Sitting watching the final day’s play between Australia and South Africa in the second Test begged the question: who needs Twenty20 when you’re chasing a record total on the final day of a five day epic?
More matches like this and the harbingers of the Test match apocalypse won’t have a leg to stand on.
The fifth day alone had more tension than any limited over match in recent memory. The protracted start as a result of inclement Johannesburg weather had an unsatisfactory draw in the minds of all involved.
They needn’t have worried; the rain and covers disappeared, before South Africa jumped into the ascendancy with some excellent bowling. Michael Clarke was removed by a zipping Philander delivery that jagged between his bat and pad to knock the top of off.
Ponting then attempted to right the ship, but succumbed by pushing hard at a Morne Morkel screamer that flew through to the slips. A long trip home for the Australians seemingly beckoned.
But this is the thing about Test cricket: it is the perfect platform for both pain and elation, and often redemption as well, all in the space of minutes, single balls.
Brad Haddin, so maligned after his awful shot selection in the 47 debacle, kept calm and held things steady, only occasionally reverting to type and attacking.
The crucial difference here was that the balls stayed hit and found the gaps, and he ended with 55, a score that should keep him behind the wickets for at least a few more matches to come.
The wickets kept falling, however, and the result was on a knife-edge. But this was a day for unexpected heroics, and Mitchell Johnson took over when Haddin departed to the faintest of edges off Philander, his 40 not out eventually being the difference between the two sides.
Like Haddin, he kept his nerve while blasting the South Africans whenever they served up anything less than a top quality ball.
It was fitting, however, that the new kid on the block, Pat Cummins, had the final say. After scooping 6-79 in the South African’s second innings (bowling that kept Australia in the match), he strode to the crease with an air of calm, a youthful confidence that was evident to all.
When he skipped forward to attack the spinner Imran Tahir, one just had the feeling that the cards would fall in his favour. And so they did – a well struck four through mid-on bringing about an incredible victory for Australia. (Wasn’t Nathan Lyon happy that he did – the number 11 batsmen was visibly terrified on the edge of the field about the prospect of having to follow Cummins to the middle!).
Some caveats: Graeme Smith’s field placings were far too generous to the hosts throughout the final day. Australia was allowed to nurdle singles across the ground far too easily, managing to keep the scoreboard ticking over and placing pressure back on the South African attack. And the match surely wouldn’t have had its nail-biting finish if the Australian openers had put in the kind of partnership that is expected of them.
The century stand that we saw in the first innings seems, unfortunately, to be an all too rare event for the Watson/Hughes partnership. It is something that the new group of Australian coaching team (and selectors) is going to have to grapple with, and fast.
But they are debates for another day. The crowds at this match were sparse at best, and more the pity because this was a Test for the ages (perhaps for Australians more than South Africans).
However, if Test match cricket continues to be half as gripping as the last five days in Johannesburg have been, the marketing boffins surely won’t have a hard sell bringing the customers – sorry, fans – back to the best form of cricket.
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