Australia in Strong Position Against South Africa
The Australian cricket team headed to South Africa coming off a summer they would rather forget. They had lost their number one ranking in the one day game and had almost slipped from the top spot in the five day game.
Was this the end of an era or could Australia fight back in South Africa?
Going into the first test in Johannesburg the Aussies handed out baggy green caps to three test debutants, Phil Hughes, Marcus North and Ben Hilfenhaus. The pressure was on these guys to step into the test arena and perform.
For Hughes it was a terrible debut as he played an ugly shot chasing a ball he should have left alone. He only succeeded in getting a bottom edge that went to the keeper. He was gone after four balls without scoring.
North on the other hand came in and starred with the bat. The West Australian became the 13th Australian player to score a century on debut as he piled on 117 runs. After waiting an eternity to make his Australian test debut it was good to see him make the most of his opportunity.
Mitchell Johnson was unlucky not to score his first ever test ton as he was left stranded on 96 runs. After playing the support role to North he cut loose after the fall of the Western Australian. He hit 26 runs in one over and closed in on a century. Unfortunately Ben Hilfenhaus went for a duck and that saw the end of the innings. Australia scored an impressive 466.
Johnson did not let this upset him as he came out and got an early breakthrough for the Australians. He dismissed Graeme Smith for a duck. It was quite often Smith who outplayed the Aussie’s in the test series South Africa won in Australia. To see him gone early would have given Australia a huge boost.
Australia’s other bogey man in Australia was Jean-Paul Duminy. On South African soil he could only manage 17 runs as he also fell to Johnson. If not for AB de Villiers the score could have been ugly as they were bowled out for 220. Johnson was the star with 4/25. He has really stepped up in this match.
Phil Hughes went into the second innings looking to make amends for his first innings duck. To his credit he managed to hold on until stumps on day 3 and along the way he scored 36 runs. Simon Katich has earlier fallen for 10.
Australia goes into day four with a commanding 297 run lead. They will be wanting to score quick runs to build a match winning lead. You have to remember that South Africa took the match in Perth in the last series after being given a huge total to chase so this match is not over, anything can happen.
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