The one-sided day has left Australia with little chance of levellingthe series in the next two days
Brydon Coverdale at the MCG28-Dec-2008
Why wasn’t Simon Katich given a chance to bowl? © AFP (file photo)
Last Sunday Australia were shocked by South Africa chasing down 414and exactly a week later they have again been humbled by the team thatis challenging for the No. 1 ranking. Australia entered the daywanting three quick wickets to give their batsmen a healthy lead tobuild on; the openers did not take guard until ten minutes beforestumps.”Definitely one of our most disappointing days for a long time in Testcricket,” the vice-captain Michael Clarke said. “Obviously turning upthis morning I think we had a 196-run lead and now we’re 60 behind, soa very disappointing day. It’s another example of how fast things canchange in Test cricket.”JP Duminy was brilliant in compiling 166 while batting mostly with thelast three lower-order men and the final three partnerships were worth275. But Australia contributed to their problems by fieldingpoorly and Dale Steyn went on to finish with 76 having given threeopportunities.Ricky Ponting put down a simple chance at second slip when Steyn had32 and Nathan Hauritz grassed an opportunity off his own bowling withSteyn on 57. In between, Steyn skied one to mid-on where MichaelHussey’s sunglasses failed to live up to their job; he completely lostthe ball in the sun and it landed two metres away.There were also problems with the attack after Brett Lee failed totake the field due to a foot injury. The three specialists – MitchellJohnson, Peter Siddle and Hauritz – needed part-time backup and Clarkeand Michael Hussey provided the bulk of the assistance while onlookerswondered why Simon Katich was not handed the ball.”I actually asked Simon at some stage late in the day if he was okayto bowl,” Clarke said. “He said he hadn’t been bowling in the netsbecause his shoulder was a little bit sore. But in saying that I thinkif he had have been asked to bowl I think he would have done that.”Andrew Symonds entered the game carrying a knee injury that meant hewas unable to bowl his medium-pacers but it appeared his offspin wasalso out of the question until he was given a chance in the 125th overof the innings. Alex Kountouris, the team physio, said Symonds couldhave bowled spin at any stage.”He’s a little bit restricted in what he can do but he can bowl hisoffspinners and bat comfortably and he says he feels reasonablycomfortable running,” Kountouris said. “We’ll reassess him at the endof the game. He’s not in a lot of pain, no. I think he’s a bithesitant because he got quite sore in the last game but he’sreasonably good compared to where he was last game.”The one-sided day has left Australia with little chance of levellingthe series in the next two days. However, South Africa have repeatedlyshown in Perth and Melbourne that the state of a game can rapidlychange and Clarke wants Australia to take heart from that on thefourth day.”We’ve got a big day tomorrow,” Clarke said. “We’re going to have tocome out and bat really well and then we’ll wait and see what happens.I still believe if we bat well tomorrow we can get ourselves into aposition to win this Test match.”
