Caribbean Times 30th Issue - Monday 7th November 2016

16 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g
Monday 7th November 2016
South Africa make big strides towards victory
PERTH - 0%. Zero. No chance. None
at all. That, according to Australia’s Bureau
of Meteorology, is the likelihood of
rain in Perth on Monday. Coincidentally,
it is also the chance of Australia winning
the WACA Test and, thanks to that forecast,
their hopes of escaping with a draw
are not much higher. By stumps on day
four, a South Africa victory was all but
assured. It was a day of great South African
entertainment, most notably fielding
magic from Temba Bavuma and bowling
brilliance from Kagiso Rabada.
Perhaps the least surprising element
of the day was the decision of Faf du
Plessis to delay his declaration, allow
his lower order to provide some entertainment
with late lusty blows, and grind
Australia down further and further.
For more than nine years - until the
tour of India last November - South Africa
had not lost a Test series away from
home. At the heart of this remarkable feat
was a certain conservatism, a determination
first not to lose, and only then to
consider winning.
So when du Plessis had his lower order
bat on and on, their lead passing 400,
then 450, then 500, and nearing 550, it
was not a great shock. He also had to
factor in the absence of his best and most
experienced bowler Dale Steyn, who suffered
a serious shoulder injury earlier in
the match.
With that in mind, you could understand
why he would set Australia 539, requiring
them not only to break the record
for the highest successful Test chase, but
to break it by more than 100 runs.
By stumps, they were 4 for 169,
still 370 runs adrift of their target, with
only the wicketkeeper and bowlers still
to come. Usman Khawaja was well set
on 58, but will need to re-establish his
innings on the fifth morning. Mitchell
Marsh, under pressure to justify his
ongoing position in a Test top six, was
on 15. The ball was jagging off cracks,
jumping, staying low, spinning - doing
all the things that make batting most difficult.
Australia’s task was monumental.
South Africa have dominated the past
three days at the WACA, a most impressive
accomplishment given the injury to
their spearhead before that ascendancy
really began. But the rest have displayed
true Steyn-less steel, which has only added
to the gloss of their performance.
In Australia’s second innings it was
Rabada who stepped up, dismissing
Shaun Marsh, Steven Smith and Adam
Voges, to finish the day with 3 for 49. He
also had Khawaja dropped at slip.
But first came Bavuma’s breathtaking
run-out of David Warner, the one man
who, because of his recent form and his
incredible record at the WACA, might
have made Australia believe in a possible
win had he stayed at the crease for a few
hours.
Warner had 35 at better than a run a
ball when he pushed a Rabada delivery
to cover and Bavuma, fielding at point,
raced to the ball and then in one fluid action
picked up, dived and threw down the
stumps at the bowler’s end.
Perhaps Bavuma is secretly a Rhodes
scholar - a Jonty Rhodes scholar, that is
- for there was more than a hint of that
illustrious predecessor in this effort. Such
was the surprise of the feat that Warner
appeared not to be stretching to his full
capacity to make his ground, perhaps believing
nobody could possibly do what
Bavuma did. Bavuma was even too
quick for the umpire Aleem Dar, who had
not had time to take an optimal side-on
position.
It was a key moment, though to call it
match-turning would be unfair to South
Africa’s outstanding work of the previous
two-and-a-half days. Match-turning
would have been if Warner had batted on
until stumps and reached 150 at a run a
ball. Bavuma’s effort, brilliant though it
was, simply ensured the match was not
carried off in some unforeseen direction
by Warner. South Africa had been on top,
and Bavuma kept them there.
Then came the reward for Rabada,
Kagiso Rabada took 3 for 49 on the fourth
afternoon
who, later in the same over had Shaun
Marsh caught at second slip for 15. Australia
had tumbled from 0 for 52 to 2 for
52 within one over, and briefly the score
was 3 for 52 in the next over when Khawaja
was given out caught behind off
Keshav Maharaj first ball, only to be reprieved
on review when the third umpire
found the ball had brushed the flap of his
pad rather than his bat as he played back
to cut.
Still, the momentum was all with
South Africa, and a 92-run stand between
Khawaja and Smith did little to change
that. Rabada was the man who broke that
partnership, his persistent fourth-stump
line and ability to nibble the ball around
finally accounting for Smith, who drove
outside off and tickled a catch behind for
34. Adam Voges followed in similar fashion
in Rabada’s next over.
Rabada should also have had Khawaja
caught behind on 41, a thick edge
flying between the wicketkeeper and
first slip. Hashim Amla moved low to his
right and grassed the chance, but Quinton
de Kock could have made it comfortably
had he chosen to move to his left. Instead,
Khawaja was given a life and went on to
bring up his half-century, off precisely
100 deliveries.
But then, a solitary fifty wasn’t much
good to Australia. South Africa had four
batsmen who passed that milestone in
cont’d on pg 15