Pitch, please!

One track, two versions.



South Africa were asked to bowl first in the final ODI. It was the first time the touring pacers were getting a first go with the ball at the Reliance Cricket Ground in Vadodara.



Immediately Shabnim Ismail found Priya Punia’s edge that landed just short of first slip. Soon enough though, Punia was hurried by a short ball and was bounced out.



Marizanne Kapp, taking the second new ball from the other end, then got rid of Jemimah Rodrigues, who tried to play across the line and got a leading edge towards slip. It was just the start the doctor ordered for South Africa, as the hosts were two down for five in the first two overs.



“Looking at it (the track) this morning, I felt like it was the flattest track of the whole series. It surprised me a bit,” said Kapp after the match. “If you bowl in good areas on any wicket, I believe you’ll get wickets. I was a bit annoyed that we didn’t get to bowl first in the first two games.”



Clearly Kapp relished bowling on the pitch laid out for the final ODI and her returns only added weight to the fact.



South Africa, with their seam-heavy attack, bowled when the track was spicier and had something in it. That they got the ball to constantly move off the pitch was evident from the fact that during the time Mithali Raj and Punam Raut batted in the middle – the initial phase when the ball was still new – only 18 runs could be scored in close to ten overs.



"The wicket was challenging, given that it was a 9 am start. We wanted to bat first and their seamers utilised the conditions well,” accepted Raj, after the match.



In conditions that demanded graft, the Indian top order failed. However, thanks to Harmanpreet Kaur and Shikha Pandey’s 49-run stand, India managed to close in on the 150-run mark.



However, Raj said that this was a one-off and that such matches highlight the importance of contributions from the lower middle order. “I’m sure this innings (like the one Shikha Pandey played) will help the other bowlers to step up at some point with the bat because usually when the matches go down to the wire it is only the bowlers’ runs which makes the difference.”



It then seemed as if it was a new-ball track – score runs when the ball is new or strike when the ball is new. The boundaries that Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt struck at the start asserted the first half of that statement.



The second half was seen in Lee’s dismissal. Mansi Joshi bowled a length ball outside off that Lee attempted to cut. But the ball climbed a bit more and resulted in a healthy nick that was comfortably pocketed by Taniya Bhatia behind the stumps.



Raj gave an insight about the move to open with seamers from both ends, despite Kaur and Pandey suggesting otherwise. “They (Kaur and Pandey) told me it is turning already, so we should be actually starting with the spinners,” said the Indian captain. “But I thought I should give an opportunity to Mansi Joshi, who I played today. It makes sense to give her the new ball as a fast bowler and she gave us the breakthrough.”



Perhaps the Protea top order didn't really take into account the change in nature of the surface. Or perhaps it wasn't clearly evident from the moment they walked in. Probably that explains Lee's shot selection, or Chetty's wild heave. Or Mignon du Preez's hurry, that saw her pop a return catch to Deepti Sharma.



However - as Raj suggested - it was the lower order runs, that made the difference between winning and losing. While India had lost their fifth wicket on 55, South Africa lost theirs on 63. There was one partnership in the 40s for each side post that. Kapp and Ismail added 40 for the sixth wicket for South Africa while the Kaur-Pandey stand was the one for India.



Yes, Kapp. Again. She was standing tall while the others crumbled. She was willing to graft it out while the other didn't. If not for a tough LBW call against her - height could have been a factor - she could have well taken South Africa home.



That is when the been-there-seen-that sight in the series came to the fore – spin. The hosts spinners kept the opposition’s lower order on a leash, making use of the helpful conditions.



“I knew that it would turn in the second innings. I knew it would get slower as there was hardly any grass cover on it,” admitted Raj. “At one point when they were five wickets down, I knew that the match was in our hands. We were cruising. But there was a partnership between Kapp and Ismail and getting those two wickets were crucial.”



So when South Africa bowled, the seamers got assistance from the surface, whereas when the Indians bowled, the track aided spin and enabled them to run riot.



Who said reading the track and getting the conditions right is easy? Even the pitch changed its behaviour. Marizanne Kapp was the only constant.