A series of moments in Australia may not have ended yet

Back in December 2008 Mickey Arthur proclaimed a famous SA victory as not just “one for this team” but “one for future generations who will win here again because of this”.

Clearly he was drunk. Not on champagne or beer, but on the elixir of victory, something far more powerful than anything that comes out of a bottle or a can. “Test series are decided by three to four, maybe half a dozen really ‘big moments’. You can have your nose in front for two days but then, when one of those moments comes along and you lose it, all the hard work can be lost,” Arthur said.

“This victory, after 98 years of trying to win a series in Australia, will change the landscape. Future SA teams will win in Australia because we have won for the first time.” He really did sound like he had downed a bottle of bubbly.

Yet, he would be proved absolutely correct. SA’s extraordinary series victory, concluded on December 30 2008, set the tone for the next two series. They won again, narrowly, in 2012 and delivered the most emphatic victory of all on the last tour in 2016 when they created what local media described as “an all-time low” in Australia’s history. At least it was only among the players and did not involve sandpaper.

SEISMIC

The “big moments” in those series were seismic, and most of them came while SA were on the back foot. In the first Test of the 2008 tour in Perth, the Proteas appeared to be in a hopeless position with their hosts heading for a lead beyond 400 and Brad Haddin going strong on 94. Not known for their “gambles”, the Proteas tempted Haddin to “get there with a six”. He charged down the wicket against Paul Harris and was stumped. If chasing 414 to win could be described as a “moment”, the Proteas grasped it.

More of a “moment” came on the fourth evening. With play due to continue until 8pm, Australia’s bowlers were shattered and the usual “shutting up shop” was expected. But Jacques Kallis, recognising “the moment”, launched a late counteroffensive which yielded 35 runs from the final five overs of the day. The momentum had changed, fatally for the home side.

The Proteas produced the greatest “come from behind” victory in their history at the MCG a week later. Having conceded 394 in the first innings, including 101 by Rickey Ponting, they were still 10 runs away from saving the follow-on when they lost their seventh wicket. It looked beyond hopeless. Arthur, outwardly calm, simply asked the remaining players to “get us within a hundred and keep us in the game”. JP Duminy and Dale Steyn did more than that, adding 180 for the ninth wicket and the Proteas won the game by lunch on day five and with it, their first series on Australian soil.

Four years later the “moments” came thick and fast. Despite centuries from Kallis and Hashim Amla in a first innings total of 450 the Proteas were placed under huge pressure as the hosts racked up a response of 565/5, but they stood firm. That performance barely registered on the “resistance” scale compared to Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers batting five hours together on the last day of the second Test to save that game, too.

SCEPTICS

In the decider, at the Waca in Perth, SA were 75/6, posted 225, earned a first innings lead of 62, made 569 in their second innings and won by 309 runs. Another series in the bag.

In 2016 even the sceptics and those of us who saw Steve Waugh’s team destroying SA teams in the 1990s and 2000s were beginning to wonder if Arthur’s words were more than romantic wishful saying. Three in a row? Surely not.

It did not look likely when Steyn limped out of the first Test with a broken shoulder after 12.4 overs but Temba Bavuma changed the course of the match with an airborne run-out of David Warner for 97 before both he and Stephen Cook joined the bowling attack. Hundreds from Duminy and Elgar came, all the “big moments” had been seized and victory by 177 runs followed.

A shell-shocked home team were bowled out for 85 in Hobart and a hat-trick of away series victories was secured.

Based on personal statistics, this year’s Proteas team in Australia are unlikely to win. Without a single batter averaging more than 40 and just one proven match-winning bowler in Kagiso Rabada, they should not have a chance. And yet ... just as SA players appear to inherit their predecessors’ frailties at World Cups, they have developed a pleasing habit of emulating them in Test cricket Down Under.