Against form, both corporate and personal, against history, against conditions, against injury and against the best new ball attack in world cricket, Michael Clarke's Australia team bested South Africa at the Wanderers Ground in Johannesburg. This act of will and courage which allowed old champions to rise again and new ones to herald careers which offer so much to the national team's future, will be a cornerstone of the Clarke captaincy and will imbue a sense of self-belief that a clinic full of sports psychologists or a dressing room of former champions could never match. For these five days, the team stood with shoulders pressed together and would not let the Proteas past.
Supporters of the game in Australia have a point in the new history of Australian cricket to rally around. This victory, achieved in the den of a fearsome opponent needs to be revered and its architect allowed to be carried on our shoulders in congratulation. In the dying overs, Clarke rode every shot, every swing and miss, covering his eyes at times and chewing his finger nails, his hat, his nerve endings, down to frazzled shards as his men won a famous victory. Where Allan Border lost in such circumstances, Clarke won.
It was a day of unlikely heroes.
After the morning session was a victim to rain, Clarke started the day at the crease with Ricky Ponting, both of them concerned with early deliveries which seemed happier to be lower in their carry than on previous days. Clarke, looking to dig in with the established former skipper, lasted only three overs before South Africa's best bowler of the series, Vernon Philander, ripped an off cutter through his defence in much the same way as Shane Watson had expired the previous day but at least Clarke was playing at it. The first Test century maker was undone by a ball that was just too good. After another ten overs of slow progress where new batsman Michael Hussey and Ponting were subjected to the day's best bowling, Ponting was frustrated by the tight line of Steyn and Philander. Morne Morkel, into the attack for Steyn, bowled a wider ball, short of a length to Ponting who slashed wildly at it and was caught at second slip by Jacques Rudolph. His was one of several key innings in the victory.
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| Vernon Philander took 5-70 and was named Man of the Series |
Australia needed 88 and South Africa 4 wickets at tea. The were more than enough overs but the worry was the light that had ended days play in this Test no later than 5:00pm on all of the preceding days.
The next thirteen overs had enough drama to make even Laurence Olivier jealous and he's been dead for years. The first three overs cost South Africa 25 runs. Steyn and Philander were hammered, both only having one over spells as Smith took the first smell in his flaring nostrils of a match turning bad. Haddin dispatched two fours off the first over after tea from Philander, both to the midwicket fence: the first from a ball full and flicked off the line of leg stump and the second a vicious pull. In Steyn's over, he drove the ball straight down the ground. matching the shot Ponting played yesterday. Johnson drilled a full pitch ball outside off stump to the cover boundary past a diving Amla at cover - admittedly not South Africa's most agile fielder. The pair milked an over of singles from Tahir and then held out a Morkel maiden.
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| Brad Haddin |
Peter Siddle came and went, striking Steyn to the wide mid on rope and then scooping the same bowler to to a short mid wicket. It was Steyn's only scalp. It had been four years since he went wicketless in an innings.
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| Cummins was named Man of the Match |
Johnson's role in this was as dramatic as it was courageous and effective. Again he has proven that he can never be discounted. To achieve this victory, batting injured, gives him greater credit. Whilst his consistency will be forever doubted, his ability to pop up when needed and play a significant role is reminiscent of Doug Walters, a man Ian Chappell still says would always be in any side he captained. Its the question of how to get that level of performance from him more regularly that Clarke and the selectors need to answer. As the modern lexicon goes, good luck with that one.
Did South Africa choke? Probably, but not in such a way that they handed the match to Australia. They are still a side that doesn't handle pressure well. The Haddin/Johnson partnership gradually caused panic. The ball began bobbling from their hands in uncharacteristic misfields. Overthrows kept Haddin on strike. The bowlers - Philander apart - lost length and direction. Morkel, normally a quiet big man who ignores batsmen with the same disdain he removes them, allowed himself to be dragged into a verbal spar with Johnson that was always going to help the Australian focus. Just ask John McEnroe. When it got to the really sharp end, Smith lost his way, didn't back his best bowlers and set semi-defensive fields. The modern trend of fielders set back finally found a captain out.
None of which removes glory from the Australians.
A week ago, they squandered an unbeatable lead, to loose by 8 wickets. Bowling the South Africans out for 96, they suffered the ignominy of making only half that and then bowled with their heads down on the last day.
It's that spirit of recovery that will take this side of Clarke's forward. The change and rebuilding looked for on 8th January last, has been happening in the board room and on the field. Australia has work to do and champions to farewell before the Test summer closes in February but it has been an excellent start. Clarke has won a series in Sri Lanka and drawn in South Africa, results that are better than any pundit, whether media or mug, could have predicted. Now its home for New Zealand and India and the hope of even better. The key decisions looming are fitness issues clouding Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson, Ryan Harris and now, possibly Mitchell Johnson and form issues which have been forestalled by the second innings heroics of Ponting and Haddin. Despite his first innings score, surely Phil Hughes must be under the knife. A fit Marsh and the form of Khawaja, crucial to this win, must terminate his tenure at the top of the order.
