Bloodbath in the Bullring
Philander surgically removes batsmen as Australia’s fight evaporates with first ball
THERE are times when numbers do not tell the full story but in South Africa’s 492-run annihilation of Australia, they are the proof in the pudding. In dismissing Australia for 119 in 88 minutes, South Africa recorded their biggest test win in terms of runs and, by the same measure, subjected the visitors to their worst test defeat since 1934. Yesterday’s rout was also the fourth biggest in the history of cricket.
Having lost the first test in Durban by 118 runs, the Proteas grew in confidence and have won their first home test series against Australia since readmission. This triumph is also South Africa’s first win against Australia at the Wanderers in 24 years.
At the turn of the century, Australia were dishing out record defeats left, right and centre but when the wheel turns, it does so brutally.
It was at this very same ground 17 years ago when Steve Waugh’s side wiped the floor with Mark Boucher’s sorry charges via an innings and 360-run evisceration.
That remains South Africa’s heaviest test defeat.
Australia have been thoroughly beaten and if the 322-run caning in Cape Town was an indication of absent minds after the ball-tampering trauma, their abject second innings surrender was a case of both feet in the plane mentally.
Not even the best plaster can paper over the enormity of the victory, the cracks in Australia’s wafer-thin batting after the ousting of their three best batsmen and how ruthlessly the Proteas went about their business on what was Morne Morkel’s last morning of test cricket.
The Australians had little fight left and what remained of it evaporated on the first ball of the day.
Shaun Marsh (seven) inside-edged a Vernon Philander (6/21) delivery onto his pad and was well caught by Temba Bavuma at gully. Three balls later, his younger brother Mitchell (0) wafted lazily outside his off-stump, gifting Quinton de Kock an easy catch.
With Australia starting the day at 88/3, the loss of two quick wickets ended whatever chances of a small rearguard that remained.
On his way to career-best figures, 50 test wickets against Australia and 204 test scalps, Philander surgically removed Tim Paine (seven), Pat Cummins (0) and Chadd Sayers (0) before Nathan Lyon’s (nine) run-out ended proceedings.
His 32-ball spell of 6/3 was reminiscent of Sir Curtley Ambrose’s 7/1 in 25 balls that settled the fifth test of the 1992/93 Frank Worrell Trophy series in Perth.
While Ambrose capitalised on the Fremantle Doctor, pace and trampoline bounce, Philander’s adherence to minimal seam movement on a 10-cent piece outside off-stump corroded Australia’s batting confidence.
Proteas coach Ottis Gibson said such a bowling performance was overdue from the metronomic mover but also identified the second innings in Durban as the turning point of the series.
“I’m especially pleased with Vern. I set him a challenge at the start of the summer and he’s succeeded in what I’ve challenged him to do,” he said.
“We saw in the morning that he was the one guy who was running in and getting all the wickets.
“That [Durban] innings was a turning point and a couple of meetings after that game were massive. We didn’t play Mitchell Starc very well. He was the main threat and he bowled very well.
“We spoke about neutralising some of the threats they had. We feel that we played their bowlers very well as the series progressed.
“We played Starc a lot better in Port Elizabeth and we grew in confidence.”
Matters beyond Paine’s control found him presiding over Australia’s heaviest defeats against South Africa in SA in the past four years.
With his top-order folding in consecutive innings, Paine and his game lower order were hard-pressed to reproduce their first big fight back.
The loss of their two best batsmen in Steven Smith and David Warner compounded their batting problems in a series where the banned Cameron Bancroft (223) was Australia’s top-scorer.
The centuries so abundant in the Ashes were missing in action. Mitchell Marsh’s 96 in Durban was Australia’s best individual effort.
“The performance was still concerning,” Paine said.
“We’ve had a really tough week but since the Durban test, South Africa have outplayed us from a skill perspective.
“There are some areas of concern but we’ve also got some guys who have played some very good cricket at international level who will have to step up.”