In the first two sessions of the opening day the South Africans’ minds were elsewhere when they should have been focused on making a bold statement to give their series a much-needed boost
Brydon Coverdale in Durban06-Mar-2009
Graeme Smith wasn’t too happy as catches were dropped and the bowlers failed to follow plans © Getty Images
The Australians are visiting another country following their difficultsummer at home but it was Graeme Smith’s men who appeared to be onvacation in Durban. In the first two sessions of the opening day thereweren’t many moments to justify happy holiday snaps for the SouthAfricans, whose minds were elsewhere when they should have beenfocused on making a bold statement to give their series a much-neededboost.As catches were dropped, as the bowlers failed to follow their plans,as the senior men turned into teapots with hands firmly placed onhips, it was impossible not to think that South Africa had signed offfrom work when they flew out of Australia. In Johannesburg they wereat times flat but in the opening stages in Durban they lookedcompletely lethargic and seemed to be feeling the effects of the shortthree-day break between games.Thankfully for the sake of the match and the series, they graduallybegan to find some rhythm later in the day. Through the strong effortsof Paul Harris and Dale Steyn in particular they collected fourwickets and gave Marcus North and Michael Hussey some uncomfortablemoments when the second new ball was sailing around chests and headsin the fading light.If only they could have tested Simon Katich and Phillip Hughes withsimilarly unnerving bouncers in the opening session. In the lead-up tothe match the coach Mickey Arthur spoke of their plans to Hughes, who was showered with short stuff at the Wanderers in a fiery battle with Steyn and Morne Morkel. They felt he had a weakness they could exploiton the bouncy Kingsmead surface but after stumps Arthur said the pitchhad been so slow in the first session that a short-pitched barrage wasimpossible.So plan B was to bring Hughes and Katich forward and aim for edges.Instead they overcompensated and a succession of half-volleys,particularly from Morkel, allowed Hughes to make such a brisk startthat he went to lunch on 75. Drives raced down the ground and therewas a lack of intensity in the field. While the square-leg umpire AsadRauf embarked on a series of leg-stretches to get his blood flowing,the South Africans stood flat-footed.Ricky Ponting was criticised in Perth for his poor body language asthe match slipped away and at one point at Kingsmead the South Africanfield was littered with crockery as Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis andNeil McKenzie all stood with hands on hips, teapot-style, waiting forsomething to happen. The whole frustrating situation meant adisappointed dressing-room at the lunch break.”Instead of chatting to everybody in general we took the bowlers awayas a unit and sat with the bowlers and discussed what we had andhadn’t done in that first session,” Arthur said. “It was forceful butit certainly wasn’t ranting and raving. I thought the guys came backvery well after that. We’ve got to understand the margin for error outthere was very, very small.”Morkel copped the brunt of the “lunchtime chat” after his first twoovers cost 25. Instead of targeting the ribcage of Hughes, as he didin Johannesburg, Morkel aimed for the stumps with nearly every ball inhis early spell. It was then that Australia’s run-rate reallyballooned and Arthur said Morkel had failed to read the situationproperly.”Morne is quite an intense boy, I think he just tries too hard,”Arthur said. “It certainly wasn’t a wicket he was going to bowl themout on. He probably had these ideas of a bit of grandeur coming in andsaid, ‘I’ll knock the guys over and get us on the front foot’. With thatcomes a major lesson and that’s on good wickets, good players aregoing to hit you around.”That Morkel came back after lunch to create some chances was apositive. It made it all the more frustrating for the South Africancamp that he had Hughes dropped at slip by Kallis and missed out ontwo potential wickets when the third umpire fairly decided Katich hadnot edged behind and overturned Hussey’s lbw because it had pitchedfractionally outside the line.Throw in a dropped catch by Hashim Amla off Dale Steyn’s bowling and a missed opportunity in the first over after lunch when Katich edged Steyn through the second slip region that was vacant – an inexplicable decision so early in the game – andSouth Africa’s second session wasn’t looking much better than thefirst. Gradually the run rate eased and the odd wicket arrived butcenturies to Katich and Hughes and a stumps score of 303 for 4 meantit was clearly Australia’s day.A few wickets in the morning and South Africa might be back on task.The first step is to turn up at 10am bright and energetic. If theymake a slow and ineffective start on day two they may as well take aholiday because this match could quickly slip out of their reach.
