Consolation win for Australia
For the second consecutive year Australia have pulled off a
last-minute victory in the Sydney Test, this time despite a courageous
and painful batting effort from the injured Graeme Smith.
Last season it was Michael Clarke who bowled Australia home nine
minutes from stumps and on this occasion Mitchell Johnson picked up the
final wicket with five minutes remaining to give Australia a consolation
win that left the series ledger a little less lop-sided at 2-1.
The last breakthrough came when Johnson nipped a ball back off a
crack in the wearing pitch to bowl Smith, who had been incredibly gutsy
in coming to the crease at No. 11 with a broken left hand and a right
elbow so sore he said he could barely brush his teeth in the morning.
Smith survived for 29 minutes with Makhaya Ntini as he aimed to salvage
a draw but every fast ball he faced drew winces around the ground as he
quickly released his left hand and gritted his teeth.
It was difficult to watch but an appropriate end to a series that has
for three weeks been impossible to look away from. When Smith strode to
the crease to a standing ovation it was after a 75-minute partnership
between Ntini and Dale Steyn that looked like creating a fitting coda
for a series in which tails have wagged and Australia seemed to have
forgotten how to win.
The feeling only increased when Matthew Hayden put down a sitter at
slip to reprieve Ntini with half an hour left.
But when it mattered Australia’s new-look attack, which had come
together as the team’s reputation diminishes, did manage to hold onto a
No. 1 ranking that was a legacy of past champion sides. Led by the Man
of the Match Peter Siddle, they were toiling on the sort of cracking
surface that might have brought carnage in the Warne-McGrath years, when
Australia would more likely have been chasing a clean-sweep rather than
trying to prevent one.
This year the home team entered the day with the series already lost
and needing nine wickets from Siddle, Johnson, Doug Bollinger, Nathan
Hauritz and Andrew McDonald. All played a part, and McDonald’s lbw to
remove Steyn was a particularly key moment.
(c) Cricinfo
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