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| And that's 100: Mitchell Johnson brings up his maiden test century. Photo: AFP |
Untill tea was taken on the fourth and final day of the Cape Town Test the Australians had given a poor account of themselves. Much of the good work of previous weeks had been undone and absent friends were suddenly to be seen in a better light. The bowling had been toothless, the fielding had been merely adequate and the batting had been woeful. Australia was facing its heaviest and most ignominious defeat for a decade. Admittedly the series had been won but Ricky Ponting's side looked like suffering a damaging defeat.
Then came Mitchell Johnson’s buccaneering innings and a rousing contribution from Andrew McDonald that ought not to be forgotten. If anything, the Victorian was the greater revelation as he laid about himself with intent and produced an unheralded array of shots. McDonald drove on the rise through the covers, drove wide of mid-on and generally played with the spirit detected in his mien but hitherto unseen in his batting.
No longer limited to flicks off his pads and prods at everything on the off-stump, the redheaded all-rounder produced a vivid innings. McDonald's challenge hereafter is to play with the same gusto when there's a match to win and lose. Nevertheless his knock deservedly prolonged his career. After all his team may have been beaten but he'd had a lot at stake.
But it was Johnson's afternoon. At tea he had reached four and his side stood at 6-218. Australia had displayed an ineffective mixture of trenchant defence and erratic stroke play. Several of the batsmen had fallen foul of Harris' Disease, the name nowadays given to batsmen who suddenly play bone-headed shots against apparently innocuous spinners. The main topic on spectators' tongues concerned the tourists' ability to take the match into a fifth day.
The next hour was startling as the Australians launched a two-pronged attack. Johnson's innings is etched in the memory. After a quiet start he hurried to 50 in 51 balls whereupon he raised the tempo sufficiently to reach three figures in 86 balls.
He did not swipe. He did not depend on luck. Instead he produced a stream of swashbuckling strokes all around the wicket executed with a free and full swing of the bat.
Some of his strokes stirred the cricketing soul. Johnson took the ball on the rise and drove it through extra cover or he stayed still and smote lifters into the 10th row at deep mid-wicket. Without exception his pulls and hooks went forward of square. Some of them dashed past mid-on. Nor was he facing Muggins and Bluster. Moving in for the kill, the South Africans tossed the ball to Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn. Even temporary captain Jacques Kallis had a crack and he, too, was swiftly swamped.
On several occasions Johnson's range of shots and audacity surprised onlookers. He did not seem productive against deliveries directed at his toes till he unfurled a scintillating drive past mid-on.
When the South African spinner sent eight fieldsmen to protect the boundary he responded by lifting him over his head and into the 20th row.
Nor did the 90s inhibit him. At first he pushed a few singles to take his score to 95. Then he lost McDonald as the all-rounder tried to ensure the Queenslander was not left high and dry for a second time.
When fellow paceman Peter Siddle departed next ball, Johnson had seen enough. Abandoning singles, he examined Steyn's bumper, swung his bat, gave it a fearful thump and stood transfixed as the ball sailed towards the boundary with fieldsmen lurking underneath Not until the ball crossed the ropes roughly seven metres above ground did the genial beanpole celebrate. Not long afterwards he was named as man of the series. He had taken 16 wickets and scored 255 runs at an average of 85.
What did it all mean? The pitch was flat, the bowlers were tired, the sun was blazing and the cause was lost. Nevertheless it was a remarkable innings and it confirmed Johnson's emergence as an all-rounder capable of batting at No. 7 in Test cricket.It is a substantial gain. He is still inclined to do daft things early in his innings but once he has settled he is free-scoring and dangerous. Other conclusions can be reached. McDonald is a genuine contender for a spot in the team. Simon Katich is the most dangerous spinner in this party. And the search continues for a specialist spinner to take to England, with the only plausible candidate to be found in Tasmania. - The Age
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