Junior Dala reignites England’s middle-order meltdowns

England packed up their kit and caboodle and left for Pietermaritzburg. On Friday they will resume their practice in earnest for the Test series starting on Boxing Day, before which they must also negotiate a South Africa A team who will be brimming with passion and purpose.

By the end of that three-day match on Tuesday, the tourists must feel they are ready for four intensive weeks against the world’s No 1 Test side (and they will know the truth deep inside). They will be fully aware that they ain’t seen nothin’ yet after the opener against largely inexperienced opponents in an Invitation XI.

When rain and lightning forced a premature closure soon after lunch yesterday with the home team on 5 for 0 in pursuit of an academic 473, England had demonstrated that there is still plenty of work to cram in. Three wickets down overnight, they lost their last seven for 55, the first three of those in eight balls, the first five of them for 13 runs.

The man who inflicted much of the damage was Junior Dala, who had offered his opinion on Alex Hales’ batting technique or lack of it the previous evening. Having talked the talk, Dala walked the walk. England were a touch too careless, as if they recognised the quality of the opposition and did not have to buckle down too much.

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That is true and it is both impossible and undesirable for them to try to duplicate the skills and energy, the sheer intensity that a Test match demands. Matches such as this still have a place because not every match can and should be played at a high-octane level.

This should not reflect on Dala’s exuberant medium pace and determination that England should not have the soft workout they might have partly expected. His first dismissal of the day perhaps did England a favour, or at any rate saved them another selection conundrum in a perverse way.

His short ball tucked up Gary Ballance, who was beginning to look assertive but now spooned a catch to mid-off. Had Ballance turned his 25 into something more substantial he might have staked a stronger claim to regaining his place in the Test team.

Jonny Bairstow, who needed a long run-out, was caught down the leg side, much to his clear disagreement with the decision. With his England place by no means fully secure his reaction merits sympathy (as long as he did not hit it, that is).

Joe Root, much more deliberately circumspect than in the first innings, was Dala’s next victim, glancing down the leg side. So it went on. Middle-order stumbles have become a familiar England shortcoming and James Taylor, the recently installed No 5 who came in at 11 yesterday, realises it.

“It’s definitely a habit we need to get out of, you don’t want to get into those habits of losing clumps of wickets and in the past that has happened,” he said. “It’s something we naturally talk about and we’ll be working hard for it not to happen as consistently as it has.

“I’ve actually thought about that myself and I want to be that person to kind of hold things together and kick on. Hopefully, we don’t get in those situations and I don’t have to do that too often, but I would like to be that man to keep things together and it’s a spot I enjoy batting in.”

In Pietermaritzburg and all the way thereafter it will be a very different proposition. Taylor and his pals from three to seven have to stop the middle-order rot. South Africa may not be quite what they were but they became formidable by exploiting weakness ruthlessly.

Taylor said: “We’re disappointed with how many wickets we lost but it’s a good thing for us to learn from – as long as we are learning from it and don’t keep making those mistakes. You can’t knock the guys we were playing against here. It was a good test, exactly what we needed at the start of the tour, having had a bit of a break and coming from totally different conditions in the UAE. But the intensity is going to get ramped up in the next game against South Africa A, which is going to be a good challenge.” And some.