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Australia have a huge chance of upsetting South Africa in the first Test at Centurion after recovering from a troublesome situation to finish the day in command.
The tourists were in danger of being rolled for less than 200 after sliding to 4-98 on the back of disciplined bowling from the Proteas.
But a rousing unbroken partnership of 199 between Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh meant Australia were 4-297 at stumps in a position to bat South Africa out of the Test today.
Rating Doolan’s debut
It was as tough an introduction to Test cricket as a modern batsman can encounter – facing South Africa’s phenomenal pace trio in their home conditions.
Doolan’s return of 27 may be underwhelming on paper but the Tasmanian batsman provided plenty of reasons for optimism.
Granted, the 28-year-old was not at his best, but few are on Test debut.
He was too often caught on the crease, unprepared to commit to a full forward stride.
That should not, however, be great cause for concern as it is not an issue which has plagued him at first-class level.
Doolan’s play on the front foot is typically assured and elegant.
His driving down the ground and through the covers is sublime.
So let’s put aside his one obvious deficiency in his first Test innings and concentrate on the upside.
Doolan has been open in stating that he modelled himself on fellow Tasmanian Ricky Ponting.
Like Australia’s all-time leading Test runscorer did throughout the majority of his stunning career, Doolan appeared to have ample time to play his strokes.
When he met the ball with his blade it was commonly done late and with soft hands.
The former of these attributes allowed him to adjust with comfort to the movement generated by Proteas kingpins Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.
The latter ensured that any deliveries which deceived Doolan and struck the outside of his edge went quickly to ground.
It was via an unlikely avenue that he was finally undone after a composed 70-minute stay at the crease.
South Africa’s bowling all-rounder Ryan McLaren worked over Doolan, repeatedly beating his edge with a canny length and late movement.
Seemingly out of frustration at being becalmed by McLaren, he attempted to pull a delivery which was too full in length, succeeding only in lobbing the ball to mid wicket from high off his blade.
It was a disappointing end to what had been an impressive first foray into Test cricket for Doolan.
But he showed enough to suggest that he may have the makings of a Test number three.
Shining light:
With all the star players engaged in this contest, who would have been brave enough to suggest it would be Shaun Marsh who would dominate the opening day’s play?
Marsh was extremely fortunate to take part in this Test given that he had made just 692 runs at an average of 21 in first-class cricket since the start of the 2011-12 season.
Many cricket fans and pundits, including myself, argued that his performances did not go close to warranting his shock Test recall.
Yet, here we are.
I take pleasure in being proven wrong if it involves an Australian Test player having success.
As a Perth lad, I was intimately aware of Marsh’s ability, having witnessed it at close quarters from his early teens onwards.
So it was with equal helpings of joy and frustration (why can’t he do this more often!) that I watched him yesterday compile a truly brilliant, resilient and heroic century.
Made under fierce pressure, emanating from both within and outside of the confines of the pitch, his innings was surely the finest of his career.
Utilising the picture-perfect technique which had seduced the national selectors, Marsh first tamed the Proteas’ potent attack.
After 87 balls he was just 32 not out.
Once set, he accelerated with ease. His following 87 balls saw him reap a further 68 runs, bringing up his ton in the process.
By day’s end he had placed his side in a position of strength in this crucial Test and ensured he would hold his spot in the XI for some time yet.
The question now is: what exactly occurred yesterday – a coming of age or simply another fleeting high point in a wildly fluctuating career?
Point of contention:
Australian skipper Michael Clarke appeared to have finally bit the bullet by moving up to four in the batting order for all of the last Ashes.
Clarke’s insistence on batting in his pet middle order position had to that point necessitated frequent, disruptive renovations of the order around him as batsmen came and went from the Australian side.
While his input petered off in the second half of the recent series against England, the Aussie’s batting lineup finally appeared somewhat stable.
Comfortably his side’s best batsman, it had long been reasoned that Clarke needed to come in high in the order to help halt Australia’s all-too-common batting implosions.
Never would this role be more important than in the bowler-friendly conditions of South Africa against the world’s best pace attack.
Yet yesterday Clarke was content for greenhorns Alex Doolan and Shaun Marsh to be entrusted with the recovery efforts against the precise Proteas bowlers.
By the time the veteran strode to the middle Australia were in eerily familiar peril at 3-72.
While the side managed to later recover and indeed prosper thanks to a fantastic stand between Marsh and Steve Smith, I still cannot fathom why Clarke refuses to bat at four permanently.
His record against South Africa – almost 1300 Test runs at 70 prior to this series – suggests the rampant South African attack hold no fears for him.
State of play:
What is a par score on this Centurion deck?
Certainly, it did not play as expected.
For weeks it had been predicted that the pitch for this first Test would be lively and tailor made for the side’s respective gun pace batteries.
Initially a hard and fast surface akin to the Gabba was predicted to greet the Aussies.
Then, amidst day after day of rain in the lead up to the match, it seemed likely the pitch would be more of a green seamer similar to the Newlands deck on which Australia was rolled for 47 and South Africa for 96 back in 2011.
Instead, it offered only limited lateral movement for the quicks.
Most significantly, the ball did not come onto the bat well due to the sluggish nature of the strip and the bounce was inconsistent.
It was not an easy pitch on which to score freely, although it did become more amenable to batting in the final session.
The average score by team’s batting first has been just 269 over the past ten Tests at Centurion.
It appears likely that batting last on this pitch will not be elementary, particularly in the aftermath of the wet weather forecast over the next few days.
All that would suggest that Australia find themselves in an enviable position.