Wow, what a series it’s been. What a Test it’s been. How good it’s been for a recovering Smith basher.
Every man and his dog seems to be running their mouths at Smith after he didn’t declare on day 4. Why? I don’t get it. What did you want Smith to do….with Kallis out injured, Steyn, Morkel, Harris and Lopsy would have been left with one heck of a task….not to mention tough conditions to bowl in.
The Newlands pitch does flatten out towards the last day and with Sehwag firing for 10 overs on day 4, South Africa could have found themselves in a bit of a pickle on day 5. What if he had declared and we had lost? What would you have said then, you’d have run your mouth, too, right?
Yeah.
So Smith made some comments after SA convincingly won the first Test, so what? Who cares? It’s cricket, people talk, people get excited. I think SA might have underestimated India and we learnt our lesson in Durban for doing so.
Why would Smith do that again? India are a good team. He took them out of the game first before declaring. Simple. Has anybody taken a look at the Indian batting line up recently? Have you? Have you seen what they look like?
Even if India didn’t go for the win, they would have shut up shop and batted and batted and batted. Through those extra ten overs or whatever it is people think would have won the game. Worse yet, what if he declared early and still drew? What then? Stop looking for faults where there none.
If India were seven, eight or even nine down and the match was drawn, then calling Smith names would have still been childish and pathetic but criticism would have been a bit more fair.
I never thought I’d see this day where I am defending Smithers’ not-so-aggressive decision.
Disappointing? Yes.
Fair reflection, for sure.
Sod off, you mucking fastards.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
As an Indian fan, I was actually happy to see Smith not declare yesterday. And wearing my objective cricket analyst hat, I thought he had missed a trick. That he would rue his decision with India saving the game with 7 or more down. That was yesterday. After having seen how day 5 played out, I must admit I was wrong and Smith was right. he read his opponents’ skill level perfectly.
Would India have gone for the total if the target was, say, 280 in 100 overs? Would they have lost a bunch of wickets in the process? Would the declaration have meant that Sehwag and the other guy (not Gambhir, his hand was in a cast) and/or Dravid have fallen before stumps?
The answers to these questions are not relevant. The only relevant question is – did South Africa have what it takes to have a realistic shot at dismissing India in 90-100 overs? As day 5 showed, not really. They could only dislodge 3 Indian batsmen! And those too with great difficulty. It was not even like Day 3 which was an even contest between bat and ball. Day 5 was all bat – dour defensive bat, not aggressive – but still, bat.
India shut shop, and successfully. Convincingly. Solidly. The assured manner in which they played out the day suggests that even if they had been 20/2 overnight, the probability that SA would’ve broken through their defense is very very VERY low. Gambhir, Dravid, Sachin, all looked immovable. They could have shut shop at 20/2 and survived.
Whenever India has lost on day 5 (Bangalore vs Pak or Sydney vs Aus), the impetus has been provided by spin bowling. Paul Harris, with all due respect to him and his bucketful of maiden overs, just wasn’t as threatening as he should be on a 5th day pitch with 7 men around the bat. He gave it his best. It just wasn’t good enough. It wouldn’t have been good enough even if India had 8 wickets left at the day’s start and not 10.
The other side, which you correctly mention. What if things had gone wrong for South Africa? 280 in 100 overs? You don’t need to take any sort of risk to chase such totals. It is not a “teasing” total by any means. Not to any opposition. So setting that target to the #1 team in the world, with a handful of great batsmen, and with a recent record of successfully chasing such totals on 5th days more than once against stronger spin attacks would have been stupid. India might have pulled it off with ease like in Bangalore. And Smith would have been ridiculed like Sobers was.
Gaurav´s last [type] ..A Day of Cricket to Regale Grandkids With
Gaurav,
I disagree. By declaring with a lead of 280-300 and having the Indian batsmen in to bat for 8-10 overs of Steyn and Morkel after having spent 90 overs in the field was the way to go. By not declaring and leave the decision to fall of all 10 wickets, Smith allowed India to regroup overnight and devise their own plan. By setting 280, at 3 an over, surely, India would have gone for it. As you rightly point out, they did not have to take too many risks but having 8-10 overs of Steyn-Morkel overnight and again 10-12 overs of those in the morning — that’s 18-22 overs of Steyn-Morkel at the top order by the way – would surely have brought about wickets.
Indian openers had to survive not one but two spells of Morkel-Steyn and are you willing to bet that they couldn’t have made inroads??
I agree 280 may not be a teasing total but would’ve kept India interested rather then completely removing the possibility of India win. Of course, there are people who think India should have gone for the 340 as well. I partially agree there. I would’ve had Viru have a go at it rather thn a circumspect 11 off 40 odd, and push MSD/Harbhajan up to see if they can knock off some more. If not, you could still shut shop and have Gambhir, Dravid, SRT and Laxman bat the day out.
