Proteas lay down challenge to Aussies with series win
Paul Martin Cainer Johannesburg
South Africa have duly taken a two nil lead in the Test series against New
Zealand on home turf -- as of course have the Australlians, against the
Windies, Down Under. But in Port Elizabeth on Monday the victory was hardly
achieved with the same panache or the same hype as the events Down Under.
The South Africans, as the saying goes, have much to be modest about -- and
the Aussies have never been modest about anything.
Let’s admit it. The Aussies proved themselves world-beaters; the South
Africans have proved themselves simply to be pretty good.
Yet one can see more than a glimmer of ambition in the South Africans' eyes.
They would love to gun for the new Aussie record of 12 wins in a row (it may
be 15 in a few weeks time). And Sean Pollock, usually a modest fellow, was
brimful of confidence after clinching the three-match series on Monday.
The South African captain says there will be no letting up in the final Test
against the Kiwis starting in Johannesburg on Friday. The relatively large
crowds drawn to cricket in South Africa's commercial capital will drive them
forward, he says, in their quest to show they're the equal to the Aussies.
"I've heard us being described as adrenalin junkies because you get a good
vibe and the adrenalin pumps when there's a big crowd."
Pollock says he expects his side to continue improving until they overtake the
Aussies. "I think they are the premier Test team at the moment and that is
shown by their results. Every team would strive towards that. And that's
what we're doing."
The South Africans will face the crunch when they take on the Aussies in a
Test series next year.
"You need to win all your series to start off with, and then the only way you can do that (overtake them) is to go and beat
them," Pollock points out.
Today they they hardly looked like rampant world-beaters. It took the
Proteas a grinding 34 overs and one ball to knock off the 86 runs they
needed for victory against New Zealand at Port Elizabeth -- and they lost
three wickets in the process.
Pleasingly, Gary Kirsten is bang in form again, amassing an undefeated 47.
The hero of the first innings, Neil McKenzie, hit a big six and ended on 7
not out. Indeed it was McKenzie's sudden elevation from flop (he had
averaged seven runs an innings in the three-Test series against Sri Lanka)
to stardom, through an effective 120, that was the biggest bright spark to
come from an otherwise somewhat lacklustre match. The Kiwis have been
building on new talent, and it was always expected that the South Africans
would dominate the series. Two up, one to go, is satisfactory, but the
margin of the victories, by five wickets and now by seven, is hardly
overwhelming – just compare what the Aussies have been doing against the
West Indies.
Anyway, I suppose there is at least one other positive aspect for the
Proteas. Makaya Ntini is looking like a really good paceman, and as his
captain Sean Pollock put it today: "Makaya gives 120 per cent – he just goes
and goes." In some ways he is the Test-cricket-retired Jonty Rhodes' successor in the enthusiasm stakes.
Also pleasing is that Pollock himself is bowling so well -- he enjoyed that
peculiarly satisfying feeling of trapping a good batsman lbw playing no
stroke -- one of five lbws adjudged in the Kiwi second innings. The New
Zealanders plummeted to 148 all out. That was deeply disappointing after
they had fought so well to prevent the South Africans building a big
first-innings lead.
On Sunday they got the last two South Africans out with no extra runs on the
board (restricting the Proteas to 361 and a lead of only 63). Mind you, the
Kiwis did have South Africa in big trouble, until that thorn-in-their flesh
Nicky Boje (a spin-bowler who smashed the Kiwis with his bat in the one-day
series) struck a priceless half-century to accompany McKenzie's maiden ton.
South Africa the winners, then. In the world-beating stakes though, the
evidence so far tends to favour the Aussies.
Mail Cricket Editor
