da doce： With an Ashes tour coming up during the Australian winter, now is the perfect time for the likes of North, Hughes, Hilfenhaus and McDonald to completeirresistible auditions
da betano casino： Brydon Coverdale at the Wanderers02-Mar-2009
Each of the three Australian debutants – Marcus North, Phillip Hughes and Ben Hilfenhaus – played their part in the win © Getty Images
As Australia neared victory on the final afternoon at the Wanderers,Ricky Ponting stood at second slip and surveyed the men closest to him. The cordon was made up of Ponting, the debutants Marcus North and Phillip Hughes, and also Andrew McDonald, who was playing his second Test. Even the wicketkeeper Brad Haddin was less than a year into hisTest career.For anyone who hadn’t fully comprehended the magnitude of change inAustralian cricket over the past few months, it was a telling image.Barely a year ago, the same positions would have been occupied by AdamGilchrist and Matthew Hayden, and going back a further 12 months,Shane Warne and Justin Langer.Also scattered around the field were the debutant fast bowler BenHilfenhaus and Peter Siddle, who was in his fifth Test. When MitchellJohnson fired in a full one that bowled Dale Steyn, Ponting collectedthe stumps and distributed them among his new colleagues. Each of themdeserved a reward. Whereas Ponting spoke of the team’s “passengers”during the series in Australia, every player contributed inJohannesburg.Of the debutants, North’s 117 in the first innings was the standout.Hughes’ fighting 75 in the second innings was also important andHilfenhaus did what he was asked to do – he ran in hard all day, swungthe ball and collected three wickets for the game, including the keybreakthroughs of Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher in the second innings.Each of their efforts pleased Ponting but none shocked him.”I’m not surprised that Hilfenhaus came in and bowled well because Iknow what he’s capable of,” Ponting said. “I’m not surprised thatHughes came in and made runs because he’s been making runs for thelast couple of years in domestic cricket in Australia. I’m notsurprised that North did because he’s an experienced player that hasfaced his own challenges in a very high domestic competition inAustralia.”I’m not surprised by what they’ve achieved. Now it’s a matter ofthose guys being able to do it again next week. That’s what Testcricket is all about. You don’t get the luxury of having a couple ofweeks between games to get yourself prepared again. It’s aboutbouncing back in a couple of days.”There are several men back in Australia who will be watching withinterest to see how the fresh faces respond after their opening win.Stuart Clark, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson would allhave been in the starting line-up in Johannesburg had they been fit.If the new boys can continue to thrive at the highest level, there isno guarantee that there will be places for the more experienced menlater this year.
Injured stars like Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds can’t expect to walk right back into the XI © Getty Images
Clark is a must-pick but Australia will learn more over the next fewweeks about how much they really need the out-of-form Lee, theill-disciplined Symonds and the injury-prone Watson. With an Ashestour coming up during the Australian winter, now is the perfect timefor the likes of North, Hughes, Hilfenhaus and McDonald to completeirresistible auditions.But for all the hype the Ashes will bring, the past four Tests haveshown just how highly South Africa-Australia contests deserve to berated. For the second time in successive Tests these sides have takenthe match into the final session of the fifth day and ended with aresult. The Perth and Melbourne Tests that came before weren’t overbefore lunch on the last day.The battles have been so tight and unpredictable that with a day toplay in Johannesburg, few onlookers were prepared to confidently tip awinner. At a time when Tests in the West Indies and Pakistan havefeatured such high totals that draws appear inevitable, the SouthAfrica-Australia bouts have been immeasurably valuable for a five-dayformat that is trying to hold its place as the game’s pre-eminentstyle.One of the reasons Test cricket may have lost some popularity over thepast decade was the fact that Australia dominated so comprehensively.Since the days of Mark Taylor’s captaincy they have been underdogs asoften as the Harlem Globetrotters. That they flew into South Africa afortnight ago without being favourites was a major shift in the game’sfoundations.That they won the opening Test with one of their least experiencedteams in 20 years is good for cricket. Fierce and even competitionbetween the world’s top teams can only be positive for the game. Thechallenge for Australia’s young squad now is to prove that theirdisplay was not a one-off.
