Proteas Pound Hosts Into Submission

The Age

Monday December 22, 2008

By ALEX BROWN

AUSTRALIA will overhaul its insipid bowling line-up before the Boxing Day Test in a desperate bid to to repel the greatest challenge to its Test cricketing sovereignty in a decade.

Outmanoeuvred and outplayed by Graeme Smith's men in Perth, the Australians now face the very real prospect of conceding their first Test series to South Africa in 98years of competition, and their first home series to any team in 17years.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting admitted South Africa's thumping six-wicket victory - achieved after the tourists' reeled off the second-largest successful run-chase in Test history - would prompt a complete review of his bowling group. Brett Lee, Peter Siddle and Jason Krejza combined for just three wickets in the match, and will be under pressure to retain their places for the second Test in Melbourne.

Yesterday's result marked the first time since 1988 that Australia has lost the first Test of a home series.

Should the South Africans win in Melbourne and Sydney, they will prise the ICC Test mace from Australia's grasp for the first time since 2003.

"There's no doubt now it's going to be hard for us to bounce back and win this series," Ponting said. "Being 1-0 down in a three-match series is a position we haven't been in very often, but we've got a number of experienced players in the side and it's up to us now to make sure we're doing everything right over the next few days to give ourselves the best chance of bouncing back.

"We have to look at (the bowling). We have to think about the bowlers we've got in the side and the style of bowlers we've got in the side, and with the conditions that we're going to be confronted with in Melbourne or Sydney ... work out if we think they're the best guys to win us the next two games, and if they're not then we have to make some changes."

The ease with which South Africa reached Australia's imposing fourth-innings target of 414 is particularly troubling for Ponting.

On a wearing pitch, the hosts managed just one wicket - that of Jacques Kallis for 57 - on the fifth day as man-of-the-match A.B.de Villiers (106no) and Test debutant Jean-Paul Duminy (50no) experienced few problems seeing off the second new ball.

Ponting's body language yesterday reflected the parlous state of Australia's bowling, as Lee (1-132) failed to threaten on a ground long considered one of his favourites. The recent series against New Zealand appears to have been nothing but a false dawn for the Australian spearhead, and while favoured to retain his place for Melbourne, Lee can ill-afford many more performances like this.

Lee's lack of swing and general deceleration over the course of the Test played into the hands of the powerful South African batting line-up. Buoyed by the absence of Stuart Clark, whom they had identified as Australia's most dangerous bowler, the Proteas alternated between patience and power as they ruthlessly exposed the lack of depth and variation to the hosts' attack.

Perhaps the most concerning aspect of the defeat for the Australians is that the senior players, not the juniors, failed to fire. The veteran core of Matthew Hayden, Lee, Michael Hussey and Ponting had little impact on the match, while relative newcomers Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin accounted for the lion's share of wickets and runs.

"Mitchell Johnson's performance was outstanding," Ponting said. "He was the only one who even looked like taking a wicket for us."

Ponting said his batting line-up, which did not count a single centurion among its ranks in Perth, was not immune from criticism.

"We gave them a sniff to win and they shouldn't have had any opportunity to win the game at all," he said. "We had a chance as a batting group to really put some nails in their coffin earlier in the game."

© 2008 The Age

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