Key events
Spin column
I’ve written something on Marco Jansen, the allure of the all-rounder, and why genuine hybrids are so hard to find.
For your tea time reading pleasure:
Tea: Australia 191-4, trail by 138 runs in the first innings
54th over: Australia 191-4 (Inglis 5, Carey 1) A few overs ago, it was without doubt Australia’s session. Now it might be South Africa’s. Or at least it’s even. Or maybe it’s still Australia’s. Honestly, it’s so hard to say. It’s been that sort of Test. Marco Jansen’s double strike, along with this maiden, his third on the bounce, has swung the contest.
Inglis and Carey will resume after the break.
There really is no other sport quite like Test cricket, is there?
53rd over: Australia 191-4 (Inglis 5, Carey 1) Harmer is tidy until the last ball as he drags it down and Inglis climbs into a crisp cut shot that finds the rope at backward point. Australia will be desperate for these two to bed in until tea. Naturally, South Africa will hope for just the opposite.
52nd over: Australia 185-4 (Inglis 0, Carey 0) A wicket maiden for Jansen who has removed both set batters in the space of two overs. Great hands from Harmer in the slips as it hurried to him, and great back of a length bowling, but Green will be annoyed he had a little dangle at it. Carey, the new man, is beaten twice past his outside edge before he ducks under a bumper. This Test, this series, continues to see-saw.
WICKET! Green c Harmer b Jansen 65 (Australia 185-4)
JANSEN IS TURNING THIS TEST! Oh my word, what a cricketer! Back of a length from round the wicket into Green, he hits the deck hard and Green hangs the bat outside the off stump away from his body. It takes a thick edge towards Harmer at second slip who snaffles a low catch and doesn’t celebrate – a nod to the earlier catch that was given not out. Jansen has gone BANG, BANG! The old ‘one brings two’ cliche strikes again!
51st over: Australia 185-3 (Green 65, Inglis 0) Green gets a single, driven to Jansen’s left at mid-off. Harmer then gets four balls to Inglis who is playing off the back foot. There are a few ooohs from the South Africans, but Inglis looks in control.
50th over: Australia 184-3 (Green 64, Inglis 0) A wicket maiden opens the game up for the Saffas. Renshaw’s watch ends after 139 balls and it’s Marco Jansen, the world’s number ranked Test bowler and number one ranked Test all-rounder who ends it. The short ball bags another wicket in this match.
WICKET! Renshaw c Rickelton b Jansen 74 (Australia 184-3)
Marco has done it and that’s his 100th Test wicket! Wow, totally against the run of play! After five dot balls he digs another bumper in and Renshaw has a little nibble as he tries to steer this over the slip cordon. But it gets big on him and was perhaps too close to do so and it catches the merest of nicks. The original decision is not-out but the review shows a spike on the snickometer. South Africa have an opening.
A word for Renshaw, though. That is a heck of a knock at the top of the order.
49th over: Australia 184-2 (Renshaw 74, Green 64) Just a single from this Harmer set. Not sure what the plan is from South Africa here. I guess it’s just good old fashioned Test cricket. Who will blink first? Green uses his feet and is beaten in the flight, but his long legs and levers means he’s still able to smother the ball into the off side.
48th over: Australia 183-2 (Renshaw 73, Green 64) With the pitch offering very little, Jansen has to manifacture something on his own. A well directed yorker has Renshaw digging with a shovel, and he does well to keep it out and take a single through the leg side. Then Jansen bounces Green who looks uncomfortable, but he’s still there, unmoved and playing well. Two singles off that over.
47th over: Australia 181-2 (Renshaw 72, Green 63) Harmer changes ends but it remains pretty easy for the Aussies who rotate the strike without leaving second gear, taking six runs around the park; down the ground, down to deep point, off the pads. South Africa don’t look like taking a wicket. Then again, they didn’t earlier and went bang, bang, so they’ll want to hang tough.
