Neil Manthorp : Cricket
The biggest day, the biggest Test. Friday is the start of the first Test at the MCG. Boxing Day in Melbourne, one of the biggest cricket days in the world. Seventy thousand people are expected to watch the start of the rest of Hansie Cronje’s life. Not just Hansie’s.
For seven of the starting XI this could be their last chance to win in Australia. Gary Kirsten, Daryll Cullinan and Cronje may not get another chance. Brian McMillan, Dave Richardson, Pat Symcox and Allan Donald certainly won’t.
Popular wisdom suggests that South Africa’s best chance of victory in the three-Test series will come in in the first Test. On a bouncy pitch with more than a suggestion of uneven bounce, Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock can lead the way towards a morale-boosting victory well inside five days.
Popular wisdom also suggests, however, that South Africa will struggle mightily to avoid defeat in the second Test in Sydney where Shane Warne will exploit a typically cracked, spinner-friendly strip. Bob Woolmer has never been a follower of popular wisdom. “I know exactly what you mean,” he said. “But I wouldn’t look at it like that at all. I believe we need to be better than Australia on all surfaces.
“I think we would have a very good chance of winning on a turning wicket in Sydney with Symcox and [Paul] Adams — if that’s what they prepare.
“In Melbourne we’ve obviously got a good chance with our pace attack but you never really know until you’ve seen the wicket. Judging from the one-day games it will probably be bouncy. We wouldn’t mind that! Adelaide (third Test) will probably be a run feast. Again, I think the state of that wicket will depend on how the series is placed.”
In Glenn McGrath the Australians have the only man in world cricket able to match Donald, but he is injured with a post-hernia nerve problem. Paul Reiffel, too, has an injured cheek-bone after a training collision and Jason Gillespie has only just returned from a six-month lay-off with a serious back injury. The pace attack could be led by a combination of Michael Kasprowicz, Simon Cook and Andy Bichel.
“I’m not sure I believe all those injuries,” Woolmer says. “I will expect them to field their strongest team until I actually see the team sheet with different names! My previous experience of Australia leads me to believe that this is just another smoke-screen and no one is actually injured at all. We won’t concentrate on their team until it’s announced.”
While Australia are concentrating on injuries and fitness, South Africa’s concerns centre exclusively around form. Adam Bacher and Brian McMillan have been out of touch and although both will play, they are worries. In fact, all the signs once again point towards pressure being placed on the middle and lower order to rescue the innings in Melbourne.
Both four-day warm-up games produced excellent first innings totals of 402-9 (against Tasmania) and 458-9 (against Australia “A”) but it is of no comfort to the team that the scores came from seemingly hopeless positions of 136-6 and 236-7. Bacher’s last four innings before the Test were 0, 2, 5 and 4.
“It is becoming a problem for Adam,” admitted Woolmer. “He’s a bit upset about it but we really shouldn’t panic. There are three days between the last warm-up game and the Test so we can still do something to help him. His form can be turned on it’s head in a Test match — he might even score a hundred. Obviously I’m concerned for him, mentally he’s a bit down and we need to build him up and get him thinking positively. And that’s why I’m here. That’s my job.”
Bacher’s position, though, is not under threat. “He is the Test match opener. He didn’t play in the one-dayers and now, unfortunately, he’s made four low scores. During a normal season four low scores wouldn’t constitute a ‘slump’ but on tour, these days, it becomes a problem because opportunities are scarce.”
If Bacher should fail again it would lead to another early start for Jacques Kallis whose Test average remains dismal despite a promising tour of Pakistan. South Africa’s number three batting position has not been resolved yet, although Kallis is unquestionably the best option at the moment.
“I don’t want to put undue pressure on a young man,” Woolmer said, “but I remain convinced that his class will see him and the team through in the end. Australia will undoubtedly see Adam and Jacques as our weak links and they will do everything possible to exploit them. That’s understandable. We must be prepared for that. In a way it’s quite nice to have two of our best young players underrated by the oposition. That could lead to a bit of over-confidence.”
If there had been a change to the starting XI it may have caused some raised eyebrows. Herschelle Gibbs has moved into contention for a place as a sixth specialist batsman in place of Brian McMillan and ahead of Jonty Rhodes. “Jonty is not out of the running for a Test place but Herschelle has announced himself and forced his way into the reckoning.” says Woolmer.
McMillan dropped? The very idea sems unthinkable to Australian players who still regard him as a legendary competitor. Woolmer agrees — for now. “We don’t want to experiment too much. We must remember the side that beat Pakistan in the last Test we played. They are the blokes that performed when we needed them to. The only difference is Jacques coming in at number three [in place of the second spinner, Paul Adams].
