Melbourne Test, day 1, close
Wednesday, December 26, 2001

The game is really in South Africa's hands at the moment. It looks like a really good batting wicket, and with a roll tomorrow it'll be even better.

Tomorrow will tell the story of this Test and whether we get a result, although we might be in for a bit more bad weather yet. South Africa can either eat a chunk of time out of the game or, if they can score quickly enough, put themselves in a position to win it. They're really the ones who have to try to make the running, because they need a result. If they want to win they have to go after it tomorrow.

I like the South African top five, they just have to lift a cog. They really need someone to kick on and get a big score. If no-one does that, it puts pressure on them all to get between 50 and 100 to set a decent score.

Gibbs, Kirsten, Dippenaar, Kallis, McKenzie - that's a pretty formidable top order. But the No. 3 spot is a bit of a problem for them. Jacques Kallis is the man. Mark Boucher's been talked about, but it's a tough ask to keep all day then go in at first drop.

I don't understand why they're playing Dippenaar there - and he didn't bat there in the tour match against New South Wales. Australia protect their younger players at No. 5 or 6, and give them some time, and that may be what he needs.

If Kallis doesn't want to bat there, Neil McKenzie might be the one. He's a good player of pace, and showed good temperament at Adelaide.

The Australian bowlers were certainly trying to keep the ball a bit fuller in the final session. Glenn McGrath was pretty good today. He seems to have picked up his pace, and he's back to the McGrath of previous years. Andy Bichel was honest. He could have had a couple of wickets but for two tough chances that went down. That's very much his style - working his way into a long spell and wearing the batsmen down.

Ian Healy made a record 395 dismissals in 119 Tests for Australia. His comments will be appearing on Wisden.com after each session in this series. He was talking to Tim Stoney.

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