Sterling all-round effort secures crushing triumph for Australia
Portraying undeniable signs of mental and physical fatigue, a struggling South Africa has been defeated by Australia by a margin of five wickets with more than twenty-five overs to spare in Cape Town in match two of the Challenge Series between the countries today. To claim their crushing win and turn the tables upon their rivals after something of a similar drubbing two days ago, it was primarily upon the talents of their attack, their wicketkeeper and a thoroughly reinvented batsman on which the tourists drew. Like its predecessor, though, it was sadly another rather tame occasion in terms of interest and excitement.
Aside from the hesitancy which they illustrated during a very shaky start to their innings, the Australians consistently looked a much different unit to the uncharacteristically uninspired (some say jet-lagged) one which took the field in Durban on Wednesday. It is pretty much a truism these days that when their inspiring spearhead Glenn McGrath (2/13 from ten overs) opens a one-day international in sharp touch, his team is rarely headed through the first fifty overs. And that was certainly the way things panned out this afternoon. On a fast and bouncy pitch, McGrath honoured his captain's decision to invite the South Africans to bat first with unerring accuracy and control; he maintained an impeccable line and length and persistently forced the batsmen on to the literal and metaphorical back foot. He later returned to seal his mastery with the wicket of a bottom edging Shaun Pollock (4), but it was in his first spell (from which he produced the figures of 1/7 from six overs) that he produced the most damaging bowling of the match. It was unjust that he captured no more than the wicket of Herschelle Gibbs (5) - that success coming when he induced the opener to nibble at a beautifully aimed leg cutter - in the midst of his excellent early burst.
Even when there was a suspicion that the clamps might have been released with McGrath's removal from the attack and the subsequent introduction of medium pace bowling all-rounders Shane Lee (2/19 from seven) and Ian Harvey (0/44 off nine), the Proteas were unable to assume anything resembling command. Moreover, matters only progressively worsened for them. There was momentary respite when the former struggled for line in his first two overs but scarcely any more relief was available once he had induced trump cards Gary Kirsten (34) and Jacques Kallis (5) to lazily edge catches to Shane Warne in the slip region. From there, others among the Australians (none more so than Brett Lee and Adam Gilchrist) profited handsomely and the South Africans, by contrast, plunged headlong toward misery. With only the combative Lance Klusener (34*) illustrating stomach for the fight, the younger of the Lee (3/32 from ten) brothers conceived another of his hostile spells to attract thin outside edges from Jonty Rhodes (8) and Mark Boucher (0) and the inner portion of the blade of the labouring Neil McKenzie (22) in rapid succession. Even more pyrotechnically perhaps, wicketkeeper Gilchrist turned twenty-nine years of history on its head by creating a new world record as he became the first player to effect six dismissals in a single one-day international innings.
When it came Australia's turn to respond to the hopelessly inadequate tally of 9/144, there immediately came an extraordinary and completely unexpected flurry of activity to prompt visions of an unlikely reversal. Gilchrist (8) inside edged the tenth delivery of the innings back into his stumps. Mark Waugh (2) half-heartedly flicked at a delivery spearing down the leg side to present Boucher with a tumbling catch. And Shane Lee (8), a man who averages just eighteen with the bat in one-day internationals and whose elevation to the number three spot carried something of a contemptuous smack about it, then injudiciously attempted to slam a delivery over the off side and succeeded only in sending an easy catch in the direction of third man. The scoreline by this stage was 3/21, the ball was bouncing and swinging, and the crowd was roaring unlike it had done at any other time of the day.
But from there, affairs soon reverted back to earlier type. In fact, the Australians' bewilderingly speedy loss of those three scalps to Kallis inside the first four overs was subsequently more than matched in kind as Damien Martyn (50) and Michael Bevan (39) repulsed the Proteas with a sizzling 83 run stand. Indeed, once the audience had begun to realise exactly what kind of counter attack they were witnessing from Martyn (who cracked a half century from the mere matter of only thirty-one balls) and Bevan, their roars were transformed into little more than whimpers. Bold applause was reserved for the latter for his gracious act in electing not to wait for the umpire's finger in response to a caught behind appeal before leaving the arena - as two others before him in Rhodes and Waugh had also honourably done - but that was about all that the local patrons had left to cheer in any rousing sense.
There was nothing particularly outrageous about Martyn's strokemaking in itself it has to be said; instead, it was controlled placement and the utilisation of excellent timing which was responsible for his bedazzling productivity. By the same token, though, the South Africans lost their way badly and fed the ravenous Western Australian a diet of misdirected deliveries. Until he finally outsmarted himself by attempting one too many attacking shots and dragged a Makhaya Ntini leg cutter back into his castle, he produced flowing drives, hammering cuts, sweet glances and swivelling pulls in what became quite a breathtaking exhibition. None of the four bowlers who was utilised, namely Pollock, Kallis, Nantie Hayward and Ntini, was really spared his wrath at all. Inspired by his teammate, Bevan also increasingly opened his shoulders and the assistance that his predominantly off side driving and cutting afforded to Martyn as they powered forty-nine clattering runs in the space of four overs at one point was notable. The job of polishing proceedings off was accordingly rendered a relatively simple exercise for Andrew Symonds (19*) and Harvey (11*).
As easily and as convincingly as all of that no less, Australia's series-levelling victory was complete. The 1-1 scoreline that it has generated now ensures that the teams will not definitively resolve their three match battle until they come together in Johannesburg on Sunday. Notwithstanding the fact that we should probably be rejoicing at the balanced state of the series, though, quite what the outcome of the match at the Wanderers will actually mean is significantly less clear cut. It has been argued many times over the course of the last fortnight that there are too many matches of inconsequential character these days, and this series has all too painfully borne out the reality again by concocting two particularly dull games. It is already very safe to say that by far the most obvious general conclusion to draw in the wake of that contest - whatever its exact result - will be that Australia will emerge from proceedings in considerably stronger shape than its host. For as cynical as it may be, that blunt fact seems right now to infer a great deal in itself about how history should, and probably will, most plainly remember this series.
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