Is there a final twist to this engrossing tale? Only five wickets fell for 288 runs on this fourth day pitch that looked far worse than it actually played.
Is there a final twist to this engrossing tale? Only five wickets fell for 288 runs on this fourth day pitch that looked far worse than it actually played.
The meagre crowd of 19000 will worry Cricket Australia as it could well reflect a world trend of dwindling Test Match attendances.
The crowd at Mohali to witness Sachin Tendulkar’s ascension to the pantheon of Test run scorers was belittling of the occasion. This current SCG Test was for the heavyweight title of the world. It may have been a dead rubber but there were a lot of bragging rights at stake.
Simon Katich is a vastly underrated man. He has been erroneously cast as a stodgy batsman. The truth is that he is a silent assassin and kills with a thousand little cuts. Hayden batted with the rage of a man fighting cruel and inexorable fate.
He was ultimately the architect of his own demise, inside-edging a Morne Morkel delivery after scoring a brutal but flawed 39. His cricketing epitaph could well be written now.
Ricky Ponting narrowly missed a pair of golden ducks but was soon unfurling his trademark pull and pirouette, the gun-barrel straight drives and consummate flicks off his pads. Katich fed him the strike and Ponting raced to 53 of 57 balls.
He perished trying to force the pace when he tried to cut a ball from Morkel that was tight and too close to his body. South Africa had regained their high fielding standards and De Villiers was exhilarating at backward point .He has been the standout fielder in these two teams of world class practitioners like Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Ponting. De Villiers seemed a worthy successor to Jonty Rhodes.
Ponting’s demise brought Mr Cricket (Mike Hussey) to the crease and he looked more like a henpecked husband for his first 15 minutes. He was initially diffident and survived a perilously close LBW shout from Morkel. Katich had, meanwhile, passed his second 50 of the Test with a deft no-nonsense placement behind square.
He was surprisingly given out to a ball that appeared to be missing leg stump. Clarke’s appearance seemed to galvanise Hussey and the two set about lifting the tempo and fashioned a partnership of 76 at more than four runs an over.
South Africa’s run rate in this Test has been close to 2.35 and Australia around 3.7. One side was looking to win and the other not to lose. South Africa spent the day trying to limit the lead. It is perplexing why modern captains don’t grasp the basic tenet which is that the best way to contain is to take wickets.
Nothing slows the run rate more than the loss of wickets. Hussey had regained much of his poise and hit one of the biggest sixes seen at the SCG. Ponting declared at 257 for four, setting South Africa a challenging target of 376 of 116 overs.
Morkel went in the second over for nought and thereafter Hashim Amla and Mackenzie reached 62 at the close. There are a few cracks that have opened up under the 41 degree sun and the odd ball is popping.
Can South Africa chase down the highest fourth innings score at the SCG ? Hashim Amla was compared to batting greats Majid Khan and Zaheer Abbas by the Channel Nine Commentary team and he could be the hero.
Considering their monumental efforts of the first two Tests it is possible but they do not have their talismanic captain leading the charge and Australia are playing positive cricket. Australia will have to wear down the top order before they can blast away the tail.
(The author of this report is a Sydney-based journalist)
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