The Surfer

... Australia have been beaten in two consecutive tests by South Africa that they should have won. To lose tight games can be an outcome of form, which is what happened in the 2005 Ashes. To lose games after setting them up reflect a certain lethargy and flabbiness in selection, in thought, in training (who was it that said that teams begin dropping catches only when they don’t practice taking them enough?). But before anything else, it reflects a paucity of the quality needed to decisively seize games. Whenever the game needed changing, Australia looked around its dressing room and found that its game-changers were gone. And South Africa were ready, willing, composed and able.

There is too much emphasis on containment and protecting runs rather than attacking and trying to take wickets. If in doubt, attack every time. These observations are more of an approach and attitude to bowling, rather than directed towards any particular player or the current attack.

It's fair to say we started talking about this tour almost as soon as we arrived home three years ago. It has always been in the back of our minds, even through this year when we had tours to India and England. If I was still in the habit of sticking notes on my fridge door, I would have stuck one there three years ago and it would simply have said: "Win in Australia next time."

We may have the better players, more stadiums, infinitely more money and the loudest voice in world cricket but in one are we have regressed. Indian fans have, in recent years, become an embarrassment. It was wonderful to see the Melbourne crowd (around 42,000, which would be large in most stadiums, but filled less than half of MCG) responding to cricket's latest star Jean Paul Duminy.

The Invisible Man Award for Most Under-Rated Cricketer on the Planet

South Africa's achievement is a triumph for astute leadership both on and off the park. The intense, angst-ridden, humourless South African cricketers so familiar to Australian crowds since 1993-94 have been replaced by positive, relaxed and modest young men bonded by a conviction that they can be the very best. Indeed, should they win the third Test starting in Sydney on Saturday, they will officially supplant Australia as the No. 1 Test nation.

Waiting in the wings, the likes of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Monde Zondeki have cut their teeth in the franchise competitions, both ending as leading wicket takers in the last two completed SuperSport Series. Both are more than able replacements for Ntini when he finally decides to call it quits ... The find of the summer, JP Duminy, has also waited patiently, all the while churning out a pile of runs domestically. An enthralled Australian commentary box has compared the classy left-hander to none other than Brian Charles Lara, so meteorically has his stock risen. The man whose injury opened the door for Duminy, the indefatigable Ashwell Prince, has climbed the ranks to become Smith’s lieutenant, with several match-winning centuries — including one in Australia and two in England — illustrating his pivotal role in a vastly succesful middle- order. None of these players are looked at within the team, or around the world for that matter, as inferior players of colour dependent on a favourable selection process to make the grade. They are key to Smith’s plans, heroes around the country and good enough to hold their own in any conditions.

At times in Melbourne, Ricky Ponting's men played as opponents used to play against them, with a kind of grim, orderly, persevering mediocrity. As JP Duminy, in his second Test, and Dale Steyn, with a single-figure Test average, added 180 on the third day, bowlers went through the motions to defensive fields, while catches were spilled, and overthrows and penalty runs were conceded almost without a care.
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It is not so much that a generation in Australian cricket is over, as that a new one has failed to begin, and that the players assumed to tide the team over in transition have fallen from their high estate.

An ideal solution could be for the league matches to be played at neutral venues too. The BCCI curator’s committee could oversee the preparation of the pitches and we could expect good standard pitches as the onus will then be on the pitch committee.
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To make the Ranji Trophy more interesting, each innings should be restricted to 90 overs only. A bonus point for number of centuries and five-wicket hauls could make the teams play with more planning and responsibility. And we would get to watch quality cricket.