Hawkeye: Australia v JP Duminy

Had it not been for an injury to Ashwell Prince, JP Duminy was unlikely to play a role in the Test series in Australia – but he made the most of the opportunity and quickly established himself as chief tormentor for the hosts by proving very difficult to dismiss.

The graphic below shows the line and length of Australia’s right arm bowlers to Duminy during his unbeaten 50 on debut in Perth that helped South Africa to a successful pursuit of 414.

A large percentage of balls were full pitched – a length that didn’t seem to particularly trouble the 24-year-old, as most of his runs were scored from these deliveries (reds are dot balls). Duminy went on to hit 166 in the next Test at Melbourne as the Saffers wrapped up the series.

After a summer of struggling to remove JP, Australia used a vastly different approach during the Durban Test, as seen below. While Duminy averaged 61 Down Under, he went on to average ‘only’ 45 at home.

The only ball pitching in the green area was hit for four, but it’s clear there was an edict to serve up short stuff. The over in which he succumbed contained two misdirected short balls before Ben Hilfenhaus got it right (white ball). When on target, Duminy couldn’t get his gloves out of the way in time and was caught behind.