In boxing there's the tale of the tape; in this cricket series it's been a case of the tale of the tails.
In a series packed with so many extraordinarily talented batsmen - greats like Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith - it's been the performances of the lower-order batsmen of both sides that has had a major impact on the series.
With the exception of Hayden, the rest of the players mentioned have all had an influence with the bat, but they were expected to. The fact that the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza, who batted at No9 in the first Test, Nathan Hauritz, Paul Harris and Dale Steyn have delivered with the willow is stunning.
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The way the runs they've scored have changed the direction of the matches has added to the intrigue of what has been an enthralling Test series.
Already, we have seen Australia's last three wickets add a total of 300 runs at the Waca and 139 at the MCG, and in the first innings here the last four wickets put on 208.
Of course, lower order run-scoring was taken to the extremes by JP Duminy and Steyn during their amazing ninth-wicket stand of 180 in Melbourne, which, as it turned out, became the defining one of this series.
Peter Siddle has played his part too, with two scores of 23 and a 19 in the second innings at the MCG, but he was included in the Australian side for his abilities with the ball, which he displayed here yesterday with a fiery late spell which brought him his first Test five-for.
Even Siddle seemed somewhat bemused by the successful batting of the two teams' lower orders.
"Yeah, I don't really know hey," he said with his strong Victorian, country-boy accent.
"At times, I think both teams, when they've gotten to the tail, have tended to relax a little bit and thought the wickets were going to come, which went against what we'd done earlier," Siddle remarked.
Much like South Africa, who have struggled for a while now against opposing teams' tail-enders, Siddle felt the best way to bowl against them was to pretend they were genuine batsmen.
"You've got to keep being patient, no matter the quality of batsman. If you keep bowling good balls, you'll get out good batsmen or tailenders or anyone."
Mark Boucher is someone used to doing his batting with the tail, and yesterday he and Morné Morkel marshalled the South African innings through the afternoon and ensured the advantage the Australians took from their first innings total of 445 wasn't too significant.
As it was, the hosts ended the third day 151 runs ahead, which, given the way this pitch is deteriorating, will need some pretty special batting from the South African lower order if whatever Australia eventually set is to be attained.
Boucher said he had grown used to batting with the tail, and would have enjoyed if someone else from the lower order had supported him through to a sixth Test century.
"Obviously it was disappointing not to get another 11 runs," he said of his innings of 89 that was nevertheless a sterling effort in the face of some rigid Australian defence and unpredictable bounce from the surface.
"I'm quite used to batting with the tail. There are times when your tail will be bowled out cheaply and there times that won't happen, like you saw in the last game when they stuck around with JP (Duminy).
"If I could have it any way, I'd rather have them be bowled out here now than not have them score all those runs in the last game.
"Other than Morné, who stuck around, unfortunately the rest couldn't, but that's the way it goes," Boucher remarked.
There may be more to come yet from the South African tail in this match, but before they pull off any miracles with the bat, they've got to do the jobs they're really paid to do with the ball.
As Boucher said, their "backs are against the wall", but they've fought hard throughout this series and there's no reason to believe there isn't still fight left in them.
- This article was originally published on page 20 of The Star on January 06, 2009
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