There will be some hard talking in the Australian camp after their eight-wicket loss to the Proteas at Newlands, but the great fight-back by the home side has showed that there are chinks in the tourists’ armour which they may not be able to remedy in the short term.
Halfway through a see-sawing Test match, the Australians led by 188 runs on the first innings.
From that point their fortunes plummeted as they were routed for 47, leaving the Proteas a target of 236 which they easily achieved with eight sessions left in the match.
Australia captain Michael Clarke repeatedly laid the major blame for the defeat at the door of the top seven batsmen – including himself – who he emphasised were very poor in their second innings on Thursday, a day on which 23 wickets fell.
Adapting to local conditions is key when on tour and by the Aussies’ own admission, South African conditions are most like theirs at home.
They did a poor job of acclimatising in Cape Town, though, and saving the two-match series will now be a tough ask.
In their last Test series they were able to produce a good fight against Sri Lanka, winning the first Test in Galle and holding on for a 1-0 series win. That said, Sri Lanka do not possess the most penetrative attack at the moment.
Aussie openers Shane Watson and Phil Hughes between them scored only 25 runs in four innings in the Newlands match, while veterans Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey contributed nine.
A repeat of this showing in the second Test in Johannesburg will be fatal and there may be a need to tinker with the bowling too.
Changes in Australian personnel might be one way to go, but Clarke wanted the taste of defeat to diminish before making any calls on that score.
And after being trounced in front of a final-day crowd of 9920, Clarke admitted he was also disappointed in the ineffectual showing by his bowlers on Friday.
They started the day needing to take nine wickets with only 155 runs to defend.
Left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Johnson took one wicket for 87 runs in the match and although Clarke was careful to say nobody set out to fail, he added: “We need him taking wickets, no doubt. He’s a match-winner but he’s just got to perform better.
“I don’t think there’s been a more disappointing loss in my career,” he added.
“I would have liked to see us fight harder.
“If we had made 600, the way we bowled and they batted, they would still have had a chance to win,” said Clarke, who scored 151 in the first innings and still ended up on the wrong side of a hiding.
The tourists do have in Pat Cummins a fast bowler who can send it down at 150km/h, but it remains to be seen if he will be given a debut at the Wanderers.
In the victors’ camp, Clarke’s opposite number Graeme Smith, whose century on Friday represented something of a riposte to critics, said the way his team’s bowlers had learnt what length to bowl from Aussie Shane Watson’s performance on Day 2 had been excellent.
Praising the role debutant seamer and Man of the Match Vernon Philander had played, Smith added: “He does get the ball to talk and he brings control to the attack.”
Philander took 5/15 in the Australian second innings to finish with match figures of 8/78.
A confident Philander said he did not have a particularly impressive record in first-class cricket at the Wanderers, but he backed his skills in any conditions.
Smith added he hoped he had won over a few people with his 23rd Test century on Friday, which he ranked right up there with his best innings.
“There were maybe one or two things that were hurtful that were said … that maybe crossed the line … I suppose that’s the nature of the job. I just kept knuckling down and at the end of the day I wanted to talk with the skills and the bat,” he said.
“I think we got the best time to bat, with the sun out on Day 3! Hashim was stroking it around and he took the pressure off me.”
Before Friday’s innings of 101 not out, Smith’s last century had been against Pakistan in Dubai a year ago. - Saturday Star