Test series won, but a whitewash Down Under looks doubtful

NEIL McKenzie might be saying “nobody is on the plane yet”, but despite all the talk of maintaining the momentum to create history here at the Adelaide Oval, it is clear the exertions of the past month have finally caught up with South Africa.

Perhaps it was to be expected after the bowling unit dug deep into the energy reserves to bowl Australia out twice in the first Test at the WACA without the services of the World’s No 1 fast bowler. Marry that with the mental strain the players and management have been under since the noise around captain Faf du Ples- sis grew louder in the build-up to this pink ball Test, and the performance over the last three days starts to ring true.

The Proteas magnificently won this series in Hobart 11 days ago. It confirmed their status alongside arguably one of the greatest teams to play this wonderful game to have won three consecutive Test series in Australia. The novelty of the pink ball Test under floodlights and Du Plessis’s dramas would have served up some sort of inspiration, but the essence of international sport is ruled by the desperation for success.

Consequently the dominance of Australia in the match thus far becomes clearer. The home side were in “crisis” mode after their Hobart embarrassment, and saw fit to clear out the stables for the dead-rubber here in Adelaide. Not since the advent of World Series Cricket and the rebel tours to South Africa that decimated the resources has Australia made as many as six changes to their line-up.

It has already reaped dividends, with a couple of debutants putting up their hand for the fight and wanting to show the sort of resilience Australian captain Steve Smith has been craving all series.

Equally, the one player in the South African team that needed to put in a performance to possibly save his Test career was opener Stephen Cook. The Highveld Lions captain has endured a miserable tour of Australia so far, but yesterday afternoon he fought through to the evening to ensure the Proteas at least had some sort of lead to take into today.

“Cookie is just one of those hard working cricketers. A bit old-school, does it his way, and has a method that works for him. He’s got almost 40 firstclass hundreds. He’s endured a lot of noise about his technique and how he goes about it. Very happy for him, and normally what he does is capitalise on starts, so we hope that sort of pattern is going to follow suit,” said Proteas batting coach Neil McKenzie.

Cook did not let the loss of his opening partner, Dean Elgar, within the first over prevent him from attempting to eliminate Australia’s first innings lead of 124 runs. Neither the departure of Hashim Amla (45), JP Duminy (26), Faf du Plesis (12), Temba Bavuma (21) and Kyle Abbott (0) could deter the dogged righthander from his quest for survival.

The scorecard of the top-order clarified South Africa’s struggles, with nobody able to slog it out with Cook, even after all reached double figures, except for Elgar and night-watchman Abbott of course

“The wicket does react differently with the pink ball. We saw Mitchell Starc running in there at night. But the guys will go back and reflect if they went against their game plans. Australia bowled really well. They didn’t give us freebies or a chance to get their innings going,” McKenzie added.

With a lead of only 70 runs and just four wickets remaining, there’s no doubt that Cook and fellow overnight batsman Quinton de Kock will need to remain at the crease at least until the close of the first session today if the Proteas are to post anything remotely worth defending.

“We have two big days left and we’re not on the plane yet. We have guys who can do damage at the back end. Then we have a bowling unit raring to go. They will leave everything out there, whether we get bowled out or declare. We’ll keep fighting.”

The lights are not completely out yet, but it is going to take the sort of effort that won the series initially to haul South Africa out of the hole they currently find themselves in.

Whether that sort of resilience is left in a dressing room that has wrestled intense battles on and off the field for the past three weeks, remains to be seen.