The South African top order finally showed some character in their last innings of this series, surviving two sessions for the loss of just two wickets. Boeta Dippenaar and Gary Kirsten set a frenetic pace in the afternoon session, scoring 134 runs (125 off the bat) in 32 overs at an Australian-esque run-rate of 4.19. Out of 195 balls bowled in that session, 56 were either too full or too short. Both batsmen punished those loose deliveries, scoring 95 runs – that's an astounding strike rate of nearly 170%. In the last session, when 32 overs produced a mere 69 runs (67 off the bat), 48 such balls fetched just 44 runs – a strike rate of 92%.

Also, there was a greater willingness by the batsmen to get the good-length ball away. Their strike rate against such balls was almost 22% in that session, and came down to 15% in the period after tea.

Both batsmen were far more comfortable against pace than spin. From 112 deliveries by Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee elicited there were just 11 strokes when the batsmen were not in control – that is, they played-and-missed, edged, or mistimed their shots. In comparison, 173 balls bowled by Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill drew 56 false shots – a high 32.3%.

Dippenaar had an in-control factor of 83.6%, but the corresponding figure for Kirsten was a rather low 74.4%, indicating that he played a false shot once every four balls.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com, India.

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