Australia’s batsmen had the chance to take control of the Test on day two. They didn’t. On day three, Dean Elgar and JP Duminy showed them how it was done
Daniel Brettig at the WACA05-Nov-2016Welcome back to the friendly, air-conditioned confines boys. It was hot work out there, hey? Hot enough for extra drinks breaks anyway. The breeze came in to the WACA Ground in the evening session, which offered some kind of respite from the heat and the sun. That should have helped you cool down enough to process a few things.But before you do, I want you to remember how you feel right now. The heavy legs, the dry mouths and the dull headaches from your sweaty baggy green hat-bands. Remember too the sinking feeling you got when you took a final glance at the WACA’s old scoreboard before reaching shade, showing South Africa’s vast lead. A word of warning: it will be a fair bit bigger by the time you get another bat.Inconvenient memories like this can help you in future, when you have the opportunity to make a Test match your own. They can help you to keep your focus clear and your ruthlessness intact as they should have been yesterday, in the hour or so after Dale Steyn dropped out of the match, the tour and possibly even his whole career with a serious shoulder injury. That moment should have been one to steel yourselves, and think coldly about the physical imperative of Test cricket.South Africa had lost a bowler, and a great one at that. Chat to your team’s long-time physio Alex Kountouris, now Cricket Australia’s head of sports science. He will be able to tell you of the pitifully small percentage of Test matches won by teams that lose a frontline bowler so early on. Another medico, doctor John Orchard, is perhaps the world’s biggest advocate for injury substitutes in Tests. His forward thinking can’t help this week though.One of Orchard’s prime case studies comes from the last time South Africa toured Australia, in 2012. He has outlined how a side injury to James Pattinson – remember him? – in Adelaide led to an excessive workload for Peter Siddle in a match South Africa fought back to draw. In Siddle’s absence the visitors won in Perth, and the extra overs duly bowled by Mitchell Starc flowed into the need to rest him from the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka. It all adds up, you see.I don’t need to tell you much about the physical drain, because your legs are still heavy even as you cradle some ice water, Gatorade or perhaps a consolation beer. Adam Voges has a tender hamstring. The sight of the fast bowlers icing feet, legs and shoulders – Starc is re-dressing the open wound in his left leg as we speak – should also remind you of the fact that you didn’t give them much rest at all after their exertions on day one. Less than 24 hours in fact.That’s a betrayal (a strong word, but a true one) of the unwritten compact between batsmen and bowlers. They work so hard in the field on days like these, and should have the right to expect a decent total to defend after a reasonable amount of time at rest in the team’s viewing area. Pattinson (he’s not had much luck, Jimmy) once suffered serious injury in a Lord’s Test match after being asked to bowl again too soon after the first innings, due to a batting collapse. Slim first innings exacerbate the risk of injury to the very men who can win you the Test match. A confronting thought.Equally, the first Test of a series can influence how the rest play out, particularly back-to-back matches. Starc and Siddle in particular are coming off limited preparation for this series. They are playing in Perth not because they are fully fit, but because they are the best available for a vital contest. Selectors, coaches and medical staff took a calculated gamble that they would not be placed in the position they are now in, with the second Test in Hobart starting as soon as Saturday. South Africa are exacting a physical toll that will help them later.This brings us to the main thing I want you to take out of today. Once your thoughts of frustration subside, you really need to take in the lessons offered up by JP Duminy and Dean Elgar. Much like you on day two, they had a massive opportunity to take control of the Test. Unlike you on day two, they took it.Not through anything flashy or overly ambitious, but simply through relentless and disciplined Test-match batting – the batting you needed to provide on day two of this game. The bowlers bowled well, there were a few plays and misses, but they forged on regardless, frustrating and tiring the fielding side. That’s the way it’s done. As the day went on, South Africa’s drinks waiters brought on chairs for them to sit in. You’d have to agree they earned that.Now there may still be hope of escaping Perth without defeat. The pitch is still good, the cracks are far from the most dangerous ones seen in these parts – just ask your fielding coach Greg Blewett – and, as we’ve said, South Africa are a bowler down. But even if there isn’t, you should be using days like these as motivation to bat like Elgar and Duminy in the future. The rewards will be Test match victories, happier bowlers, and fewer days of exhaustion.Anyway, I’ve said enough. Go cool off, binge on a season of , and we’ll catch-up tomorrow. Look forward to seeing some resilience.
