South Africa began the first Test looking every inch the world's best
team. They ended it cornered, scrapping unattractively to secure a draw,
having weathered a sustained and significant resurgence by Australia
over the final two days.
The loss of Saturday's play due to persistent rain deprived the match of
enough time for a result given the benign nature of curator Kevin
Mitchell's pitch, but Michael Clarke's team will depart Brisbane with
the kind of spring in their step that England took from the Gabba after a
similar recovery at the outset of the 2010-11 Ashes. Such confidence
will be derived as much from how James Pattinson and Peter Siddle
discomforted South Africa's batsmen on the final afternoon as from the
way Clarke, Ed Cowan and Michael Hussey dominated the visiting bowlers.
A tense afternoon characterised by a series of frenzied Australian
appeals and grim South African occupation, Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and
Jacques Kallis all flirted frequently with danger while the hosts
dictated terms. Pattinson and Siddle frequently pushed the line of
acceptable aggression with their words and appeals, but did no more than
Clarke had predicted before the match.
A lone exception to the prolonged passage of Australian aggression and
South African diffidence was a two-over period before tea in which the
spinner Nathan Lyon was clumped for 26, but even he recovered in the
final session with a neat spell that returned the wickets of Kallis and
Jacques Rudolph.
Clarke had declared with a lead of 115 after he reached the highest
individual score in Tests at the Gabba. His unbeaten 259 featured some
rollicking shots on resumption, lofting drives down the ground and
heaving over midwicket with plenty of force. Hussey's advance to a
hundred was a little more fraught, and on 99 he escaped being lbw on
South Africa's referral via the thinnest of edges picked up on Hot-Spot.
The pitch was starting to show the very first signs of deterioration,
Morne Morkel extracting some variable bounce to strike Clarke in the
ribs and on the back, while Vernon Philander gained some disconcerting
seam movement. After Hussey lifted Morkel to cover - the first wicket to
a bowler in 120 overs - Matthew Wade took his time getting in, and was
beaten several times. However once he had his sighter, Wade unleashed a
trio of rasping offside strokes, the first a drive that might have
decapitated Rory Kleinveldt, and hurried Clarke towards his declaration.
South Africa's response to the scenario confronting them was uncertain.
Pattinson found his rhythm and some early swing, and it was the
combination of speed and movement that drew Petersen into an ambitious
drive that resulted in a thin edge through to Wade. Smith battled
through the session, snicking Siddle just short of the slips, and Amla
was grateful for the third wicket off a no-ball in the match when he
dragged Pattinson onto the stumps but was reprieved by Asad Rauf's
referral.
The afternoon began with a tense and occasionally ill-tempered duel
between Pattinson and Smith. Pattinson was irritated when Amla survived a
caught behind appeal that was proven faulty by a decision review, and
was further annoyed by Smith pulling away from one delivery as a bird
flew across his eye-line. There was plenty of chatter over the next two
overs before the bowler had the final say by coaxing a sliced drive that
was well held by Rob Quiney at gully.
At the other end Australia lost their second and final review when Ben
Hilfenhaus thought he had Kallis caught behind from an inside edge, but
replays showed a large gap between bat and pad. The loss of the two
referrals seemed costly when the hosts went up in unison for a caught
behind appeal by Siddle against Amla, but again the video evidence of an
edge was lacking.
Kallis survived another appeal from Siddle when avoiding a short ball
that passed desperately close to his gloves, and Lyon's entry to the
attack brought a brief flurry as both Kallis and Amla lofted down the
ground with skill. Amla would lose his wicket shortly before tea when he
pushed Siddle to Hussey at short cover, but it seemed at the interval
that the South Africans had done enough to stave off the prospect of
defeat.
AB de Villiers and Kallis held out for another hour but made very few
runs. Lyon returned to bowl with the batsmen in their shells, and was
rewarded when he drifted the ball across Kallis, finding the edge and
allowing Clarke clasp a neat one-hander at slip. Next over Rudolph
eluded a raucous lbw appeal because Siddle's delivery had pitched
outside leg stump, and Australia's frustration showed they felt they
were still a chance.
Ultimately Rudolph survived until just before the final hour was due to
commence, at which time he was lbw to a Lyon back-spinner that pinned
him on the back pad. This wicket encouraged Clarke to push the match
into its last 60 minutes. The fact he was able to do so was a
considerable moral victory for Australia, just as the final two days had
been.
0 comments:
Post a Comment