That's for later. Today, lets all respond appropriately to this victory and applaud the mixture of new and old who delivered it.
Oh this is such a beautiful game.
| Team | Matches | Points | Rating | |
| 1 | England | 37 | 4634 | 125 |
| 2 | India | 37 | 4336 | 117 |
| 3 | South Africa | 24 | 2781 | 116 |
| 4 | Australia | 34 | 3578 | 105 |
| 5 | Sri Lanka | 31 | 3062 | 99 |
| 6 | Pakistan | 28 | 2757 | 98 |
| 7 | West Indies | 26 | 2286 | 88 |
| 8 | New Zealand | 20 | 1588 | 79 |
| 9 | Bangladesh | 15 | 138 | 9 |
| Developed by David Kendix | Last Updated: Mon, Nov 21, 2011 | |||
Zimbabwe is currently unranked, as it has played insufficient matches. It has 134 points and a rating of 45.
For the Reliance Test Rankings predictor please click here
After settling in on my mate's couch it was revealed that play would be delayed by 2 1/2 hours. 'Not much choice but to wait' I figured. After Ponting and Clarke were dismissed it felt like game had reached the fork in the road. Upon starting to fall asleep I dragged myself home to listen to the radio. Thank god I did. Admittedly I was dozing when Cummins hit the winning runs but I had witnessed what hopefully will be the actual rebuilding beginning.
ReplyDeleteBorder said that after the 1986/1987 Ashes the Aus team drew a line in the sand. The resurgence was far more than mere self-belief and determination. This time also saw Aus cricket become more professional in its training, preparation and planning. When the team reached England in 1989 it had been 2 years of efforts waiting to be realised through execution. I think only 12 or 13 players were used on the whole tour such was the unitedness and consistency of the group.
Clarke's team is in a very different starting position. With injuries abounding and question marks on places it will not be a determined captain and the right coach that gets the team pointing in the right direction. However, like the late 80s team, it will be a brand of unafraid youth looking to forge their own careers that sees Aus cricket out of its slump. Lyon, Cummins, Marsh and Khawaja must now be given extended opportunities to prove their worth. None of them should play international 20/20 - not because it is masquerading as cricket - but because they have nothing to learn from it.
I agree with the final comment but disagree with the importance of the role Clarke will play. Like Border, the strength of purpose of the skipper can act as a cornerstone on which younger players can build and the quality of the the captains performance will inspire them beyond even their own ability. The aides de camp, Pat Howard and a new, highly professional coach will fill the the Bob Simpson role and the best selection panel since Laurie Sawle's crew in the second half of the 80's presents a view to the rest of the cricket world that is saying "watch out".
ReplyDeleteThe back of house support will no doubt play a role but in the late 80s the way Aus trained was revolutionised; that won't happen this time. There won't be an overhaul of process like there was then.
ReplyDeleteI perhaps understated Clarke's role a tad but he's not so much of an actions-leading captain as Border was. Granted Sri Lanka and South Africa have demonstrated the opposite but there won't be Border's gruff, no-nonsense approach. Clarke will be a far more verbal communicator (perhaps symbolic of the generational change). Whereas Border's lot had the 1987 world cup to work towards and launch from there, the current team will have test series to judge where they're at. I think this is good as the youth are repeatedly asked questions about how they handle sustained pressure; rather than an intense ODI match or tournament.
While the two test series leaves everyone a little empty being left at 1 each it's ideal that Aus heads straight into its summer of cricket. In little over a 12 month period Aus will have played England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, India and South Africa in test series. At least the priorities are being reflected in the scheduling.
Border was, as you say, gruff and no-nonsense but his example came from on field performances. He was often all at sea with the media, right until the end and the fiasco of his retirement. Simpson not only revolutionised training routines with his heavy accent on fitness and skills but he was also the puppet master who controlled Border's strings. As courageous as the captain was on the field, he yielded without comment or question to Simpson off it. Whilst this took Australia rapidly forward as a new generation of cricketers emerged, much of this total control by Simpson was about furthering his own power base in Australian cricket. Mark Ray's "Border and Beyond" makes Border's inability to manage anything away from the playing arena clear and the danger Simpson represented until Mark Taylor took over the captaincy and gradually loosened the coach's hold on the reigns. Remember Border's dummy spits, including the threat to resign in NZ? Border was gutsy, uncompromising and unlucky not to play in a different generation. He led with his bat but in very little else. He didn't want the captaincy and never escaped from wanting to be one of the team, not number one of the team.
ReplyDeleteClarke is a better communicator, manicured in a time which better understands the role of captain. In this regard, it was Mark Taylor who set the current guidelines, changing the role after Border and taking back control of the team. No Australian captain since Bradman has had the input and power that Clarke now has. My argument is that the portents are good, so far and as a result, he has earned a second look and guarded support for delivering more than was expected.
Yes we have quite a few young guns both bowlers and batsmen together with a few older heads who can hold the fort in T20 and one Dayers. I hope the selectors will will hold the bright young stars back for real cricket. Bear
ReplyDelete