Boult was in great rhythm – Wagner

Trent Boult bristled when he was reminded of the back niggle that kept him out for a part of last year’s international action.

“What injury?” was his response, when asked if he considered himself to be back at his best. Then, he brushed it off as something confined to ancient history, not a mere 12 months ago, and insisted it had no impact on the speeds he was bowling.

In Zimbabwe, Boult averaged in the late 120s. Perhaps what he could not say was that the surfaces and the opposition – unresponsive and inexperienced – did not require him to bend his back. Perhaps he knew he needed to save that for South Africa. And he has.

Be it the natural progression that comes with recovery, or a conscious effort to be more clinical, Boult was just as difficult to get away and more dangerous in Durban. His first two spells cost just 18 runs and yielded two wickets, both off good deliveries and not poor shots, and it was only in the third spell, when he searched for reverse swing that things became a little untidy.

More notable was the fact that he was quicker than he was in Bulawayo – with an average speed of 134 kph and hitting 141.5 kph for the day’s fastest ball – and he continued to find …

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