South Africa vs Australia: A day to remember or to forget?

A contest is deemed interesting when there is very little to chose between the two participating competitors. It doesn’t matter whether it’s T20, ODI or Test cricket. After competing in very gruelling T20 and ODI series between Australia and South Africa at latter’s soil, the much anticipated test series between the two major cricketing nation kick started on 9th Nov. The two-match T20 series has ended in a tie with one win a piece, while Australia narrowly winning the 3-match ODI series 2-1.

The first day of the test match being played at the beautiful Sahara Park Newlands, Cape Town didn’t disappoint to cricket lovers as the contest between the bat and bowl was intriguing till the last bowl in the otherwise shortened match due to rain interruptions and bad light. If Dale Steyn had his reputation of being the world’s best bowler on line, Michael Clarke needed to prove his leadership skills to his critics. Both delivered big time. Steyn bowled some unplayable deliveries that toppled the Australian top order while Clarke led from the front and scored a brisk century in a match which have not seen any player reach 2-figure’s let alone a 50 or a 100. First day was well contested and Australia finished the day with 214/8 after 55 overs of possible play.

However, it’s the second day that witnessed not only something unusual but also very unexpected as well as dramatic. Australia lower order along with their captain continued their resistance and added 70 runs in the morning session before getting all out on 284 runs. Clarke top scored with 151 valuable runs. South Africa started cautiously and went to the lunch session on 49/1 after losing Jaques Rudolph early. Nothing spectacular happened as of now. So, why all this hype about a regular day of test cricket? Let me explain you why.

Things started to go wrong from the second session onwards. Resuming on a well placed 49/1, Clarke decided to introduce Shane Watson into the attack. Watson, the world’s best all-rounder started off with 2 maiden wicket overs and South Africa found themselves struggling at 49/3 just an over after the lunch interval. The things didn’t improve a little bit for the host side, in fact, it got worst from worse when the whole team bundled out for 96 runs within 25 overs. Shane Watson scalped 5 wickets in just 21 deliveries. Ryan Harris provided able support by picking up 4 wickets. For the hosts, only resistance, to an extent, was provided by Graeme Smith who scored 37 runs. Thus, Australia was handed an healthy lead of 188 runs.

Expectations from Australia were to build on that lead and bat SA out of the match with more than 3 days to go. But as they say, “Always expect the unexpected”. Australia had a terrible start and lost 3 wickets for just 13 runs when they went for the tea break. The things looked similar after the break as they were before as Australia kept on losing wickets one after the other and failed miserably to capitalize on the lead conceded by the host. At one point Australia were reduced to 21/9 with a threat to be bowled out for the lowest score in the history of test cricket when the no. 10 and no. 11 extended their stay and took Australia to 47 and their lead upto a modest 235 runs. South Africa used only 18 overs to wrap up the Australian innings with the debutant, Vernon Philander, being the pick of bowlers by taking 5 wickets for 15 runs. Steyn and Morkel picked up 2 and 3 wickets each.

South Africa started their innings 2nd time on a same day, went about the chase smoothly until the close of play. They have already scored 81/1 losing Rudolph early yet again. SA needs 155 more runs to win with 9 wickets in hand. Greame Smith and Hashim Amla are in the middle and a close contest is expected on the third day.

Now, Why was the day so dramatic? The day was dramatic because Micheal Clarke scored 151 runs in the first innings while both teams couldn’t collectively make these many runs when SA and AUS collapsed in their 1st and 2nd innings respectively. The day was dramatic because the highest scorer for Australia in the second innings was their no. 11 batsman Nathan Lyon with 14 runs, second highest being Siddle. Also, at one particular point of time, as many as 17 batsmen on a trot couldn’t reach the double figure mark. Their scores read 3,0,8,0,4,4,9,1,5,4,9,0,2,0,0,3 and 3 before Peter Siddle was 12 not out. A total of 23 wickets fell on the, while a whopping 21 wickets went down in the last two sessions alone. In their 1st innings, SA lost their last 9 wickets for 47 runs, while Australia ended their second innings on 47 runs.

Another important feature of the day was UDRS. As many as four decisions were upheld by the third umpired after being challenged by the concerned side. Had there been no UDRS, the scenario of the match might be different. Billy Bowden, the tv umpire, was kept busy and his toes with the referral’s. After so much happened in a day’s play, one thing was sure, no wrong decisions were given. And if there were any such decisions, they were corrected using the help of technology. Shane Watson might have taken 5 wickets in 21 balls but the real hero of the day was, undoubtedly, UDRS.

Amongst all this drama, the match is well poised for the third day. The match can turn either ways, given the events that folded on the second day. Micheal Clarke played, perhaps, his most important innings of his life and now, its time for his counterpart, Graeme Smith to replicate the efforts. On a difficult pitch, amongst some mindless batting, Smith would want to take their side home and take an important 1-0 lead in the 2 match series. South Africa must realize that the game, generally, doesn’t give a second chance. But they are gifted an opportunity by their rivals itself and it’s important they do make it count and make sure they don’t become victim of the ‘C’ word again!