Clarke should aim for 350 not out, at least

 
Spiro Zavos Columnist

By , 5 Jan 2012 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

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Clarke should aim for 350 not out, at least + enlarge image

Michael Clarke leads Australia looking for a clean sweep over India at Adelaide Oval.

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Michael Clarke played one of the great innings at the SCG, on the second day of the second Test against India. He is not out 251 after starting the day on 47. He has faced 341 balls, hit 31 fours and a six, and has batted forcefully and elegantly throughout the entire day.

This is a rare feat in modern Test cricket.

After the first day’s play when 13 wickets fell the pundits were talking about T(20)est cricket, a game of bashing batting and the regular tumble of wickets. This new form of Test cricket is so fast-moving that spectators do not have time for Mexican Waves before the next wicket falls.

Now, though, on the second day we have the fall of only one wicket in an entire day’s play. At this sort of pace the game might have to go on for a couple of weeks to get a result. Of course, this won’t happen when India bat. They should be so tired that they capitulate as they did in their first innings.

Clarke’s innings, for all its flair and shot-making, was nearly chanceless. There was hardly a false stroke. There was a ruthlessness, too, about Clarke’s batting. One in 10 balls he faced was dismissed to or over the boundary.

And for those of us who enjoy the aesthetics of cricket, there was hardly an ungainly stroke either. This was batting in the NSW tradition of elegant and beautiful batting, the method of Victor Trumper and Archie Jackson. These two players are the paragons of the NSW method of batting that was carried on through to Alan Kippax, Stan McCabe, Ian Craig, Richie Benaud, and in modern times to Mark Waugh.

From virtually the first ball he faced, Clarke was on the front foot driving elegantly and powerfully through the field. Beauty and ruthlessness in the one package.

Remember that Clarke came in to bat towards the end of the first day when Australia was 3 for 37 and poised on the brink of yet another collapse. But bold stroke-making from Clarke, particularly, and from Ricky Ponting (134 off 225 balls) to a lesser extent, has pulled the game away from India.

As he made his weary but ebullient way off the field, Clarke was interviewed by Mark Nicholas. He said two interesting things. First, he felt that Australia needed a lead of at least 350 runs. Second, that his main consideration was not amassing a personal record batting score but winning the game.

What he didn’t say, but was implied in these comments, is that he has batted Australia into a position where he can achieve a personal milestone of scoring, say, 350 runs before having to declare. Australia is currently 271 runs in front. If Clarke takes his total to somewhere near 350, his side will be nearly 450 in front.

This might seem to be an excessive lead. But this Test now is more about time than runs as far as Australia is concerned. The longer Clarke  can leave India on the field during the third day, the better his team will be placed to achieve a second victory in the series, and victories in the third ans fourth Tests.

The point here is that only two days of the Test have been played. There are three days to go. It would be foolish to expose the Australian bowlers to the possibility (slight though it might be but possible if say Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar make 100s) of three days bowling to dismiss India. If they can’t dismiss India in five sessions (which allows for a declaration at tea time today), then so be it. This is more than enough time to dismiss any side.

Batting on, if possible, to tea time would allow a couple of hours of intense bowling by the three-man Australian pace attack on day three, to be followed by an overnight rest and another assault on the fourth morning. By the fourth day, too, the pitch should begin to crack up and offer a better chance to Nathan Lyon take wickets with his off-spinners.

Another reason for batting on is that this will prolong the agony the Indian attack is enduring in the Test. Australia had to bowl only 59 overs in India’s first innings. The Indian bowlers have already had to bowl 116. Three of the bowlers have conceded a century: Zaheer Khan (3 for 106), Ravi Ashwin (0 for 103) and Ishant Sharma (1 for 106). Umesh Yadav (0 for 96) is coming close behind them.

Keep these bowlers out on the field for four more hours if possible, and let the Indian old-timer batting stars get leg-weary and frustrated chasing balls to the boundary. These are the tactics to win a five-day Test, and a series with two more Tests to play and win. The bowlers will feel like flogged horses trying to get up for the next Test, and the batsmen will be tired of limb and mind.

This is hardly the right mental attitude to take to the task of trying to bat out two days against a pumped-up Australian bowling attack on a wearing pitch.

The situation Clarke finds himself in is that he can kill off India as slowly and as painfully (to them) as he likes.

And he has all the time in the world to score virtually as many runs as he wants to, provided he is good enough to push on and on in his run chase.

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