46th over: Australia 175-2 (Renshaw 68, Green 61) Jansen lands a wicked bouncer from round the wicket to Green, making him leap and thwacking him on the body. There’s another bumper that follows but this time Green can duck inside the line. No leg slip or short leg though. South Africa haven’t quite for their fields right in my opinion, giving away simple singles and not quite attacking with enough intent. Green, though, is pretty tidy for the rest of the over, riding high and playing with soft hands.
Renshaw just looks a banker at the top of the order. But that doesn’t solve all of of Australia’s troubles, as least according to reader Patrick O’Brien:
How about this option: first innings Australia open with T B Determined and Renshaw, with Head at 5; second innings they open with T B Determined and Head, with Renshaw at 5.
I like the aggressive Head mixed with the watchful Renshaw, actually. I think they’ll do well to stick with that and allow others to come into the side in the middle order.
Bavuma must be keeping an eye on this blog because here comes Jansen.
45th over: Australia 174-2 (Renshaw 67, Green 61) Interesting to note that Jansen, the number one Test bowler in the world (although that Starc’s six-for might rejig that after the Test is done) has only bowled six overs. Wonder why. Anyway, Mulder continues. Round the wicket to Renshaw and gets one to hold on the surface and it pops up off the bat, but soft hands means it’s safe. A lovely on drive is well stopped by Rabada, keeping it to two. Those are the only runs until the last ball which sees Renshaw walk out his crease and across his stumps to flick a single down to long leg.
Rob Knapp writes in:
Twenty-four hours ago I wrote to you about this being a historic toss moment, thinking along Nasser/Brisbane lines. And Starc had been looking out of sorts, surely Boland would be better, etc. Well, today I have no opinions, no predictions, nothing. I’m just going to enjoy this, the best format of the game, the best two teams and one of the best locations. We should lap it all up while we can.
Amen.
44th over: Australia 171-2 (Renshaw 64, GReen 61) Another Harmer maiden, this time to Green. He’s doing his bit and controlling things from one end.
43rd over: Australia 171-2 (Renshaw 64, Green 61) Mulder continues. He’s looking to target the top of off as he did so well in the last Test. But the left hand, right hand combo, plus the height differential between the two batters means its tricky to find a consistent area. Also it’s sticking in the surface a bit more, rather than speed on. The name of the game for South Africa is patience. For Australia, its keep going. They rotate the strike well, particularly to the sweeper down at deep point. Renshaw then closes the set with a lovely steer down to deep third for four. These two look in total control as the partnership climbs to 113.
42nd over: Australia 163-2 (Renshaw 58, Green 59) Harmer delivers a teasing over, but Green is watchful and it ends with a maiden. Harmer has a massive role to play here. Starting to grip and bite a bit more.
Daniel Gallan
Thanks Geoff! Top stint mate. Particularly liked your “footballers are 28 until they’re 29” gag.
Righto, South Africa need to break this partnership. Can they do it sooner rather than later?
Geoff Lemon
41st over: Australia 163-2 (Renshaw 58, Green 59) So often a wicket after drinks, but not on Renshaw’s watch. Blocks out Mulder’s over assiduously. Loving this style of batting in the modern era: it’s like finding an antique Chesterfield stuffed down the back of Franco Cozzo’s showroom.
For every run that Green adds today, the intensity around that disallowed catch will ratchet up. Nothing is black and white in those scenarios, but for me that was out. You could say, it would have been entirely credible to give it out, and consistent with past decisions. There is third-umpire protocol, we know that, but I don’t even believe that is to blame, I think that’s just an error in reading the image.
That’s me done for the day, let’s see what Dan Gallan made of the Green review.
40th over: Australia 163-2 (Renshaw 58, Green 59) Again, a boundary from the last ball of the over. This time it’s Harmer who slips up, bowling towards the leg side, and that allows Green to help the ball on its way to fine leg. Australia have gone past South Africa’s opening partnership from yesterday, and this partnership has gone into triple figures. Drinks.
39th over: Australia 157-2 (Renshaw 57, Green 54) Mulder is back on the case, refreshed by a big bag of sunflower seeds. Very tidy for most of the over, but he slips full at the last, and Renshaw drives for four.
38th over: Australia 152-2 (Renshaw 53, Green 53) More singles from Harmer, as the stand approaches 100.
