South Africa vs Australia, 2nd Test Preview: Resumption of the battle

A game of cricket ceases to be one when the twenty-two yard strip bears mute witness to action and drama toned with punch and panache of extreme intensities unknown to man. The stage is set: a battlefield of a pitch, the base of many a bloodshed. A frisson of excitement is concomitant with an ocean of adrenaline that transforms players into irate warriors, armed with an urge to strangle, trample and pulverise the eleven men in the adjoining dug out, hurling them to ignominy. As the Proteas brush up their battered armoury and spruce up their demolished kinsmen, what requires an impeccable resurrection is their blemished and bruised confidence.

South Africa:

Graeme Smith needs to do better for South Africa to make a comeback

Before embarking on a dour analysis of the Centurion laceration, it would do a world of good to bear in mind a plaintive reality. South Africa it is, the team under the scanner; the men who ruled the cricketing world for their on-field exploits, a no-nonsense approach in pursuit of unparalleled excellence being their identity. It was a reign spanning over a good three and a half years. World cricket in general and Test cricket in particular, the proteas have been the men to beat. True, the defeat was as humbling and discomfiting as one would witness, but excessive reading between the lines is pretty loony and downright dilatory. A push seldom results in the fall of the mighty, and hence it is not an unrecoverable one by any stretch of imagination.

But, there indeed are a few evident issues protruding out a mile, few chinks in the proteas’ armour. When you are beaten fair and square, best bite the bullet. As has been the narrative prior to and throughout the Centurion essay, Mitchell Johnson has been the standout, the wrecker-in-chief, the most tangible difference between the sides. Find a way to chop off the Aussies’ canine – Johnson it is – and the proteas are half way through. The top order needs to pull up its socks: no codswallop there.

Graeme Smith is yet to produce an innings of substance after that magnificent double hundred in the sand dunes of the middle-east. The skipper needs to tighten up his game for others to follow suit. The longer he stays at the crease the better. Ward of the Johnson bull, runs are there to be milked. Smith has to stand his ground through the barrage of short, searing stuff and yet not let his barricade be breached. Tough, but without Smith standing up and being counted on, the top order resembles a dog’s breakfast. Amla should and in all probability will hold his ground, but without the stentorian Kallis as an able ally, he needs support. The absence of Kallis magnifies the magnitude of Graeme Smith’s responsibility with the willow, multifold.

Alviro Petersen, the poor bloke was confused and confounded by the calamitous pill of pace he was subjected to. He looked a terrified bunny to be bullied by the beast. He can be expected to be given another run after being a part and parcel of the Proteas success formula for a considerable amount of time. But Petersen remains, as he ever was, the weakest link in the South African line up. Whether he can emerge from that carapace and stamp down his authority remains to be seen. AB de Villiers remains the fall back man at crucial, pulsating junctures along with Faf Du Plessis, but expecting them to perform a Houdini, time and again, is akin to extrapolating the impossible to the heights of impracticality. Still, De Villiers is in fine form, and continuation of the same is mandatory for the Proteas to harbour any hopes of a recovery.

The bowling presents a blend of proven world class performers; the best the world has witnessed in recent times. Steyn, perfect as he is, has the potential to be doubly dangerous if he injects a dose of intimidation into his game, stuff more found on the Johnson lane. He is the spearhead, the leader of the pack, not the workhorse by any means. The same logic goes for the mortal giant by the name of Morne Morkel.

Ryan McLaren, the all-rounder has been ruled out post the bloodshed at Supersport Park. If the Proteas are to go for a like-for-like replacement, then, that Wayne Parnell is the man is a no brainer. They have the option of including Dean Elgar to strengthen the lower middle order, but frankly speaking, squeezing in Elgar would hardly beef up the batting, as the guy neither brings in the counter attacking flair nor the technical prowess to take the game to the Aussie camp. An out of the way, though not totally outlandish option is to go with an all pace attack by roping in Rory Kleindvelt for Rob Peterson, relying on JP Duminy to send down his occasional tweakers.

But there are no qualms in the fact that unless the batting puts up a considerably improved performance, the Proteas are set for more nightmarish misery at the moustached menace’s mercy.

Australia:

Mitchell Johnson – Enough said!

Talk about a side on a roll. The Aussies have backed up backyard bullying of the Poms with squeezing the life out of the world number one team on foreign shores. In a team swaddled by success and brimming with performers, there has to be the problem of plenty. Too many pairs of feet for a pair of boots. Alex Doolan’s debut was more than just convincing, to say the least. Shaun Marsh dazzled with a career best display, carting bowlers around the park with disdain. Shane Watson, Australia’s poster pin up man with his multi-disciplined talents and varied skill sets finds himself in a spot of bother.

For Watson to force his way in, either Doolan or Marsh need to warm the bench, which is fair on the grounds of seniority but thoroughly unfair on the basis of natural justice with sheer performance being the basis. They say, the solution to the problem lies in the problem itself. Watson’s inclusion and the accompanying conundrum has been put to rest temporarily, courtesy the injury which was manifested by his constant limping while accomplishing drinks carrying duties at the Supersport park. If Watson’s inclusion does happen and at the expense of either Marsh or Doolan, it will be the most disgusting and distasteful discourse of ill luck in recent times.

Chris Rogers, for all the Ashes success he had, failed with all pomp in both the innings of the first test. Though talented, the guy is rendered prostrate at times, a result of more illustrious and ostentatious colleagues waiting in the wings. He needs to perform; parsimonious returns are not going to leverage his life at the top of the order. For the simple reason that he is not your impact player like a Warner or a Watson.

That Aussies are going to field the same eleven is a layman’s guess unless Watson barges his way in. A team of dreams, a captain oozing the Australian aggression, an ensemble of bowlers with the might to spook teams and witch hunt its victims. The world is getting more than a glimpse into the Aussies of the old – the predators of the last decade of the twentieth century.

All said and done, that this contest will be as excruciating and nail biting a one as you will see is a fact in all surety. The Aussie juggernaut is on, the Mitch Johnson show is running to full houses, putting up carnage of sides and steamrolled oppositions on display, but write off the Proteas at your own peril. Battle scarred warriors resemble wounded tigers on prowl. Provoke it, dent its pride, smash its ego, and victimise yourself to be vanquished by its might.