Matthew Wade was delusional to think he could take Australian paceman Ben Hilfenhaus over the stumps just to keep South African Faf du Plessis in his crease.
The Australian keeper’s glovework isn’t all that flash at the best of times.
But this decision proved a disaster that effectively cost Australia the second Test at Adelaide.
With the second last ball before tea, du Plessis nicked Hilfenhaus and Wade spilled it.
du Plessis had already batted three sessions at that stage, and was the real thorn in the side of the weakened Australian attack without the injured James Pattinson.
du Plessis rubbed salt into the Wade wounds by still being there at stumps after four sessions at the crease, leading the charge for the South Africans to salvage the most honourable of honourable draws against all odds.
du Plessis became only the fourth South African to score a Test ton on debut after Andrew Hudson’s 163 against the Windies in 1992, Jacques Rudolf’s unbeaten 222 in 2004, and Alviro Petersen’s neat 100 in 2010.
But it was his marathon batting and extreme concentration that earned du Plessis man-of-the-match.
In compiling 78 and 110*, he batted for a total of 670 minues, almost two days play and faced 435 deliveries, just over 72 overs.
Not bad for a fill-in for JP Duminy who tore his Achilles in the first Test at the Gabba.
But du Plessis wasn’t the only marathon man in the city of churches,
Colleagues AB de Villiers, and Jacques Kallis, along with Australian bowlers Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle, and Hilfenhaus, wore themselves to the bone to make it a memorable Test match.
* de Villiers posted the second slowest 30-plus in Test cricket history. He faced 220 deliveries for his 33, at a strike rate of 15. Only Englishman Chris Tavare’s 35 off 240, with a strike rate of 14.58, has been slower.
* Kallis did a hammie on the first morning, but batted twice on one leg down the order for his 58 and 46, occupying the crease for 260 minutes, facing 203 deliveries.
* Lyon bowled 94 overs with 38 maidens to capture 3-140, and in the process became the youngest Australian offie at 25 years 5 days to reach 50 Test wickets.
* Siddle sent down 63.5 overs with 21 maidens for his 6-185.
* And Hilfenhaus 53.3 overs, 26 maidens, taking 4-114.
Adelaide was the first time Australia and South Africa had played consecutive draws since 1921, as both weary teams head for Perth for the decider that starts on Friday.
Australian selectors have added three pacemen – Josh Hazlewood, John Hastings, and Mitchell Johnson – to the Perth squad, leaving out the hapless Rob Quiney after his pair.
Shane Watson is a certainty to play in a straight swap with Quiney, so it all depends how Siddle and Hilfenhaus scrub up after Adelaide in terms of how the balance of the side pans out.
South Africa only has to draw in Perth to remain the wold’s top-ranked Test side, Australia will assume that exalted postion if they win.
Behold
Roar Rookie
They are both standing in the shadow of the omnipotent, 'Crash' Craddock
Max
Guest
Okay... Lets get physics involved here. So lets say Hilfy is bowling 130kmh... 130/3.6 gives us 36.11, this is how many metres per second his ball is travelling using Speed = Dist/Time and substituting and rearranging, Time = Distance/Speed therefore Time = 1metre / 36.11 m/s This gives us the grand total of reaction time of .028s that Wade needed to snap up a "Regulation Catch" from 1 metre away. David Lord, you are clearly not mathmatically minded. It should also be noted that when Ed took that catch at silly mid on, his reaction time was around .2 seconds, that was considered ridiculously instinctive, given that Wades was a tenth of that time, you can see why it either "sticks or it doesn't" Get your facts right David before commenting with utter nonsense.