Half century! Green 50 from 65 balls, Renshaw 50 from 99 balls
37th over: Australia 149-2 (Renshaw 52, Green 51) Both players raise fifty in the same over, working Rabada around, which is not what you want from your premier quick. Too easy to rotate strike now. Bavuma tries to put some pressure on with a charging underarm at the stumps to deny Renshaw’s single, but is there a way to put more pressure on with field placings?
36th over: Australia 144-2 (Renshaw 49, Green 49) The runs keep flowing and the drama keeps coming. Renshaw now goes to town on Harmer, sweeping him for four, then glancing him finer for another boundary. But Harmer ends the over with a stunning delivery: off-break, around the wicket, drifting so far into the left-hander that it almost pitches outside his leg stump, then rips back to beat the outside edge and hit him on the back leg in front of middle. That has to be out! You would think… but the umpire doesn’t give it. Was he worried about where it pitched, or if it’s turning too much, or bouncing too much? It is high on that back leg. South Africa obviously review, and the ball-tracking says height is the issue: it’s possibly hitting a sliver of the bail, so it’s umpire’s call. The not-out decision stands.
35th over: Australia 136-2 (Renshaw 41, Green 49) What is going on here! Cameron Green has exploded, and Kagiso Rabada is in the blast zone. Short ball, hooked over square leg by Green, and the first one carries the rope there with nobody in side. Flat six. Second ball of the over, same again, this time higher on the bat and more hang time, and it goes just in front of square, but Ackerman leaping on the rope can’t get the elevation. It would have cleared a taller fielder, but not by much. Third ball, Rabada goes short again, and Green pulls him this time for four, through midwicket now, in the air as well but there’s a mile of empty space there. Rabada keeps bowling bouncers, and now Green ignores them, but the damage to the bowler is done. A fiddle at the short ball outside off stump ends the over.
34th over: Australia 120-2 (Renshaw 41, Green 33) Back and forth! Harmer comes on, bowls a peach first ball, then a stinker second ball. Beats Green’s outside edge, then feeds him a short one to belt for four through point. A single to follow, then Renshaw plays the Renshaw for two.
33rd over: Australia 113-2 (Renshaw 39, Green 28) Rabada with an uneventful five balls, not doing much with it and giving up a couple of singles, so he gets annoyed and bashes one into Green’s body to end the over. Fast bowler’s perogative. Green wears it without demur.
“Everyone does it now, so I’m not picking on you,” begins Michael Quinnell with an ominous glint in his text, “but where did this infuriating trend come from to summarise the game by stating that the side batting second is “trailing” when they haven’t yet competed their 1st innings. I’m sure someone today said ‘Australia are 0-0 at the start of play today, trailing by 329’. What utter nonsense! They cannot possibly be trailing until they are all out – if they pass the SA score with wickets in hand they would then be ‘leading’.”
It seems linguistically straightforward to me, Michael: the team batting second are trailing until they’re in front, in the same way that footballers are 28 until they’re 29.
If Australia are at some stage on 330 then they’ll be leading by one. If they’re on 328 they’ll be trailing by one. It’s not a permanent state while the innings is still live, and as you say, won’t be formalised until the innings is complete, but the relative state still exists in the moment.
I agree it’s redundant to give that number when a team is 0-0, but when partway through an innings, it’s relevant to know the batting team’s score in relation to the team that has already batted. Not sure how else to describe it.
32nd over: Australia 111-2 (Renshaw 38, Green 27) Smoked! Green uses all of Coetzee’s pace, striking the ball through point with a straight bat, just placing the blade there. All timing. Nasty bouncer is Coetzee’s riposte, Green getting under it like the BFG trying to come in for breakfast with the Queen. Bouncer again, and Green bends at the knees, trying to resist the urge to lift his gloves, but they were wavering up there, halfway there and then dragged back, skirmishes in a man at war with himself.
The partnership is worth 53.
