How Did That Happen?

It was one of the craziest days of Test cricket in the more than 2000 Tests that have been played since the game became international in the last quarter of the 19th century. Good batting at either end of the day bracketed a dreadful display by both sides in the middle, as first South Africa and then woefully Australia, threw out batting principals.

The Australians, batting with an apparently impregnable 188 run lead, self emolliated for their lowest score since 1902 and only two totals pre 1900 are worse. Australia teetered on the brink of the lowest score of all nations at 9-21 before the last wicket pairing of Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon became the only batsmen in the innings to reach double figures. Siddle and earlier Phil Hughes were the only Australians to bat for more than half an hour. The usual top seven lasted only 49 balls. Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin and Shaun Marsh all made ducks. Marsh was the most defensible, batting at 10 after back spasms had kept him off the field and Haddin the least, playing an ugly swipe at a rising ball from Vernon Philander.

Earlier in the day, Clarke took his century to 151, adding 70 with the tail: principally Peter Siddle. Despite the long set fields and usual negative tactics, the Australian captain looked untroubled in advancing the total to a mark he had quoted in press conferences after the first day, as being acceptable in the circumstances. Morkel picked up the final wickets for the South African pace attack to share the spoils in much the same way as the West Indians used to in the 1980's. The South Africans made a solid start, losing only the restored Jacques Rudolph to Ryan Harris when he appeared to play outside a straight one and was bowled between bat and pad. At lunch, 1-46 looked pretty good.

Watson gets Smith to play on

After lunch, all hell broke loose. Shane Watson began by trapping Amla in front after only two balls and then invoking a wild shot to a lifter from Jacques Kallis which flew to Ponting at second slip. Like Steve Waugh, Watson has the ability to surprise batsmen with shorter stuff as its the only time he bends his back. Both batsmen out in the first over after lunch and both on review. Watson went on a rampage, removing five batsmen in 21 deliveries, mostly with well pitched balls that moved enough to find pads or in Graeme Smith's case, the famous inside edge of that angled bat of his when outside off stump. Harris chipped in to clean out the tail. The ultimate sign of things going right was a direct hit from Peter Siddle rushing in from mid on to hit at the batting end and remove a slow moving Morne Morkel. You only have to watch Siddle in pre match activities to know that doesn't happen very often.

Philander took 5-15

The the Australian carnage which followed was more Salvador Dali than Sachin Tendulkar. The South Africans bowled well but it has to be said that there were no devastating lifters flying about batsmen's ears or torpedoes hitting the base of the stumps. The ball moved a little in the air and decked about on the pitch but Test batsmen are supposed to counter this with skill, concentration and counter attack. Its hard to know if the Australians were dumb founded or just dumb. Philander bowled very well, taking out most of the top order by bowling stump to stump but even when he strayed in line and length, the gods smiled on him. Mitch Johnson smashed a short ball outside off stump straight to Hasim Amla for instance. Morkel looked to have found rhythm and if there could be an even more dangerous sign heading to the pace friendly Johannesburg, that would be it. Dale Steyn was the ever present threat and his attacking pace gets wickets for his fellow bowlers in much the same way Dennis Lillee did. Just having him in the arsenal is enough.

What happened? Certainly the bowling was good but just as certainly, the batting from both sides was poor (ie. Kallis and Haddin). Playing further forward may have helped and being as positive as Clarke was in the first dig might have also been the smart play. Don't underplay the role of the DRS in sorting more dismissals than in the past. Watson was a long stride forward and in the past no umpire would have been game to give him out but on this day of 23 wickets falling, the the third umpire, Billy Bowden, was kept busy punching his crooked finger on buttons and sending batsmen back. We have less bad decisions but on such days, more batsmen given out. Several key players were out to DRS decisions which in former years might not have been given. 

Then, as violently and suddenly as the mayhem had arrived it ended, as South Africa took after the victory target of 236 at nearly five an over. Rudolph hit three fours in his short stay, after Siddle was restored to the new ball. Bowling under Craig McDermott's instructions, with the ball pitched on a good length, Siddle brushed the face of Rudolph's bat as he tried to leave at the last minute and Haddin took the catch. Watson was into the attack in the fifth over to allow a change of ends for Harris - something you would have thought should have been sorted before taking the field. From there, Smith and Amla muscled up, adding 54 unbeaten by stumps, each of them crashing 6 fours from bowlers who were bewildered to be back at the crease so soon after a great first innings effort. The building Australian confidence looked shattered by the batting debacle and nothing typified this more than the last ball of the day when Amla tried to crash a cut to the boundary but instead hit it at waist height to Hussey who floored it.