Comedy, carnage, and great for cricket

Australia was routed for one of its lowest ever totals on the second day of the First Test at Sahara Park. It was a great day for cricket.

One of the most objectionable aspects of match-fixing is that it imposes pre-determined actions and outcomes. Cricket, like every sport, relies on unpredictability for its interest. On this day Australia's opening batsman took the most wickets, its number 11 scored the most second innings runs, the tenth wicket partnership more than doubled the Australian total, and parts of all four innings occurred in the space of about five hours. You don't want to see that sort of topsy-turvy craziness in every match, but as a one-off it made for glorious entertainment.

Those of us who sat down to watch the start of the second day's play thought the big story would be Michael Clarke. He played the best innings of his career, proving that the pressure of captaincy has not negatively affected his batting. Sub-plots at that point included the stoic resistance of Peter Siddle, South Africa's continuing difficulty with erasing tailenders, and the unimpressive bowling of the host nation's latest spin hope.

When South Africa's innings began the sub-plot was the failure of the Australian seamers to get the ball to deviate before lunch. Then Shane Watson was introduced for the first over on resumption and immediately took two wickets – Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis, no less. Suddenly Ryan Harris started wobbling the ball from the other end and the hosts collapsed in precipitate fashion, losing their last nine wickets for 47 in just over an hour. With nine down they were facing the follow-on; Clarke was spared a tough decision when it was narrowly averted.

Watson took five wickets in his first 21 balls. So dominant was Australia that Clarke removed Watto from the attack to try to boost the confidence of Mitchell Johnson with a late wicket, a plan wrecked by Harris. The sub-plots here were the inability of the South Africans to cover the moving ball, the potency of Watson and Harris compared to Johnson and Siddle, and the number of times decisions were referred for review.

Across the day, no less than nine decisions were sent upstairs, with the umpires being shown to be wrong more often than not. Yet another sub-plot was the wilting confidence of the umps, and their seeming disgruntlement at having to reverse decisions made on the field.

Australia's second inning will live in infamy. At 9/21 the all-time record lowest Test score was threatening. Only the hit-and-hope endeavours of the final pair allowed Australia to creep to 47, still its worst Test total in more than a century.

Much will be made of the poor stroke play of some of the Australians. Clarke himself, after the match, said 'our shot selection was disgraceful', but this is only part of the story. Mike Hussey was a serious offender. His first ball was also the first ball after tea, and he waved at a wider delivery to be caught in slips. Some will pillory Johnson, but at least he played a genuine cricket shot and was a touch unlucky to steer his cut to Amla at gully.

The man who should be excoriated was Brad Haddin. In the first innings he was out to a ridiculous shot, but his effort in the second dig was worse. He wandered three or four paces down the pitch and attempted a cross-bat heave to leg, succeeding only in giving a catch to his counterpart behind the stumps. It was a shot so irresponsible, so inexplicable, that perhaps he needs gentleness rather than criticism. It looked like a man signing his resignation note from the team. Damien Martyn paid a heavy price for playing a stupid shot in a Test against South Africa. Haddin should too.

As ever on this most remarkable day, sub-plots were multitudinous. Ricky Ponting was out in identical fashion to the first innings, falling so far across his stumps that his leg pole was exposed. His head-shaking disagreement with the video decision to send him on his way did not disguise the fact that he is struggling. Phil Hughes was dropped once en route to nine and looks a perpetual candidate for catches behind the wicket. Shaun Marsh batted eighth drop because of a back injury. This problem has already cost him and his country in international fixtures. Could it threaten his career?

Vernon Philander, on debut, bowled a superb line and did enough off the deck to capture 5/15 and eight scalps for the match. Apart from a cynical bouncer from Morne Morkel which almost decapitated Australian number eleven Nathan Lyon, bowlers from both sides simply pitched the ball on a good length and let the pitch and the batsmen do the rest during the middle innings. The pitch was not easy, but it is the same deck on which Clarke made 150-odd.

Australia could yet win this Test. South Africa still needs 155 runs; the visitors need nine wickets. However, whichever way the game is decided, this has been a restatement of sport's pleasures. Only Test cricket can provide such a serpentine narrative. The spotlight of the long-format game found the mentality of many batsmen wanting. Certainly there were some loose shots, but mainly it was a collective collapse of confidence by each batting team that caused such chaos.

On a manic day, it was instructive to watch the tough approach of Graeme Smith as he opened the final innings. He shortened his backswing, played straight, and defied the Australian quicks to dig him out. At this point he looms as a hero for the home side – but if he falls having made a solid start, he could be the scapegoat.

We can only hope the third day provides even a fraction of the drama of day two. At this point, scheduling a two-Test series rather than three or more looks like folly, because sport this good deserves a bigger canvas.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of BigPond Sport.

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