Max
Guest
Too right TGT, I'm sick of people bashing him over missing the catch but as you perfectly pointed out, Heals wouldn't have taken it, Sangakara wouldn't have taken it, nor Marsh, Gilly or Boucher. They either stick, or they don't. At that stage, Australia had already thrown everything at him, It was probably Clarke's attacking mindset which told him to stand up to the stumps, something needed to happen, and keeping him in his crease was the best idea at the time after everything else had failed. Whether the snick would have happened whether he was standing back (If it was dropped in that circumstance then you do have a case for your argument) or whether he possibly may have been bowled or out LBW during that over, you may never know but don't knock Wade on missing that catch. Cricket is about fate. Who know's, is it the bugs fault for not deviating the ball off the pitch .001 degree in order to get an edge? No. Lighten up and accept it as a very, very tough opportunity, not one that should have been taken every day of the week.
towards 21
Roar Rookie
ade is the worst keeper since Greg Dyer / Tim Zoehrer, how he has gone in front of Haddin is a sick twisted joke. He was Tasmania backup keeper to Tm Paine for seasons, I think that shows where he was rated as somewhere between the tenth and hunderdth best keeper in the land. Poor mans version of Wade Secombe or Roger Wooley!!!
Red Kev
Guest
Last year when he was in bad form anyway and Ponting was scoring against India would have been a good time for it.
Red Kev
Guest
Yeah that was a definite stir on my part too
Go_the_Wannbe's
Guest
Gilly would have made the team as a keeper alone. The fact he was one of the greatest batsman ever was a spectacular bonus. The wheel will turn and we'll go back to traditional glove men at some point......probably when we become tired of all the missed chances.
Go_the_Wannbe's
Guest
Ask yourself the question, would they do it again in the future? And therein lies the answer.
jameswm
Guest
I meant as a stir Kev. Bit rough calling Nevill not first choice for his state, when the most recent Aussie keeper is also there. Might change soon.
Happy Hooker
Guest
When is a good time RK?
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
He must be spending a lot of time with Malcolm the Conn artist trying to think up the greatest cricket article tripe possible.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Well said.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
You've lost the plot.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
Are you suggesting Haddin would have held that catch? If so, you're kidding yourself. Wade bats as well, if not better, than Haddin and isn't weighed down by slowing reactions as age takes it's hold.
TheGenuineTailender
Roar Guru
But why not? It obviously assisted in creating the nick, and that's when it becomes a simple case of it either sticks or it doesn't. The ball is doing over 100km/h and travels less than 2 metres from nick to Wade's gloves. You cannot expect any keeper in the world to react and take the catch, it either goes in or it doesn't. In this particular case it just didn't go in. Get over it and move on. Matthew Wade is certainly here to stay and ought to be Australia's keeper for the best part of the next decade. He bats well and isn't as big a smug with the gloves as some would have us believe.
TJ
Guest
James - this is one of the best calls on the cricket pages of the Roar for a long time. Good to see some actual sound reasoning, unlike Mr Lord and his great anecdotal stories about the days of Brad Haddin.
Mantis
Roar Guru
Yeah but you can say that for anything that happens on any given ball. He did nick it, and he did drop it. The fact of the matter is he should not have been standing up to the stumps for Hilfy.
Neuen
Roar Rookie
Amla out of form for failing twice? Did you forget what happened in the 3rd test vs England where he set the tone for that victory? I heard someone mention Ian Heally. Best part of sledging was to Nasser Hussain. Nasser Hussain walks out to bat and a fielder was instructed to field at silly point and get “right under his nose”. Ian Healy’s response “That could be anywhere in a 3 mile radius…”
Behold
Roar Rookie
There is only a certain number of wickets a bowler can take, looking at wickets alone is not a good way to judge a bowler particularly with how destructive the Tasmania bowling ensemble has been over the last few years. I personally would have selected Butterworth instead of Hastings who is a similar type of player. Hazlewood has been selected as a point of difference to what the Australian line-up currently has. I am not sure if it is a good selection I don't think he will play, but it could be a way of exposing him more to the national set-up, since he has been a Cricket Academy project since his teens.
Dtox
Guest
Hazelwood plays for NSW and therefore was born with a Baggy Green on his head.