Australia captain Michael Clarke paid tribute to a great spell of fast reverse-swing bowling by South Africa’s Dale Steyn after his side were bundled to defeat on the fourth day of the second Test at St George’s Park on Sunday.
South Africa bowled out Australia for 216 to win by 231 runs, setting up a series decider in the third and final Test in Cape Town, starting on Saturday.
Australia lost nine wickets after tea, with Steyn claiming four of them, including that of Clarke for 1.
Photo: Reuters
“We were outplayed with both bat and ball,” Clarke said.
He said the key was the fast reverse-swing bowling of all three South Africa pacemen, but he singled out Steyn for special praise.
“You’ve seen a class bowler bowling consistently at 140, 145ks [kph], executing his skills as well as you will see in international cricket.”
In contrast, the Australia bowlers were unable to get any reverse-swing, he acknowledged.
Set 448 to win, Australia seemed to be cruising at 141-1 at tea after Chris Rogers and David Warner had put on 126 for the first wicket, scoring at more than four runs an over.
Once the wickets started to fall, Rogers fought a lone battle before being ninth man out, run out for 107.
“We knew the best time to bat in the second innings was against the new ball,” Clarke said. “We knew the hardest period was going to be once the ball got old and batsmen had to start their innings against reverse-swing.”
South Africa captain Graeme Smith said the turnaround after a 281-run defeat in the first Test at Centurion was a tribute to the resilience of his players.
“The week building up was a tough week for us. We needed to be smart, we needed to be clinical. We needed good ideas as to how we were going to respond. I don’t think many teams would have been able to respond from a defeat like we tasted,” Smith said.
He said the match had been set up by a solid first innings of 423, followed by good bowling.
“The intensity we showed with the ball in both innings was really impressive on a wicket which didn’t offer that much,” he said.
Steyn’s sensational post-tea spell came after he appealed vociferously for a catch behind when Rogers was on 69 in the over before tea.
With the St George’s Park band in full swing, the slip cordon did not hear what replays showed to be a faint edge and South Africa did not seek a review when Rogers was given not out.
Asked how angry Steyn had been after the missed opportunity, Smith said: “I think he goes from being very angry to extremely angry most of the time when he is bowling.”
“We always know that Dale is one spell away from creating something for us. It’s great to see when the game is on the line that he can respond like that,” he said.
Part-time off-spinner J.P. Duminy made the breakthrough when he trapped Warner leg before wicket for a sparkling 66, made off 73 balls.
South Africa took four top-order wickets for four runs after tea to swing the game in their favor, with Alex Doolan, Shaun Marsh, Clarke and Steve Smith falling for 5, 0, 1 and 0 respectively.
Marsh was out first ball to Vernon Philander to complete a “pair.”
Ten runs afterwards, Steyn’s fast reverse-swing sent Brad Haddin’s middle stump flying.
Mitchell Johnson stayed at the crease long enough to see Rogers to his century, but became a fourth leg-before-wicket victim.
Rogers, who scored only 10 runs in his first three innings of the series, looked in good touch from the start of his innings, taking advantage of some over-pitched deliveries early on and almost keeping pace with Warner during what was easily the most productive opening partnership by either side during the series.
With Australia seven down, South Africa claimed the extra half-hour available if a result was likely and took the last three wickets with a possible 14 balls remaining.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set