31st over: Australia 107-2 (Renshaw 38, Green 23) Even Renshaw’s streaky boundaries are well played. Very softly met defensive shot facing Rabada, which kills the outside edge as it leaves the bat, and sees it roll sweetly to the rope through that cordon gap that has been profitable for Australia today. That luck is followed up with two intentional runs, with what is quickly becoming the Renshaw signature of the tuck off his pads, like old-school Steve Smith without the line-dancing preface.
Huge reprieve from the third umpire
30th over: Australia 99-2 (Renshaw 31, Green 22) This will raise the same old debates, and Harmer will be filthy about the decision made here. Cam Green survives a big edge to slip, pace from Coetzee, high on the bat, and the ball heads down and to the right of Simon Harmer at second slip. He gets down to it, ends up with the ball in his hands, and immediately launches into a celebration. He took a couple of wonderful catches in Gqeberha, and knows what he’s doing in that position, so his confidence means something in this situation.
Green, though, stands his ground, and the referral goes up to Umpire Gaffaney in the box. He says that Harmer’s hands are apart as the ball approaches, and that he thinks the ball has hit the ground. I don’t agree with that at all. We know the problems with front-on cameras having deceptive results. From here it looks like a common case of the ball landing on Harmer’s fingertips as they lie on the ground, and from there bouncing up into the palms.
That’s the decision, though. Will it hurt South Africa, or can they conjure another wicket-taking ball?
29th over: Australia 99-2 (Renshaw 31, Green 22) Here’s Rabada, at last. It doesn’t start to well for him, though, cut for four by Green, then flicked gracefully off the pads by Renshaw. Give him an over to warm up, ok.
Here’s Eamonn Maloney. “I think last Test after 99 all out you said something to the effect that the Australian psyche cannot compute abject failure. The foreseeable future looks a notch or two better than that at least, perhaps call it studied mediocrity – so are we really much better at tolerating that? How did the fans look on the deeds of the sometimes ok-ish teams of the early to mid 80s? Once Smith is gone our best might be Head for a few years, averaging 42, blazing the odd ton, while a succession of Shield battlers are tried and discarded, and there’ll be a Rodney Hogg or two come through to replace the bowling greats, probably no one to match their feats though…”
Australians won’t take it well! People older than my vintage, who remember that era, still talk about a very poor years in the mid-80s like they were a source of generational trauma. So painful were those years to Australians that they fired Allan Border’s furious determination into building the era of dominance that followed, picked up by Mark Taylor, then Steve Waugh, then Ricky Ponting. The intensity of Australian players through that later era was all fuelled by remembering a brief time when the team was not very good. Not dismal, just not great.
It was a little similar between about 2008 and 2012, perhaps, with some middling sides turning out. People hated that, too. Remember the Argus Review?
I think the upcoming bowling ranks are looking pretty good. Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson, Jumping Jhye, Lance Morris, Riley Meredith, Callum Vidler, Mahli Beardman, several more quicks besides, along with a few spinners, surely Australia can get some decent attacks out of that batch even with injuries and franchise demands. The batting, though, may be as you say.
28th over: Australia 90-2 (Renshaw 27, Green 17) Coetzee to start up after lunch, and if that’s with the intention of bouncing Green, then it’s a bad choice because Renshaw is on strike. He soaks up the whole over, leaving where possible, ducking bouncers, squeezing out a yorker. Looks an opener.
Play is about to resume in Cape Town.
“It does seem that Head’s primary mode of dismissal is played on,” writes Tom Barrington. “Is there any data out there that could show how many times he’s got out like this, and compare this to other players and modes of dismissal?”
Certainly easy enough to track his percentage of dismissals bowled, and to split those by different periods of his career, because he didn’t used to get out that way so often. I don’t quite have time to run the numbers mid-blog, but someone else is welcome to do the Statsguru bit and email me.
“When Trav’s in the mood, doing ‘Trav things’ as they say, it is quite easy to forget Test cricket is quite hard,” writes Gervase Greene. “Yes, there’s some of the ‘see ball, hit ball’ about him, but he still manages to look like a bloke who wouldn’t mind a beer if this lark oddly ends a little bit prematurely. In this era of sometimes beige Mac-Cricket, he really is quite the original.”
