Clarke stands firm in bouncer barrage
A captain looking to end a dry spell with the bat, a crucial test series in the balance and a 203cm monster sending down bouncer after brutal bouncer.
The stage was set for Michael Clarke to shine on day one of the series-decider against South Africa in Cape Town and, even after David Warner’s hard-tofollow knock of 135, he starred as Australia reached 331-3 at stumps.
Unlike most of the many memorable innings in Clarke’s 105-test career, yesterday’s unbeaten 92 was all about grunt instead of class.
Facing the same short-pitched strategy that England bombarded him with in the Ashes, Clarke neither attacked nor defended Morne Morkel in the second session.
Instead, like a boxer on the ropes, he weathered blows to the jaw, arm and fingers as a sold-out Newlands in Cape Town bayed for blood and team doctor Peter Brukner made trips to the middle.
‘‘It would have been easy to play a shot to try and stop that, but he hung in there,’’ team consultant Shane Warne said of the stoic skipper.
‘‘[His attitude was] you know what, over my dead body. You’re going to have to keep hitting me until I can’t stand up.’’
But by the end of play Clarke had formed a 114-run unbeaten stand with Steve Smith (50 not out) and put Australia on track to bat the Proteas out of the contest.
Dale Steyn left the field in the 41st
Michael Clarke takes a ball to the helmet against South Africa at Newlands. Photo: Getty Images over with a hamstring injury and may not return to bowl, while the absence of a front-line spinner further stacks the deck against the hosts.
Clarke won the toss for the first time this series and it paid big dividends.
Warner continued the form of his life, exorcising the side’s Newlands nightmares in a tick over half an hour.
Australia needed 43 balls to reach a total of 47-0, the same number of runs they were skittled for in the second innings of the 2011 test.