Australia hit brick walls as South Africa counterattack with bat and ball: T2D2

Australia 4/112 (25ov, Warner 65*/67b/10x4, Parnell 6-2-19-2, Philander 6-0-26-2) trail South Africa 423 (150.5ov, Duminy 123/231b/14x4, deVilliers 116/232b/1x6 14x4, Lyon 46-7-130-5) by 311 runs with 6 1st inns KR's in hand; T2/3 D/5 at Port Elizabeth.

It wasn't surprising to see AB deVilliers go on to make a century, but it was to see JP Duminy, whose place in the team has looked less than cemented, do the same. The pair stayed together for the entire first session adding 109 which, made Sourh Africa more secure, if not yet in a commanding position. 

Australia's  quick bowlers looked ordinary against high quality batting. Duminy took the early lead with some pugnacious strokes but deVilliers, looking very much the no 1 ranked batsman in the world, played for the most part with cultivated restraint, hitting out every so often. He was a delight to watch, not that I was disappointed to a see him, early in the afternoon session, hit a return catch to Nathan Lyon who, if he hadn't exactly troubled AB, had kept him on a shorter leash than the quicker bowlers.

JP  continued  after AB's departure, accumulating steadily without cutting loose. The 31 overs bowled in the session produced 3/90, and took the total past 400, which seemed enough given that South Africa need to force a win to remain in the series. Yet Graeme Smith seemed to want to wear the Australians, who had already bowled 148 overs before tea, down (and out). In any event the innings only lasted a further 15 balls, Lyon taking a fifth wicket from his 46 overs of hard slog (and some spin).

At that point fatigue overcame me and I fell asleep. 

It was a rude awakening later in the morning  to learn that Australia had slumped to 4/112 from the 25 overs they faced. Watching the Foxtel highlights it became clear that they were lucky not to have lost more wickets. Once again David Warner benefited from being dropped while Lyon (why was he sent in as night watchman after bowling so many overs?) was fortunate that the Proteas opted not to review what hotspot indicated was a thin edge off Dale Steyn to the wicketkeeper. 

Steyn went wicketless but was hostile, as in their different ways were the other quicks. Vernon Philander and, a real eye opener, Wayne Parnell each took a brace of wickets but the four of them showed Australia a thing or three about how to bowl on a relatively lifeless wicket,

We've seen so e impressive Australian batting recoveries in the last few Tests, but it's asking a lot for yet another one here. This Test looks lost.

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South Africa revive then falter in face of dogged Australia bowling: T2 D1.

South Africa 5/214 (83ov, Elgar 83/193b/2x6 9x4, duPlessis 55/126b/1x6 5x4, deVilliers 51*/126b/7x4, Lyon 23-6-47-2, Harris 18-5-36-1, Johnson 15-2-44-1, Siddle 21-6-61-0, Smith 4-0-18-1) v Australia; T2/3 D1/5 at Port Elizabeth. South Africa won toss and choose to bat.South 

At 2/11, with Graeme Smith, who had at least made a good decision to bat after winning his second toss in a row, and Hashim Amla, both out lbw, South Africa were in strife. But help came from an unexpected source - Dean Elgar - who, pressed into service as an opener, gutsed out 83 before yielding to Nathan Lyon's pressure.

 Not surprisingly Faf duPlessis and, as expected, AB deVilliers, did their bit to give South Africa grounds to hope for a competitive total on a pitch which, after the shine had worn off the new ball, played very slowly. What a competitive total might be remains to be seen. At 2/11 it looked like 150 or so; now it looks like more than 350.

A few balls at the start excepted, the conditions didn't assist Mitchell Johnson, who therefore sensibly dropped his pace a little (but not too much). All the frontline Australian bowlers bowled quite well in the circumstances, with Lyon particularly effective, and Steve Smith, not yet in the frontline category, taking the bonus wicket of  debutant Quinton de Kock, who looked what he has hitherto been: a short form specialist.

On paper Australia look to have the upper hand, but if you factor in a not out deVilliers and a pitch where runs can be scored, albeit not easily, the Test looks more evenly poised after bad light curtailed the first day. 

There may not be much in the away of fireworks in prospect on his wicket, but a tight struggle (which deserves a better crowd than on D1)   should continue. 

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Another good day for Australia: pity they're coming so far into the series: T4 D1

England 9/238 (90ov, Cook 51/164b/5x4, Trott 49/60/7x4, Lyon 20-7-42-4) v Australia: T4/5 D1/5 at Chester-Le-Street, Durham. England won toss and batted.

Hard to believe that Australia, 0-2 down, have won 5 (perhaps all 6) of the last 6 days in this Test series. I didn't expect them to do so, but a collective resilience has risen from the ashes of the Lord's drubbing and the loss of the Ashes which has put an often sluggish and slapdash England on the back  foot both literally and metaphorically. 

I thought that Mitchell Starc deserved to play instead of Jackson Bird, but, once satisfied that Ryan Harris was fit to take the field so soon after T3, the selectors preferred the line and length man to the mercurial one. It seems to have been the right decision for the slow opening day wicket, but whether Starc's batting will be missed remains to be seen.

Nathan Lyon, another who hasn't enjoyed the selectors' favour this year, was the surprise packet. He'd bowled reasonably well at Old Trafford, where his 1/100+ for the match didn't reflect the quality of his bowling. Here the statistical balance was redressed: he was subtler, yet didn't spin the ball that much, but took the wickets of numbers 2-6 after the four quick bowlers had held England to 1/57 at lunch, Alistair Cook's acquiescent 21*/90b setting the pace (if that's the right term). 

In the afternoon session Lyon, assisted by some shrewd bowling changes by Michael Clarke,  winkled out a seemingly well set Jonathan Trott, then took the wind out of Kevin Pietersen's full blown sails, before snaffling  Ian Bell to a lazy shot and baffling an out of sorts and tortoise like Jonny Bairstow, while Cook droned on to a torpid 51 before Bird had him lbw and his team 4/155.

The Australian quick bowlers kept things tight and wickets at regular intervals. 9/238, which looked below par to me, prompted some England supporters who know, or claimed to know, the vagaries of the Durham wicket, to state that 250 is a good total. Sounds like whistling in the dark to me, but Australia will have to reprise much of their Old Trafford first innings form to prove me wrong.

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Long day's journey into nought

Australia 550 & 8/267 dec drew with South Africa 388 & 8/248 (148 ov, duPlessis 110*, Kallis 46, Siddle 4/65, Lyon 3/49) T2/3 D5/5 at Adelaide. Series level 0-0 with one Test to play.

Faf duPlessis 110*/376b (14x4), supported chiefly by AB deVilliers 33/220b ( 0 boundaries) and Jacques Kallis 46/110b (6x4,) batted with grit, determination and a straight bat to reprieve South Africa from what looked at 4/77 overnight  to be a likely (probable?) defeat. He was deservedly named Player of the Match. Michael Clarke's double century may have put Australia on course for a win but duPlessis's last day heroics together with his first innings 78 kept the Proteas in with a chance of securing a draw.

I went to the Oval but left at lunch to watch the rest of game (and  England's win over India) on TV  with South Africa 4/126, having scored 49 from 35 overs without loss in the session. Even then, despite a couple of DRS reviews which favoured the Proteas, the ball seemed to be hitting the middle of the bat regularly. The pitch, which didn't help the bowlers as much as the script (and previous Adelaide Tests) said it should, played some part, but the impressive mental and technical skills of duPlessis and, at that point, deVilliers pointed to a long hot afternoon (and evening for the bowlers.

When Peter Siddle bowled deVilliers shortly after lunch 5/134,  Australia had a glimmer, perhaps more,  of hope.  But Jacques Kallis and du Plessis dispelled this with more stonewalling (less so in the injured Kallis's case). The three specialist Australian bowlers persisted,iwith the occasional near miss until Nathan Lyon, whose 50-31-49-3, snared Kallis: 6/233. Then, with the tail exposed at one end,  Peter Siddle roused himself for a final effort, taking two more wickets before Morne Morkel played out the last - his 22nd and the team's 98th of the day - leaving South Africa exultant and Australia, not least Siddle after his33-15-65-4,deflated.

South Africa will regard this non-result as a victory and Australia as a defeat. Both are wrong, but with T3 starting in a few days the side which regroups the quickest and which is able to replace its casualties and failures effectively will start the Perth Test on the front foot. But, as this match showed, over five days things change.

Scorecard

Australia consolidate as West Indies struggle to rebuild after poor first innings: T3D3

Australia 6/200 (65 ov, Ponting 57, Cowan 55) & 328 lead West Indies 218 (87.2ov, Chanderpaul 68, Lyon 4/69) by 310 runs with 4 second innings wickets in hand. T3/3 D3/5 at Dominica.

It was not West Indies' day. After the remaining batters, including Shivnarine Chanderpaul  who doubled his overnight score to 68/164b (3x4),  couldn't produce the massive revival which was required to haul the team back into any sort of contention, Australia built on its first innings lead of 110 solidly and was in a very strong position at stumps.

There wasn't much scintillating cricket - certainly not enough to keep me awake even until lunch - but from the highlights it appeared that Australia put in a workmanlike day, exemplified by Nathan Lyon 33-7-69-4 continuing his persistent bowling while Ricky Ponting 57/130b (4x4) and Ed Cowan 55/123b (5x4) found some batting form.
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The West Indies didn't give up in the field, but despite chipping away at the Australians haven't brought themselves right back into the game.There have been some unexpected reversals of form in this series but nothing approaching the miracle which will be needed if West Indies are to win this match.

  Scorecard

Fox Sports report with link to video highlights

Memorable day for Aussie debutants as 16 wickets fall for 221

Australia 273 & 5/116 (33.5 ov, M Clarke 60) lead Sri Lanka 105 (50ov, N Lyon 5/34) by 283 runs with 6 second inns wickets in hand. T1/3 D2/5 at Galle.

Two batting meltdowns, a major one by Sri Lanka who lost 7/18 to post an abysmal 105 all out followed by Australia's 5/116, on a bowler friendly - but not that friendly - wicket. have put Australia in control of the First Test after only two days.

My reservations about the inexperienced Australian attack were soon shown to be groundless. Trent Copeland took a wicket with his second ball and Nathan Lyon with his first, as Sri Lanka self-destructed in the face of high class bowling and fielding. Lyon's 15-3-34-5 was a superb debut. while Copeland effectively took two of the first three wickets, one with the ball, the other a run out of Mahela Jayawardene who looked more assured than most of his team mates.

A Sri Lankan revival was blocked by three quick wickets from Shane Watson which opened the way for Lyon to run throught the tail, leaving Sri Lanka embarassed with a paltry 105. The other bowlers kept things tight: Ryan Harris's 8-5-6-0 speaks for itself, even if it doesn't say how unlucky he was not to take at least one wicket.

Much of Australia's second innings has, apart from Michael Clarke's positive 60/80b (1x6, 7x4) , been more akin to parklands than Test cricket. Shane Watson was out first ball from a Sehwag-style stroke while Ricky Ponting fell in comical fashion with both bat and ball airborne.
But with a lead of almost 300, and the wicket continuing to deteriorate (eg puffs of dust, balls keeping low) Australia should be able to win comfortably from here.
Scorecard