Published: Nov 22, 2011, 10:20 AM (IST)
Edited: May 05, 2014, 05:38 PM (IST)
By Madan Mohan
In spite of their ignominious 2nd innings display at Cape Town, this tour would give Australia’s confidence a major boost. If the first Test brought to light the fragility of this side under pressure, the second showed they are about to turn the corner. Together with the ODI series win, the 1-1 result means a largely happy trip for Australia.
They showed character and self-belief in their pursuit of the highest-ever successful run-chase at Johannesburg. The champion on his last lap, Ricky Ponting, and the upstart, Usman Khawaja both struck important half centuries as Australia scampered home with two wickets to spare. As South Africa assistant coach noted on Day 4 though, the third innings of the match is often the true clincher and so it was in this fixture.
Australia did not let South Africa bat them out of the match and restricted them to a target that still kept them in the hunt. On the fourth morning, AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla had the chance to hammer the final nails in the coffin and seal the series. Instead, a lower-order collapse left South Africa with a lot to do just to get to a respectable target. But for stout resistance from Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, they may not have left anything in the region of 300 for Australia to chase.
A lion’s share of the credit for that must go to debutant Pat Cummins. He wasted no time in living up to Ian Chappell’s lofty praise and duly bagged a six-wicket haul when Australia needed it most in the series. Such was the promise he held out in just his first Test that Michael Clarke more or less designated him the spearhead of an otherwise struggling attack. With Shane Watson unable to bowl owing to injury and Mitchell Johnson being, well, Mitchell Johnson, Cummins rose to the challenge and sent down more or less as many as his more seasoned pace bowling partners Johnson and Peter Siddle. More importantly, he negated the threat of Jacques Kallis with a brute of a delivery and later induced de Villiers for a wild fishing expedition on the offside.
That doesn’t quite do it as far as Cummins goes. He also struck an unbeaten 13 in the tense chase and hit the winning runs for the team. If Khawaja went some distance towards securing a middle-order slot in the near future, Cummins lent badly needed teeth to the bowling attack and that probably hurt the brittle South African middle-order more than anything.
As for South Africa, they were left to rue their third squared home series in a row. In fact, South Africa have not won a series at home since November 2008, when they beat – hold your breath – Bangladesh. I had said in an earlier article, that they may just watch their great chance pass them by at this rate and this series is again a reflection of their tendency to underperform. The decision to drop Alviro Petersen may also need a relook now as Jacques Rudolph didn’t vindicate the faith placed in him. de Villiers looked good at the crease as usual and failed to come to the party. Their bowling might is often offset by their batsmen’s inexplicable tendency to leave the bowlers too few to play with. Australia in their prime would most probably have pounded the opposition at home in the third innings to slam the door shut on their hopes and South Africa seem to lack that kind of killer instinct.
Australia, on the other hand, would be buoyed to learn they can win against the odds. Of late, they have let winning positions slip away and failed to dig deep under pressure. Their successful chase of 310 may well give them the confidence to avoid such lapses in future endeavours. Australia not only bowled out a strong team for below 400 twice at home but also outscored them in both innings. They will need a few more of the likes of Cummins as well as Khawaja before their very sight once again scares opposition into submission. But they have now shown they won’t turn into meek pushovers anytime soon and, if anything, they are already getting better again. Bad news for their rivals and good news for cricket lovers!
(Madan Mohan, a 25-year old CA from Mumbai, is passionate about writing, music and cricket. Writing on cricket is like the icing on the cake)
