The events of last Tuesday morning in the suburb of Gulberg III, downtown Lahore, have shaken the foundations of the cricket world. Questions have been raised about tournaments and series all over the globe, but most severely about those events in the Indian sub-continent.
India is where all the big money games abound. Cricket Australia could not resist the lure of the rupee when it sent the team in October, ignoring the numerous blasts that had occurred in that country during the IPL and the terror threats from Hindu fundamentalist organizations.
Fortunately that series was completed with the most serious concern being limited to the loss of the rubber, and Ricky Ponting’s indefensible captaincy in Nagpur.
That is sport, and though it can mirror the real thing it is not life (although the two often come close to merging in India and Pakistan).
Good people do not usually lose their lives in sporting contests, but they did so defending international cricketers. It would be nice if they could catch some of the perpetrators so we can find out their motives, however irrational.
Meanwhile in South Africa the combatants were strictly on field. The fans and followers were allowed the luxury of discussing batting, bowling and fielding rather than body counts and ballistics details.
The Australians have played very well. The debutants have proven the trust of the selectors, the less experienced have done their jobs at the level required of Test cricket.
The Proteas have felt the pressure of playing at home. They have started each Test match in second gear and found the clutch slipping while their opponents have raced away.
Down Under they fought back, in Africa they have gone to the well too many times and the underdogs have refused to relinquish their number one rung.
Mitchell Johnson has been taking small steps forward in search of the full tool box the really top class fast bowlers have.
Here he has made a significant leap with the addition of an inswinger, unreliable maybe, but certainly asking many more questions of top order batsmen.
His hostile spell after lunch on the second day at Kingsmead was hostile and physically damaging. The coup de grace is always the wicket taking ball and he had that going as well.
Siddle was persistent and accurate, reminding me of Merv Hughes sans ‘tache, McDonald bores them to distraction with ‘stump to stump’, good length belligerence. A spinner was not needed under these conditions as he was not needed at Johannesburg. That is a question, though, to be answered in the near future. If the series is decided in Durban should Bryce McGain be given a ‘Test trial’ in Capetown with a view to the Ashes?
For three Tests in a row going back to the victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground in early January, the Australian attack showed admirable if not impeccable discipline. The South Africans, Paul Harris apart, employed the scattergun approach with the expected effect – plenty of boundaries.
Through all this, cricket history was made by the 20 year old from Macksville. Phillip Hughes became the youngest batsmen in the 132 year old (birthday next Sunday) history of Test cricket to make a century in each innings. A quick eye and lightning hands are his raw ingredients.
The technique is far from orthodox but who cares when you have such sweet timing and the term ‘nervous nineties’ has more to do with a ‘P’ plater’s speed in an 80 zone than the scoreboard registering.
It is hard to imagine that such a debate raged over Matthew Hayden’s faltering future when the exuberance of youth was waiting to bound onto the international stage.
Weather and cricket miracles permitting (Gary Kirsten made 275 over two days to save the Test on this very ground against England in 2001 after SA followed on), Australia should win on day five sometime or maybe even day four.
They have been much the better team which is difficult to believe after the events on home grounds in the summer.
Cricket, at least for the moment, has the headline maker in Hughes and it is a blessed relief after the game was so tragically maimed by events that have nothing to do with the innocent pursuit of sport.
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