.
The second overseas player to make the side, the former Australian captain loved batting against South Africa in Tests. Cases in point: his 259* and 230 against them in 2012 in Australia. Clarke also produced a couple of amazing Test performances at Newlands. His fantastic 161* against an attack containing Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel set up a huge Test win for Australia in Graeme Smith's last test in 2014, securing the series for his side. However, his best performance in Cape Town was his remarkable first-innings century in that famous 2011 Test which saw South Africa being bowled out for 96 in their first innings and soon after Australia were dismissed just 47. South Africa pulled off a come-from-behind victory, but Clarke certainly made his mark in Cape Town.
I was never a fan of AB de Villiers taking the gloves over his South Africa career - unless it was absolutely necessary - as his value with the bat was just so important. However, in this fantasy team I think de Villiers needs to dust off his gloves to add balance to the XI. He wasn't bad behind the stumps either, was he? In my favour is the fact that in two of the matches in which he played as a specialist keeper at Newlands, he scored 67 against New Zealand in 2013 and 148 against the West Indies in 2015, and that will do.
He is the second world-class allrounder in the team, joining Kallis. Stokes has only played two tests at Newlands, but he has done more than enough in those games to secure his place in this XI. In the recent 2020 New Year's Test, the allrounder scored 47 and 72 with the bat and produced an outstanding fourth-innings spell of 3 for 35 in 23.4 overs, knocking over the final three wickets in the final hour of the day to win the Test match for his side and secure the Man-of-the-Match award. Somehow, this isn't his most eye-catching performance at Newlands; that came in 2016…
Big Vern has been very effective at Newlands, and this was clear from his debut against Australia in 2011. He followed up 3 for 63 in the first innings with 5 for 15, and his Test career was nicely set up. In all, Philander picked up 53 wickets in 11 Tests in Cape Town at a superb average of 18.26. He also took great pride in batting in front of his home crowd, averaging 30.33 at Newlands - more than his overall Test average of 24.04.
South Africa's leading Test wicket-taker needs little introduction. Steyn is also the most successful bowler in Newlands' history in Test cricket - picking up 74 wickets in 15 Tests at an average of 21.75 - so he is a must-have in this side. In his last Test appearance at Newlands against Pakistan in 2019, Steyn picked up seven wickets in the match to guide South Africa towards victory and leave a lasting impression on the Newlands' faithful, but his standout Newlands effort came a few years earlier…
The next seamer's spot is reserved for this remarkable young bowler. After making his Test debut at 20, Rabada has quickly evolved into the leader of the attack is still only 24. 'KG' has bowled quite a few great spells at Newlands in just his six Tests so far: 4 for 61 against Pakistan, 4 for 91 against Australia and 3 for 34 against India, but none of these match up to his effort against Sri Lanka in 2017. Out of all the wonderful fast bowlers that have played at Newlands since the turn of the century, only one man has bagged 10 wickets in a Newlands Test match. And that man is Rabada.
In recent times, the Newlands' deck hasn't offered to much for the spinners to work with and outstanding spin performances have been hard to come by. Paul Harris' match figures of 9 for 161 against Australia in 2009 and Simon Harmer's 7 for 153 on debut against West Indies in 2015 are honourable mentions, but Pakistan's Saaed Ajmal takes the spot. In 2013, Ajmal became the first spinner to take ten wickets in a Test match at Newlands since England's Johnny Wardle in 1957. No spinner has done it since Ajmal, which puts him in rare company.
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