“That team must be given the opportunity to carry on. We can’t read too much into the form on tour because we’ve had four one-dayers and three four-day games either side of them. As far as Adam Bacher is concerned, he’s had two bad games but three matches ago he scored a very impressive 69 not out against Western Australia at the WACA.”
Woolmer has extensive experience of playing against Australia and dealing with Australians. Although, on occasion, he can justifiably be accused of developing conspiracy theories when none exist, he is just as likely to identify pertinent details: “The Aussies, driven by the media, sometimes get into a panic over their team. And they are very good at creating panic among the opposition. We must not fall into that trap. We simply have to remember that cricket is a game, despite the importance of this one, and in games people sometimes fail and sometimes do well. You have to have losers if you’re going to have winners.” Ironically, South Africa’s greatest enemy during the potentially decisive first day, even the first morning, will be their own desire.
Never has the desire for success been greater. There are no exceptions among the senior players. Indeed, such is the belief that this series will shape the rest of their lives, they are prepared to have themselves marked for life.
Cronje, McMillan and Cullinan have agreed to have tattoos should South Africa win the series. In Pakistan a couple of months ago they merely shaved their heads. Is it significant that these three should be prepared to take this step? Probably.
Cullinan does still have time on his side to prove his “greatness” but a disappointing tour of Pakistan plus the passionate desire to put one over Shane Warne and the rest of a team that vividly hate him is strong fuel. He says he won’t even hide his tattoo, should he need one. Right on his shoulder, and proud.
McMillan has been described as the best — at least “most genuine” — all-rounder in the world for several years. But he is going on 34 years old now and his place in the side has been “leant on” like never before. He admitted to feeling the pressure in Pakistan where he failed in the Test series and then returned home before the one-dayers because of an illness to his wife.
He desperately wants to finish his career with the five-Test series in England next year, and maybe the World Cup in 1999, but it’s looking far from certain. Allan Border has always been quick to point towards McMillan as the single biggest factor in South Africa’s favour in three previous series but “Big Mac” cannot survive on that reputation. Unless he performs in Melbourne, he may be the one to miss out in Sydney should Adams be included alongside Pat Symcox.
As befitting a sensible man with a mischievous sense of humour, McMillan’s tattoo would be on his backside.
Cronje’s captaincy record (in Tests) may not boast quite the same winning percentage as Mark Taylor’s, but it’s pretty good nonetheless. He believes that when his time is up, his record and legacy will be judged on the result of this series. To come to Australia and beat the best side in the world would put South African cricket where it has never, ever been before.
Everyone who reaches the top of the ladder will fall off eventually, but the first man to reach the top will be remembered forever. With Everest it was Hilary, in South African cricket it would be Hansie Cronje. His tattoo would go on his ankle. Not ostentatiously displayed but perfectly within reach for civilised dinner parties and public functions.
The captain couldn’t be seen dropping his pants but, equally, he wouldn’t want to disappoint an eager audience.
Incidentally, in case you believe those three players are the keenest to succeed, think again. When told of the tattoo pledge between the first three, Allan Donald replied “I’ll get one on my bloody forehead if we win the series.”
It is difficult to believe that any team in the world has failed to be “psyched up” on the eve of a Test match. It is equally difficult to imagine a team being quite as obsessed with victory as this South African side. When did it start? After the series win against Pakistan? No. Before the Pakistan tour even departed? No. The desire for revenge began the very second that Ian Healy hooked Cronje for six to win the second Test in Port Elizabeth a year ago.
There is nothing about that Test that doesn’t leave the players feeling cold. From the 99-run lead on the first innings, to Shaun Pollock’s hamstring injury, to the number of times Donald went past the outside edge of Mark Waugh’s bat during his admittedly magnificent, match-winning 116. That defeat knocked the stuffing out of the side more than anything else has in six years.
Several of the players will not recover their cricketing equilibrium until the desire for revenge has been sated. Such desire can, obviously, be more destructive than positive. Woolmer is aware of that. “We’re trying to keep everyone on an even keel. The commitment and desire has never been more obvious to me throughout my whole playing and coaching career. I hope that fact that the players’ wives are arriving in time for Christmas will help calm everyone down.
“We can’t just go out there and expect to win through willpower and desire. We need to have a good degree of calm, collected thought and disciplined patterns of play. We must underestimate the opposition and although confidence is a great weapon, it explodes in your face if it becomes over-confidence.”