2nd Test, Day 5: Shane Warne takes 6-for in Australian victory
Day 5 was a wonderfully tense day of Test cricket as the advantage see-sawed between Australia and South Africa throughout the day. South Africa began with 10 wickets in hand and slight favourites to force the draw considering the dodgy light over the past few days. Graeme Smith and de Villiers began comfortably for the first half of the session, building their opening partnership to 91 runs. At that point, a draw seemed likely.
However, the match turned when Warne came on to bowl, had de Villiers stumped in his first over and took 3 wickets before lunch. When Warne dismissed Smith, his Test wicket tally went to 666. I'm sure the South Africans are convinced he's the anti-Christ. Herschelle Gibbs was caught behind off Clark leaving South Africa 4 wickets down at lunch. At that point, my money was on an Australian victory.
Australia took 3 more wickets during the middle session so at tea, Australia only needed 3 tailend wickets to win the match and series. Considering South Africa lost 5 for 12 in the first innings and the new ball was due in the 3rd session, the matched looked all but over barring bad light. However, Mark Boucher and Andre Nel survived a long period throughout the last session with a ring of fielders surrounding the batsmen. Throughout, the spectre of bad light and Steve 'light-meter' Bucknor threatened to end the match at any moment. Finally, inevitably, Warne induced an edge from Nel to slip and shortly afterwards, trapped Ntini LBW with a wrong'un.
Interestingly, it was Gilchrist who captained the side today as Ponting didn't take the field due to food poisoning. Team management were baffled as to the cause as he'd eaten the same food as the rest of the team. He's obviously having a reaction to his recent glut of runs.
Also, I've enjoyed listening to the South African radio commentary, particularly the many SMS messages from predominantly South African fans. I was initially surprised at all the negative comments about their own team until I realised I'm probably just as negative with the Australian team, ready to pounce on the slightest weakness and write a player off (I still say drop Symonds and Martyn).
Lastly, it's funny how small the difference is between victory and defeat (or a draw) and yet the great contrast in reactions. If South Africa had forced a draw, Ponting would have been lambasted as an overly conservative, unimaginative captain (they always call bad captains 'unimaginative'). Instead, Australia are up 2-nil in the series (or to take a wider perspective, 4-nil in a 6 Test series) and focus will instead be on Ponting's batting (the best since Bradman, one over-excited journalist called him). I'm just happy to see Warnie grab a 6-for as he hasn't been that effective up till today. Seeing what he did on a 5th day pitch though, maybe Graeme Smith was right to bat on that first day in Cape Town!
| Posted by JC on Wed 29 Mar |  3 comments |
There you go JC, a tight finish on the 5th day... ask and ye shall receive!! :)
Posted by Timbo on 2006-03-28 13:07:05
Posted by Timbo on 2006-03-28 13:07:05
LOL, yes, you can't get much better than that. Well, the only way it could've been better was if there were 4 results possible instead of two (eg - SA win, Aust win, draw or tie). But deep into the last session, indeed what I hoped for. Feeling the effect of a 1.40am bedtime this morning though.
Posted by JC on 2006-03-28 13:45:39
Posted by JC on 2006-03-28 13:45:39
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