SCG’s 100th Test is forever the Michael Clarke Test

 
Spiro Zavos Columnist

By , 7 Jan 2012 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

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SCG’s 100th Test is forever the Michael Clarke Test + enlarge image

Australia's cricket captain Michael Clarke celebrates. AP Photo/Rob Griffith

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Around 1.30 on the fourth day of the Australia-India Test at the SCG, Richie Benaud turned to his fellow Channel 9 commentators, Ian Chappell and Mark Taylor, all of them long-term and splendid captains of Australia, and said: “I’ve got a question for you”.

“Is a draw or an Australian victory the only possible result this Test can have?”

At the time of the question, Sachin Tendulkar (74 not out) was batting on, remorselessly and sometimes brilliantly, towards what seemed to be an inevitable century.

And VVS (for Peter Roebuck, the initials meant ‘Very Very Special) Laxman was making batting and fast scoring look as easy as downing a cold beer on a scorching day. Laxman was on 57 and looked to be likely to get to his century before Tendulkar, so efficiently was he accumulating runs.

India were 208 in arrears.

The Test had more than a day and half of play yet to run.

The point of Benaud’s question was that if the two Indian champions got away from the Australian bowling attack, Australia might have been confronted with an awkward little chase on the last day and on a turning, wearing wicket.

At the heart of the question, too, was the implication that Michael Clarke had declared too early on the third day and had left India with the remotest of chances of actually winning the Test.

And who knows whether Australia’s strong batting of the first two days would have emerged once more, or if the wobbles might have set in as they did at Hobart, if there had been a bit of chase on the fifth day.

At the time of the question there were 8 overs to go before the second new ball.

Michael Clarke was bowling his left-arm slingers rather than spinners. With his casual run-up and his tendency to roll the ball out of his fingers rather than spin it out, he resembled the Biblical lilies in the field “who toiled not, neither do they spin.”

Then one perfectly delivered ball did spin.

Tendulkar played an exaggerated and hard-handed defensive shot. The ball was edged. Brad Haddin, whose wicket-keeping was more in the vein of wicked-keeping, managed to deflect the catch he should have snaffled to Michael Hussey at first slip.

As the great Tendulkar trudged his way back to the pavilion, Benaud’s question became irrelevant.

It was now inevitable that India was going to be bowled out. Moreover, Clarke decision to declare earlier than the experts thought he should have was proven to be exactly right.

Michael Clarke has now effectively entrenched himself as the next long term Australian captain with his efforts in this Test. He is likely, in my opinion, to be compared with Benaud, Chappell (I), and Taylor as in the top tier of captains at the end of his stint as skipper if he can continue to display the leadership panache and skill he showed at the SCG’s 100th Test match.

The timing of Australia’s declaration, I think, provides a revealing insight into his qualities as a captain.

There was a case, which I made in The Roar after the second day’s play, of batting on at least until well after afternoon tea on the third day. This would have given the Australian bowlers six sessions and about an hour in which to dismiss India in their second innings.

Kerry O’Keefe, who has a shrewd cricketing brain which is disguised sometimes by the cackling laugh and tall stories, told his fellow radio commentators that he felt Australia would bat on until the side was dismissed as there was so much time left to play in the match.

As it happened, this approach could never have been taken because India struggled to take more any more wickets after Ricky Ponting was dismissed.

Clarke waited until Hussey got his milestone of 150 and then as the drinks came out, about an hour before afternoon tea, he suddenly declared.

The beauty of this declaration was that with a lead of 458, even despite the Benaud scenario, it was unlikely India could post a total of 600 runs to embarrass Australia into a collapse.

It was apparent, too, that Clarke wanted to give his fresh bowlers two cracks at the leg-weary Indian batsmen, before and after tea, on the third day. And then another crack at them after a night’s rest the next day.

As it happened, the bowlers picked up Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid on the third day.

Sehwag’s wicket might be attributed to the fact that he had been over-bowled by MS Dhoni who was trying to rest his faster bowlers for the Perth Test at the end of next week.

There was also the factor that the Indian batsmen knew they had to bat out the best part of seven sessions in order to get even a draw. This was a mental hurdle that in the end destroyed their determination to make a game of the Test.

How can you make a game out of a situation in which you can’t realistically hope to snatch a win or even a draw?

Clarke built on this initial break-through on the third day with a fine display of attacking and thoughtful captaincy on the fourth day. Almost always he had the right bowlers on at the right time with the right fields.

This is something that could not have been said about, say, Ricky Ponting’s captaincy.

The point here is that the SCG pitch on the second, third and fourth days was a batting paradise. Australia lost only four wickets on this pitch in the entire match.

How many winning sides have lost as few wickets as this in a Test? Someone will know the answer to this. But, at the same time, India with a top five regarded as one of the best in the history of Test cricket, lost 20 wickets inside of four day’s play.

Clarke’s contribution with the bat, 329, represents the highest score ever amassed in a Test at the SCG. This statistic alone is enough, without the superb captaincy to ensure the memory of ‘Clarke’s Test.’

But then he brought himself on to bowl in the twilight zone period when the fast bowlers were being rested before being given their chance with the second new ball.

Clarke bowled 9 overs for 22 runs and dismissed Tendulkar. This was the ball that ended the Indian resistance. By way of comparison, James Pattinson bowled 23 overs for a return of 1 wicket for 106 runs.

Before this Test all the commentary and talk was about how Sachin Tendulkar was going to achieve a century of international 100s at what is probably his last SCG Test.

The great batsman did bat beautifully for his 80 in the second innings. But 80 is not a century. So what would be a fine achievement for a lesser batsman has been relegated to the failure basket for The Little Master.

So instead of the SCG’s 100 Test being the Tendulkar Test, it will forever live on in the annals of Australian cricket as Michael Clarke’s Test.

It is hard to think of a Test victory where a captain did so much in all the facets of play, batting, captaincy and bowling to ensure such an overwhelming and outstanding result for his side.

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