A lot of that is why people want to see him open, because it’s fun that he walks out there and doesn’t care for convention. Fun when it works, not strategic long-term.
There was a fair bit of Travis Head correspondence during the first session, so let’s have a look. Starting with Michael Hall regarding the first-wicket stand. “South Africa didn’t bowl badly but Australia took their chances well. Is this the opening partnership the Australians have been looking for?”
I’m still not sold on Head opening, simply on the basis of probability: he’s such a proven damaging player in the middle order, and playing him up top means that he’s more likely to get out cheaply more often. You’ll get more bang for buck from him by playing him where it’s safer to bat, and using someone more defensively capable where it isn’t.
Yes, he has some amazing opening innings, but a lot of those were beating up a broken England attack that was tailor made to feed runs to that style of player. And it doesn’t help a team if their opener regularly makes low scores when conditions are tough batting first. You need someone who’ll survive that.
In short, you get value from him opening, but probably more if he were in the middle behind a good opening pair.
Lunch – Australia 90 for 2, trail in the first innings by 239
Another eventual session, though of a different type to yesterday. We had 27 overs bowled on day one, and the same on day two, but South Africa were 140 without loss from theirs. Australia a more modest 90 for 2, though Travis Head was threatening that 140 when he was up and running.
But he’s gone, couldn’t go large today, and if there is to be a big score, it will have to come via the Matt Renshaw method, one of patient accumulation. Green can play that way as well, but him getting his tempo and concentration right on return to this arena will be the challenge.
They missed a trick not having Rabada bowl to Green at the start, surely he must do so right after lunch.
27th over: Australia 90-2 (Renshaw 27, Green 17) Jansen to finish off the session, with Renshaw again collecting a single into the leg side. Green might have considered defending his way to lunch, but instead he crushes the last ball of the session for four! Huge cover drive, very wide of the stumps but if anyone has the reach, he’s the one. Cannoned to the fence. Different reaction if he’d edged that to slip or hit it to the cover fielder! It was in the air…
26th over: Australia 85-2 (Renshaw 26, Green 13) Coetzee replaces Harmer, double change. Beats Renshaw’s outside edge, then gives up a glanced single. The plan might be for Coetzee to bump Green, but he doesn’t get the chance, first ball at his hip and it’s knocked away for a run. Same again for Renshaw gives Coetzee two more balls at Green, potentially. And he does use one to go short! Fierce short ball at throat height, Green uses all of his height to get his gloves right over it and drop it safely away, but that would not have been fun. Coetzee’s last ball strays down leg, beating everyone for four byes.
25th over: Australia 78-2 (Renshaw 24, Green 12) Now we have Jansen, who only bowled four overs this morning, back for another burst. Strays on the legs twice, worked for singles.
24th over: Australia 76-2 (Renshaw 23, Green 11) A couple of runs for Renshaw, driving Harmer uppishly through point. “Ohh my f***!” screams a South African fielder, loudly captured by the stump mic, sending the commentary box into frantic flailing.
23rd over: Australia 73-2 (Renshaw 21, Green 10) Another edge from Green facing Mulder, and this time it nets the batter four runs, past the second slip into the gap to gully. Mulder is annoyed, smashes a bouncer into the pitch, so fiercely that it clears the wicketkeeper, but first slip makes an unusual intervention by saving four extras! Dives across to pluck the ball one-handed. So the umpire calls a wide, but not the extras that would have come from the ball reaching the boundary. Mulder overcorrects for the next ball, and Green drives that for four.
22nd over: Australia 63-2 (Renshaw 21, Green 1) Harmer continues, and Renshaw scores a run from the first ball, worked into the leg side, before Green gets off the mark from the sixth in similar fashion.
21st over: Australia 61-2 (Renshaw 20, Green 0) You’d get Rabada or Jansen back on to target Green, wouldn’t you? New to the fight, new to the middle, but now probably the key player if he gets in? Neither of them bowled a lengthy spell up top. Mulder it is, however, and from his bowling Renshaw finally moves off 17! He drives a couple of runs through cover, then adds a single the same way. Green immediately nicks a defensive push, but at Mulder’s pace it doesn’t carry to slip.
