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The Roar has thrown up some fantastic articles dissecting the Test series some good debates in the comments, but I would like to throw in my thoughts on where I think Australia trumped South Africa.
Australian opener David Warner’s 543 runs at 90.5 including three centuries is a fantastic return, but what interests me is his strike rate of 86.74. He put immense pressure on the South Africa bowling attack from the outset.
The challenge for an opening batsman is pressure. How can you absorb it and how can you transfer pressure back onto the bowler? There is no better example in this series than Warner against Steyn.
Warner scored more runs (over 100) off Steyn at better than a run a ball for only one dismissal. That put pressure not only on Steyn, but Philander and Morkel, who both struggled for penetration on decent batting surfaces.
I did mention in a previous article that Philander needs conditions to suit to be a threat and that Morkel can either be very good or very average. This series has not changed my thinking on this.
This series also showed clearly that Philander and Morkel feed off Steyn’s good work and that Kallis is going to be very difficult to replace. The reality is that any team would take time to replace someone of Kallis’s ability and longevity.
That South Africa did not play a front line spinner for two tests simply means that they don’t believe they have anyone that can do the job.
Their selections are very much ‘safety first’ options, picking the extra batsmen who can bowl decent finger spin (Duminy/Elgar). This is an area South Africa can seriously look at moving forward for improvement.
Mitchell Johnson took 22 wickets at 17.36 with a strike rate of 34.4. He is simply bowling beautifully. Full stop.
Fast, aggressive, ruthless. Personally, the most pleasing thing is Mitch passing my Test match tally of wickets in the deciding Test of a winning series. I remember getting a nice message from fellow Roar columnist Geoff Lawson congratulating me on passing his tally of 180 wickets.
I have always remembered that small gesture – it meant a lot, so well done Mitch!
Where to for Australia? I believe it is very simple. When Mickey Arthur was coach of Australia, all the talk from the camp was ‘future’. If we put these things in place now, we will be competitive in two to three years time. Think rotation policy.
The whole plan seemed to me to be a bit of ‘crystal balling’.
When Darren Lehmann took over, he believed to build culture and confidence was best done by winning now – focussing on the present moment.
Australian selections have mirrored that mindset by picking a number of lads at an older age for performance now. In my view, for Australia to be number one again in Test cricket they simply need to strike the balance between the ‘now’ and the ‘future’ with the make-up of the side.
This simple means that the team can’t afford to lose the likes of Harris, Haddin and Rogers at the same time. This is the selectors’ challenge. If they get the balance right I can’t see what can stop Australia achieving that number one position.
Finally, congratulations to Graeme Smith on a wonderful career.
He is a fantastic player who played his way, not everyone else’s, and one of the best leaders of men the game has seen.
International cricket is poorer for his retirement. Well done Biff!