For the Australians to push for victory in this third and series-deciding Test match, their esteemed leader, Michael Clarke, had to stand up.
Throughout the weeks preceding this match, Clarke had been bombarded with questions concerning his current form slump – a slump in which he hadn’t passed 25 since his magnificent ton at the Adelaide Oval during the Ashes.
He was fully aware of his need to score runs, but was surely satisfied with the fact that his team was now able to succeed without his own mountain of runs rescuing them from the depths of despair.
Nevertheless, Clarke wanted to lead from the front and guide his side to a series victory – and with the support of Australia behind him, set out to do so.
Once Captain Clarke came out to bat, with the team moving relatively well at 2-138, he was very quickly attacked by a Morne Morkel onslaught of vicious, short-pitched bowling.
Morkel’s Mitchell Johnson-esque bowling battered and bruised the skipper but he took each blow in his stride, refusing to give the South Africans the satisfaction of taking his wicket.
With Dale Steyn off the field due to a hamstring strain and unable to bowl, Clarke insisted on tiring out Morkel, who took Steyn’s place as South Africa’s strike weapon.
He knew of the rewards he would undoubtedly reap once Morkel was removed from the bowling attack.
He knew the bulk his runs could then come from the rest of South Africa’s bowling attack, including part-time spinners Dean Elgar and JP Duminy.
Once the worst of Morkel’s brutal spell had passed, the Michael Clarke that we have all come to know and love showed.
With his back against the wall, Clarke stood up and fought his way to an unbeaten 161 – surely one of the most satisfying knocks of his career.
Clarke could easily have hit his way out of trouble, fed up with the damage being dealt to his body, but would have risked being dismissed.
Instead, he had his heart set on remaining out in the middle and preserving his wicket.
This wasn’t the first time Clarke was faced with the task of weathering a storm of short-pitched deliveries, though.
Cast your mind back to the first Test of the Ashes whitewash, in which Clarke was removed by a Stuart Broad short ball.
After that particular incident, England were confident that Clarke was suspect to the short ball, and in the second innings, continued to batter him with a similar style of bowling.
In the second innings, however, Clarke was not to be troubled by Broad, and instead cracked nearly every short-pitched delivery to the boundary until reaching his century – putting to rest the theory of his weakness to the delivery.
He looks to have taken a similar road in this Test, and has shown that his courage in the face of adversity is unmatched in world cricket.
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