In my view, Smith wanted to first make sure there was no way he could lose. Which is fine. But knowing that he had a spin poser in Harris, he also should’ve known he wasn’t gonna run through India with Harris which means, he needed as many overs as possible by Steyn and Morkel. And he could have got that by declaring early. And he would’ve got the 2nd new ball with 20 or more overs to spare rather than just 10 meaningless ones, as it turned out to be.
The Cricket Couch´s last [type] ..The Five Test Series Dream- A Practical Look
Subash, you are offering the counter-point to your argument in your own comment. Your point that India should have had a go at 340 with Viru attacking, the MSD/Bhajji attacking, and if that had not worked, shut shop – suggests that you believe shutting shop regardless of when it was done was possible. Believing that India could have made it to 340 and if not, saved the match anyway, is not consistent with saying that a declaration late in the day would have enabled SA to run through India.
Also, you are putting way too much faith in Steyn-Morkel’s ability to remove the openers in a short burst on the 4th evening. They didn’t look that lethal even in the first innings. This pitch wasn’t Durban or Centurion. But even if, for argument’s sake, we assume that India would’ve been, say 20 for 2 at stumps, chasing 280. You saw how the morning spell went with a brand new cherry. Sehwag fell after one hour. So the first 10 overs on day 5 were very easily negotiated with caution by GG and VS. In your scenario, it would’ve been Dravid and Tendulkar (or Gambhir and Tendulkar). How, given the way the first hour panned out, or the whole day panned out, would the morning have produced a host of wickets?
In fact, 260 to get in 90 overs….India could have batted the first session EXACTLY like they did, dour and slow, scored 60 in the session for the loss of maybe 1. And then had a crack at 200 in the post-lunch session with Steyn and Morkel tired and the ball old. India at 80/3 at lunch chasing 280, given the form Laxman, Tendulkar and even Dhoni have been in? Definitely alarm bells for South Africa.
Gaurav´s last [type] ..A Day of Cricket to Regale Grandkids With
I want a lot of things but don’t really get it.
The point still remains that by allowing Indian batsmen to start brand new in the morning, with a night to rest and recover and hash out their plans – whatever that was – Smith missed a trick.
Especially with Gautam sitting in the dressing room with a splintered hand and a hurt elbow and missing the entire afternoon-evening session, you didn’t know whether he would’ve come out to bat.
I still believe Smith missed out on the surprise element and his best chance to win was to have as many overs from his leading pace bowlers at the India batsmen as possible and he did not allow for that to happen.
Perhaps, neither team wanted even a remote chance of losing. Hence Smith letting the inning linger and Dhoni not going for it with Sehwag up top. And so it goes.
The Cricket Couch´s last [type] ..The Five Test Series Dream- A Practical Look
The point remains that as things played out – 3 wickets down. Even an extra 10 overs from Steyn-Morkel would have produced at the most 3 more. 6 down. How an extra 10 overs from the two pacers would have led to India collapsing spectacularly, which they only did in Centurion on day 1, is beyond me. So even if he had declared, the likely (with hindsight) upside would’ve been had India 6-7 down at close.
The risk was massive – of giving India a target below 300 to get in just over a day at UNDER 3 AN OVER – a target achievable even by playing it safe, seeing off Steyn-Morkel. The upside is not just worth the risk, as we now know. Like I said, yesterday, I was of the same opinion as you. Having seen how it unfolded, Smith called it right.
I still don’t see the thought process or the realistically probably chain of events (given how day 5 played out) by which an extra 10 overs last night with 60 less runs would have turned 166/3 into, say, 250 all out. OTOH, I see a very realistic path for a team that ended up 166/3 even after so resolutely shutting shop, getting to 281/7 an hour after tea without taking too many risks.
Last year Capetown, Smith got flak and he deserved it. England escaped with 9 down. There, a declaration with the target 420 not 460, would have realistically won SA the match. Here, sorry, I just don’t see it.
Gaurav´s last [type] ..A Day of Cricket to Regale Grandkids With
My contention is that putting India to bat for 10 overs after they have just spent the whole day in 35 degree heat, fielding, could have induced one or two wickets. And I still believe having Morkel-Steyn bowl 20 overs continuously at India batsmen (10 on 4th evening and 10 on 5th morning) would have been to SA’s benefit.
the last few contests between these sides have ended in stalemates….i think it is time to rename this as the ‘Kallis-Tendulkar’ trophy and make it a 5-test series…what say?
tracerbullet007´s last [type] ..Lessons from the Castle Lager Test series in South Africa