Australian paceman Glenn McGrath on Wednesday defended his captain’s decision to delay declaring in the first Test against South Africa in Perth, saying an unusually flat wicket was to blame for South Africa escaping with a draw.
The Australians had the Test by the throat going into the final day on Tuesday, with South Africa still needing 406 runs more to win after losing 85-2 in the final session on Monday.
But the tourists, led by a brilliant unbeaten 102 from back-up batsman Jacques Rudolph who lasted the entire day, hung on for an unlikely draw, losing just three more wickets all day to be 287-5 at stumps.
Captain Ricky Ponting was later asked if he had delayed the declaration too long — coming virtually at tea on the second-last day but immediately after Test newcomer Brad Hodge had reached a double century.
Ponting has previously criticised West Indian skipper Brian Lara for delaying declarations in favour of allowing batsmen to reach milestones.
But he denied Hodge’s innings had influenced him and said the Australians would normally have bowled any team out in the time they had allowed themselves.
McGrath, who took just one wicket for the Test, agreed.
”The wicket yesterday was not your normal Waca [Western Australian Cricket Association] wicket,” he said. ”Everyone wanted Hodgey to go on and score that double 100 once he got so close.
”We’ve generally bowled teams out in under a day, so nobody had any problems with it at all. I’d back us nine times out of 10 to knock a team over in that time.”
The Waca wicket is famous for its speed and carry, but McGrath in particular seemed to struggle on a surface he normally relishes.
He said new curator Cam Sutherland had not managed to get as much life in the wicket as he had hoped.
”The thing that disappoints me the most is a lot of wickets around Australia are losing their character,” he said. ”It would be disappointing if all wickets around Australia are identical.
”I think it’s just a new curator. Just a few teething problems, hopefully next year it’ll be back to normal.”
Ponting had also defended his decision to hold off declaring, saying his bowlers had worked hard to dismiss the South Africans but got little help.
”At 127 overs or whatever … we felt [there] was going to be plenty of time to win the game, to tell the truth,” he said. ”Our boys toiled away exceptionally well and exceptionally hard, but we just didn’t create enough chances.
”The wicket was incredibly flat, especially for the fast-bowlers. Shane [Warne] got a bit of assistance around the wicket to the left-handers.
”But … it was probably too much. He had balls bouncing over the batsman’s head and stuff like that.”
The Australian skipper did pay tribute to Rudolph and Justin Kemp, who accompanied him for 213 minutes to make 55.
”That innings by Rudolph was a very, very good innings,” he said. ”Considering he had to face a fair bit of Shane from around the wicket into the foot marks, he played very well.”
But South African captain Graeme Smith believed the Australians had ruined any chance of a result by taking so long to declare.
”A day and a session to chase 500 doesn’t give you a lot of options to go and win a game,” he said. ”So, he cut out any way that we could win.
”We got close to 300 without really pushing ourselves at any stage, so I think 350 to 400 would have given us an opportunity if we had batted well.”
Rudolph’s performance left the South Africans with an abundance of talent to pick from going into the remaining Tests, with injured all-rounder Jacques Kallis ready to play in Melbourne on Boxing Day while spinner Nicky Boje is also likely to start.
”There’s quite a few things on offer, quite a few options available to us,” Smith said. ”Obviously we need to see the wicket and see what were going to face in Melbourne.”
Both teams headed for Melbourne on Wednesday. — Sapa-AFP