Unfortunately for South Africa their only batter capable of salvaging a draw in the third Test is currently playing for Perth Scorchers.
Faf du Plessis, on debut no less, batted for seven hours and faced 376 balls in an unconquered 110 at Adelaide Oval to ensure South Africa didn’t lose a Test in 2012.
His marathon vigil ensured the series stayed tied at 0-0 heading into the deciding game in Perth which the Proteas ended up winning.
Scanning the current line-up there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the South African side who has either the application let alone the technique to deadbat a quality bowling attack like Australia’s.
Anyone who has been watching the Allan Border My Life docos that have been airing on Fox Cricket while the Sydney rain has put a dampener on proceedings will appreciate the value of a stubborn batter.
One who puts value on their wicket.
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Border tellingly in the first episode says that he thinks he overachieved for his career when he looks at his impressive statistics compared to the natural talent he had compared to some of his contemporaries like Greg Chappell and Kim Hughes.
(Photo by Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
He ended up outscoring both of them at Test level (and everyone else for that matter, holding the world record with 11,1174 before Brian Lara passed him). Border was never in the same ballpark as the two of them when it came to style or flamboyance but he got the job done through sheer mental toughness.
Sadly for the 2022-23 touring South Africans, they will be unable to receive a transfusion of AR Border DNA, or Faf du Plessis for that matter, and will still be at long odds to prevent the Australians from taking the 14 wickets on Sunday to complete a series clean sweep.
Of the six wickets that fell on the truncated fourth day, it’s hard to find fault with captain Dean Elgar for getting out to the brute of a delivery he copped from Josh Hazlewood.
Heinrich Klaasen gloving one through to
Alex Carey can be put down to poor technique. It was a good delivery but a Test-standard batter would have pulled it or pulled their gloves out of harm’s way.
Sarel Erwee letting a Nathan Lyon straight ball cannon into off stump, well that was just a case of not applying himself to the task. When you are trying to bat time to save a Test, you can’t give the opposition half a chance, let alone shoulder arms when an off spinner is coming around the wicket to a left-hander.
Allan Border. (Photo by Adrian Murrell/Getty Images)
Hazlewood nicking off Temba Bavuma? A combination of playing at a ball he didn’t have to and a world-class bowler doing enough off the wicket to remove a batter who can be a medium-term annoyance.
Khaya Zondo’s LBW to Cummins. Well, he’d opened up his stance to combat the right-hander seamer coming around the wicket. But he was undone by a fast, full delivery exploiting his lack of footwork and bat speed.
As for Kyle Verreynne, he couldn’t have done much more when he nicked Cummins to the safe hands of Steve Smith at slip. The only Proteas batter who has enhanced his reputation on this trip, he was trying to dig in but was simply brought undone by a superior bowler.
And we can expect more of this on day five. Cummins and Hazlewood don’t need to hold back with their workload on day five. Nether is playing BBL and will have a month to put the feet up before the four-Test Indian tour.
Pat Cummins of Australia celebrates after taking the wicket of Kyle Verreynne of South Africa. (Photo by Brett Hemmings – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Even a barnacle like Border was often unable to save his side from defeat when confronted with a better opponent, as was often the case when Australia were mismatched with the West Indies in the 1980s.
Border’s last Test innings was an unbeaten half-century to force a draw against none other than South Africa in 1994.
There’s a chance for one of the current South Africans to do something similar on day five but based on the evidence displayed during the first 14 days of this series, there has been nothing to suggest the Proteas will be able to revive the lost art of batting for a draw.
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