Going into the fifth day of the Third Test match, some mischievous people (read, the media) were suggesting that a repeat of Adelaide 2006 could occur: with the game seemingly headed for a draw, the side batting third completely collapses, leaving a short and sharp run chase for victory.
And, it is the habit of people to think that after something happens it could happen again. But lightning is highly unlikely to strike twice.
There were two reasons why England lost that day, the first of which was their atrocious batting.
England began the 5th day on 1/59 with a lead of 97, which meant they only had to score 100 in two sessions to be okay. But they batted appallingly. They scored 9/70 from 54 overs on the fifth day and, frankly, if you bat like that, you deserve to lose.
The other reason was Shane Warne.
He bowled unchanged for all of England’s fifth day batting. This was two sessions and he would have gone longer had it been needed. His figures for the fifth day were 4/23 from 26 overs with 11 maidens.
This was just another performance which showed that Warne didn’t have to retire for him to be appreciated.
Ricky Ponting had no Warne in Delhi.
Michael Clarke and Simon Katich bowled before Craig White did. White didn’t get a bowl until halfway through the final day. Ponting only used four bowlers in that innings in Adelaide, compared to the seven who bowled in Delhi.
As can plainly be seen now, Warne was a freak.
He could bowl accurately and tightly from the first ball. He hardly bowled bad balls and batsmen were so intimidated of him, that when he did, they mostly went unpunished.
He was both an attacking and defensive weapon at the same time. He had the stamina of an ox and seemed to strengthen as opposed to weaken as his spell went on.
He was the Sir Donald Bradman of the ball.
People seem happy to label him the greatest ever spinner, I’m prepared to up the ante and call him the game’s greatest ever bowler.
Warne resuscitated a dying art and gave it a renaissance that was never thought possible. Previously thought of as bowlers who hemorrhaged runs, Warne disproved that. He was allowed the benefit of such attacking fields because he was so tight.
Even so, he could survive a few lusty blows and still have the confidence of himself and his captain to fight back.
Can Michael Clarke or Craig White? If they started to get a bit expensive, would Ponting persist with them?
Allan Border was frustrated by Australia’s inability to bowl out the West Indies at the Gabba in 1992 after reducing them to 4/9. Warne was included in the next Test and, for the next fourteen years, never looked back.
On a hot, dry, dusty and frustrating day in Delhi, it looks like things have gone back to how they were, and unless Australia uncovers another leg spinning freak, that they are going to stay like this for a while.
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