Not content with making one man's life a misery, Glenn McGrath broke with tradition and put two men on cricket's Death Row when he announced that his main South African targets were Gary Kirsten and Jacques Kallis. And as with Mike Atherton and Brian Lara in the past, The Nemesis duly delivered. He nailed Kirsten on four occasions in the two series - each time in the tone-setting first innings - at a cost of just 75 runs, and Kallis three times for 66. A comparison between the two batsmen's averages for the two series (Kirsten 36, Kallis 43), and against McGrath (Kirsten 19, Kallis 22) show just what an impact he had.

Our graph shows the merciless off-stump line McGrath bowled to these two, with hardly anything pitching the wrong side of middle. McGrath also sent down over 60% (122 out of 196) of his deliveries to Kirsten from around the wicket, an angle from which he has consistently had success against left-handers.

McGrath took 26 wickets in the two series, but not one of those batsmen had reached 50. By contrast, even Damien Martyn managed to dismiss one half-centurion. With 23 of those 26 making less than 20, it seems McGrath's unwavering line and length give a batsman absolutely no margin for the sort of fractional misjudgment that is most likely early in an innings. When a batsman is in, McGrath is less of a handful, as he lacks the variety of a Warne or the raw pace of a Lee.

In fact, Warne was Australia's main man when it came to dismissing well-set South Africans. He nailed four batsmen with 50 or more to their names, twice as many as anyone else. That's apart from run-outs, which accounted for three South African half-centurions, two of them - Jacques Kallis and Neil McKenzie - on 99.

These statistics reflect the patterns of both Warne and McGrath's careers. Of McGrath's 389 Test victims, only 8% (30) have made 50 or more. For Warne the figure is 17% (78 out of 450). Australia's usual bowling order increases their probability of dismissing batsmen with their eye in: McGrath 8%, Gillespie 10% (12 out of 123), Lee 12% (10 out of 84), and Warne 17%. If the pacemen can't blow them away, then Warne winkles them out, a fact best shown in his epic second-innings performance at Cape Town, when his figures were 70-15-161-6.

Rob Smyth is on the staff of Wisden.com.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd