Michael Clarke's captaincy forged in South Africa
CAPE TOWN
As the pundits assemble their predictions for the series between Australia and South Africa, a glance at the last meeting leaves as many questions as answers. A 1-1 stalemate across two hectic Tests in Cape Town and Johannesburg, the series was over all too quickly.
In Dale Steyn's words: "It was like the first two rounds of a boxing match, two heavyweights. Just as soon as we found our feet the Aussies were on their way home."
The Australians were relieved to be doing so, for the result they secured had arrived despite the most chaotic backroom environment imaginable. The Tests took place in between the announcement of the Argus Review's caustic findings and the finalisation of the new coaching staff, selection panel and team performance regime. The dressing room was in a state of considerable flux, with the captain Michael Clarke virtually the only man sure to be there in the long-term.
A few weeks from becoming national coach, Mickey Arthur was still with Western Australia - Troy Cooley a reluctant interim mentor after the departure of Tim Nielsen. Two of Cooley's assistants, Justin Langer and Steve Rixon, were applicants for the senior job. The new bowling coach, Craig McDermott, was trying to instill methods far removed from those advocated by Cooley over the previous five years.
Gavin Dovey, the team manager, was less than six months into the job after replacing Steve Bernard. And Andrew Hilditch was serving out his final tour as part-time chairman of selectors, his replacement John Inverarity making a visit to observe. Pat Howard, the newly-minted team performance manager, also dropped by.
Looking back, Clarke told media persons the difficulties of that tour, and the trip to Sri Lanka that preceded it, were the making of his captaincy. Having secured strong results on those two tours, Clarke reasoned that things could not get too much more difficult, and the establishment of a settled support network around him will be a decided advantage entering the return bout with South Africa, this time to be played over a more satisfactory three Tests.
"That's really been forgotten, the fact we had so many changes in that South African series and even in Sri Lanka, but we managed to still have success," Clarke said. "I'll never forget that, I'll never forget the work and the time I had to put in to try to bring the team together to perform against such a good team in their own backyard. Credit to the players, because their attitude, their work ethic, their will to try to help the team win, was what managed to help us to win in Sri Lanka and then also level the series in South Africa.
"We're in a better place now, that's for sure, but so are South Africa probably. They'll be flying high in confidence after beating England. We've got to play our best cricket, if we play our best cricket I'm confident. Last summer I said I was confident we could beat India if we played our best, and I feel exactly the same now. If we play at our best against South Africa in these conditions, we can beat them."
Clarke's evolution as a leader made another important step between Cape Town and Johannesburg. On day one of the first Test he played as well as he ever had, braving a grassy pitch and the formidable South African attack to crash a bold 151. At the time it felt like an innings that would not be forgotten, yet by the end of the second day it was ancient history. A maelstrom of wickets, 23 in all, had seen Australia toss away their advantage and South Africa sprinting to victory.