Australia’s abrupt fall from grace sets up perfect script for Test decider

Australia’s captivating tour of South Africa heads to Cape Town for the final instalment of the three-Test series starting on Saturday.  The hosts rewrote the form book to give the Aussies a thumping in the second Test at Port Elizabeth.  After Michael Clarke’s men had enjoyed a seamless run of six consecutive Test victories (albeit five against a hopeless England), it must have been a shock to the system. It certainly surprised me. What happens from here is anybody’s guess. As I have said before, it’s just a shame that the series is not a five-Test contest.  It leaves a feeling of frustration that the plot has not been played out to its proper conclusion. I felt the same when South Africa were last touring in Australia in late 2012. The Proteas’ “great escape” in Adelaide set things up for an enthralling ride which was cut short with a mere three Tests.  It seems to be in vogue throughout world cricket to have shortened series – apart from the Ashes – to fit in with a permanently congested calendar. In England there appears to be a “minor” series happening from May each season. At that stage of the year, you can still have frostbite on your fingers fielding in the slip cordon and cricketing events always seem to be getting creakily underway before the sun finally makes an appearance (we hope) in the main summer months of June, July and August. Last year it was the New Zealanders who provided a warm-up exercise for  Alastair Cook’s men before the blockbuster first act of back-to-back Ashes confrontations took centre stage.  It is a real irritant for me, but with the global demands of 50-over cricket and the ever-growing razamataz of Twenty20, I suppose this is the harsh reality.  Anyway, from my neutral corner,  the Cape Town decider looks an appetising affair. The Port Elizabeth rout seems to indicate that the Aussies will be looking to rush Shane Watson back into their ranks. The injury-prone allrounder would bolster the bowling contingent, who looked strangely subdued as South Africa took firm control of the second Test.  Mitchell Johnson was back to being a mere mortal in his bowling stints and even got a whack on the helmet when he batted as the South Africans showed they were not going to be messed about. His erstwhile partners in crime Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle could almost have been diagnosed with having caught the Jimmy Anderson disease. Both seemed tired, listless and down on pace.  They have had a heavy workload. Maybe it is beginning to tell. I always reckoned that Harris would break down at some stage of the combined Ashes tours. He didn’t. Now here he is, still running in hardily, but showing signs of fatigue.  And the same seems true for Siddle.  Even his heavy intake of bananas can’t keep him going for ever. It was left to the unheralded spin of Nathan Lyon to snare a tidy haul of victims and keep the South Africans in some kind of check. Both captains – Graeme Smith and Clarke – are out of form and short of runs so at least that evens itself out ahead of the decider. But even if Shaun Marsh or Alex Doolan drops out to accommodate Watson, the Aussie batting line-up looks the one more likely to implode.  This was even evident in the Ashes Tests but here Brad Haddin has been unable to come to the crease and implement his renowned one-man rescue act. If only he had done this a couple of months ago, it would have lifted many Englishmen’s state of mind. It’s all to play for and the game should be a cracker. However, my appetite won’t be sated after three Tests.  It’s a real disappointment there isn’t going to be more to savour…

Graeme Smith knows how Alastair Cook felt as he searches for swift solution

Now it’s Graeme Smith’s turn to try to fathom out a way of halting the refuelled Australian cricketing juggernaut. The South African captain has just a matter of days to revive his battered and bruised troops in time for the second Test in Port Elizabeth after the chastening capitulation at Centurion.   Destroyer-in-chief Mitchell Johnson proved he was not just a one-series wonder when he followed up his recent Ashes heroics with a blistering exhibition of pace bowling that left the hosts blinking in disbelief.  If the Proteas were caught unawares during their first Test unravelling, they should earlier have given England captain Alastair Cook a quick bell on his mobile before hostilities got underway. Then again, maybe Cook would not have wanted to relive the horrors of England’s harrowing tour down under so soon. The after-effects must still be numbing for him after Johnson had orchestrated the Ashes meltdown.  Now, here was the pumped-up  paceman doing it all again, bringing the world’s top-ranked Test team literally to its knees  as wickets were taken and heads were cracked amid a venomous barrage.  I tip my hat to the Aussies.  They strolled the Ashes in a 5-0 cakewalk but I had put that down to an ill-prepared, over-confident England sinking into a state of utter disrepair as much as the upbeat captaincy of Michael Clarke, plus Johnson and his pace cohorts. It looks like I was wrong and that they might be a better team than I imagined. Smith probably thought the same as me.  He won the toss and sent the Aussies in, with much anticipation.  But that was all Smith got right.  Johnson had him upside down, inside out and back to front as he bounced him out in the first innings. Smith delivered some brave words after the four-day defeat.  He said the trampoline qualities of the pitch had helped Johnson bag his 12-wicket haul. His men would regroup, he added. Smith even felt the result could have a wake-up effect on his charges. It all sounded eerily familiar. It was the same mantra that the browbeaten Cook had trotted out to no avail so recently. I hate to say it, but these Aussies might actually be the real deal. As they gather ominous momentum, everything they do seems to come off.  They have so many in-form batsmen that Shane Watson may not gain an instant recall for the second Test. And the luck keeps going their way.  Two outrageous catches stuck for Alex Doolan at short square leg while the hapless hosts managed to drop David Warner three times on the way to his century.  The man I love to loathe doesn’t even sound so brazen in his post-play comments. The South Africans had been sloppy in the field and deserved any derision that came their way. Maybe Warner really is growing up.  His comments were accurate and apt.  It’s another sign that the team that I loathe to love is zooming to the summit of world Test cricket.  Smith has also consoled himself with the fact that the track for the second Test will not contain the pace of Centurion, thereby neutering the threat of Johnson.  It will be akin to a flat surface in Adelaide, we are told. Yet look what happened to England on that Black Saturday at Adelaide Oval just a few weeks ago when Johnson ran amok. I was there, I saw it first-hand. Maybe in years to come I will say I was happy to witness such a piece of masterful fast bowling brutality.  I doubt it. For pace perfection, I would much rather recall Wasim Akram in his Lancashire days destroying Yorkshire at Old Trafford in a Roses clash in the 1990s. My bias and loyalty fails to mutate horror memories into sudden sweet “I was there” moments.  I was at the MCG in the 94-95 series when Shane Warne nabbed his hat-trick against England. That still hurts. At present, there seems to be no stopping Johnson. His fragile mind appears to be a symptom of long ago. However, Smith insists his Proteas have it within them to remind Johnson of those less bountiful times and turn things around. It should be another fascinating contest.  I’m chilled out in the neutral corner so can just recline, relax and take it all in.  Unlike the South African batsmen.  My sole regret is that the series is only scheduled for three Tests.  A five-Test confrontation would really sort out who was the boss.   Captain Smith must already feel it’s going to be a bumpy ride…