Match Summary
One Day International Cricket
Colonial Stadium, Melbourne, Australia
THE TOSS
South Africa won the toss, and decided to bowl first, wanting to have a look at the indoor drop in wicket and how the wicket will play.
The Les Burdett pitch has to last for 6 days and house three matches on it, which explains the bounce and carry it showed in the first 10 overs of the Australian’s innings.
Moisture will keep a wicket in tact but a by product of moisture is bounce and carry for the bowlers early on until the ball loses it’s hardness.
Australia are cautious due to the high bounce in the wicket and find themselves in trouble at 3 wickets for 38 runs after 11 overs..
AUSSIES IN TROUBLE
Gilchrist, Waugh and Ponting all sitting in the sheds due to some varied bounce, two leading edges and a Jonty Rhodes run out.
Shaun Pollock showed good captaincy when he kept opening bowler Roger Telemachus on, bowling out his 6th and 7th overs, taking the wickets of Mark Waugh and Ricky Ponting in both of those overs.
South Africa on top, Australia struggling at 3-38 of 11 overs.
Why!
Australia have two new batter at the crease, South Africa have 3 top order wickets and with new batter at the crease, generally the run rate will slow down.
Steve Waugh and Michael Bevan have to build an innings and not get out at the same time.
WAUGH AND BEVAN BUILD A PARTNERSHIP
Michael Bevan
In the 12th and 13th over when they should be driving home the advantage, South Africa stumbled and bowled poorly to the two new batter with Waugh and Bevan scoring 10 runs of these overs and allowed Australia to gain some much needed confidence but more importantly the danger word, MOMENTUM.
Pollock made a dual bowling change with Kallis and Hayward coming on to bowl at this same time and Bevan and Waugh pounced on the new bowlers because in theory the new bowlers are in the same boat as the new batters are.
It was experience plus by Waugh and Bevan as they changed the face of the game within a matter of overs.
Waugh and Bevan took control of this one day international. They played very aggressively and ran between the wickets with perfection putting the South Africans on the back foot and not sure of how to counter attack the Aussies.
Steve Waugh played very aggressively, almost uncharacteristically in the hope he could put together a big score and get Australia back into the game and hopefully achieve a score of 260 instead of a 230 score from a platform of 3 for 38.
Waugh and Bevan put together one of the greatest ever middle order batting partnerships in one day international cricket.
They batted from the 11th over to the 46th over and totally dominated the South African bowling, scoring 5-6 runs per over for 35 overs.
Both Waugh and Bevan scored centuries and it was this partnership that lifted Australia to a score of 296.
Shane Lee came in at the fall of the Bevan wicket and smashed 28 runs of 15 balls including two huge sixes over cover off Shaun Pollock, but Waugh and Bevan had not only set up such a big score they had also mentally dominated and damaged the South Africans.
Why were the Australians able to dominate the South Africans after being in such a bad position at 3 for 38?
They played very positively, but the South Africans lacked one important thing in the one day game.
They lacked a bowler with a change of pace and variety.
The entire South African bowling attack was made up of fast / medium bowlers who all basically bowl the same pace and the Australians were able to bat with a continued rhythm and were not forced to change their game plan.
Australia also destroyed Shaun Pollock’s bowling attack by launching an all out assault on the 3rd and 4th bowling change in Morantau Hayward and Jacques Kallis and this proved to be a master stroke by Waugh and Bevan.
A few things to note and remember, Partnerships are the key to any success in a one day game and the team who can handle the pressure and put together the required partnership will more often than not win the game.
WHAT COULD POLLOCK HAVE DONE?
What could Shaun Pollock have done to change his team’s fortunes:
1) Frequent changing of the bowling
2) Bowling a non-bowler to change the pace of the game and the batter’s mindset
3) Look to bowl full just outside off stump and set a dominant off-side field
A key tactical move by Steve Waugh occurred when the South African captain, Shaun Pollock walked across to see how the bowler, Jacques Kallis was after Steve Waugh had smashed him down the ground. Waugh would have noticed a chink in the armour of Kallis and set about to destroy the remaining four balls in his over taking sixteen from that one over.
SUMMARISING AN ALMOST PERFECT AUSTRALIAN INNINGS
Waugh and Bevan showed us how to dominate an attack and also a captains thoughts and plans.
Each time Shaun Pollock attempted to change the game Waugh and Bevan pounced on the new bowler and destroyed their confidence and that was the key to the domination of that partnership.
You need two batters both working together on a bowler to gain control because if only one batter is on top then the bowler can keep the other batter on strike and when the strike does not continually rotate the dominating batter will become frustrated.
SOUTH AFRICA CHASE 296
South Africa set about chasing this huge Australian score, but it was Brett Lee who took some early punishment from Kirsten and Hall leaving Lee with the figures of 0 – 21 off 4 overs.
Glenn McGrath kept the pressure on the South Africans by bowling that unique McGrath line and length (Members see match analysis – Month Two) and by the 10th over, South Africa already required 6.5 runs per over to win the match.
The key to chasing a big score like this is keeping your run rate between 4 and 6 runs per over and the only way to do that is to build partnerships and have wickets in hand. After 17 overs, South Africa had shown a lack of positivity and the run rate was creeping higher.
After 17 overs, the South Africans were 1 – 56.
With wickets in hand, South Africa can chase 120 runs off the last 15 overs, if they still have 7 wickets in hand. What they now need to do is to score 120 runs off the next 18 overs, (that is 17 – 35 overs) but they must not lose more than
1 – 2 wickets.
Steve Waugh had realised the tactics and statistics behind the game and at the 17th over he had decided to employ the great leg spinner, Shane Warne to try and induce a wicket from either sheer brilliance or the build up of pressure resulting in a bad shot.
In Warne’s 2nd over, the plan almost worked with Kirsten coming down the wicket to play the lofted drive resulting in an inside edge and the ball went past the stumps and the wicket keeper for a single.
Steve Waugh also brought Ian Harvey and Shane Lee on to bowl because, yes, they both are medium pace bowlers, but they are armoured with two different types of slow balls and a lot of variation.
The South African’s are in a situation where they must force the ball, having to force the ball will bring about a mistake against a diverse and varied Australian bowling attack.
At 1 – 70 off 21 overs, South Africa require 7.8 runs per over which is now becoming a huge task.
At the 22nd over, the mistake arrives with Kirsten not looking confident against Shane Warne.
Kirsten advanced down the wicket to a Shane Warne leg spinner, but did not pick the side spinning top spinner which goes on with the normal drift and played inside the ball to be easily found out of his crease by wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist.
ENTER DARYL CULLINAN
We all know just how much Shane Warne has dominated Cullinan over the years and it was a nervous Cullinan who took stance to face Shane Warne.
Steve Waugh brought in both silly mid off and silly mid on to increase the pressure cooker situation for Daryl Cullinan.
In the first three deliveries, Warne shouted for two close L.B.W.s.
On the 6th delivery of this over, Cullinan pounced on a short and wide leg spinner and smashed it through the covers for 4 runs.
Note: (Junior cricket coaches) Sometimes putting fielders in close can put pressure on a young bowler because he or she can try too hard to get a wicket and they can drop the ball short instead of concentrating on bowling quality.
With the South Africans having only 2 wickets down, but needing to lift the run rate, captain Waugh has brought back his pace ace, Brett Lee back into the attack for a short burst to try and break through the South African batting lineup.
Shane Warne is also tempting the South Africans by having both mid-on and off fielding inside the circle and not on the fence.
Steve Waugh realises South Africa must take all the risks and is changing his bowlers around in succession with Brett Lee, Shane Warne and Ian Harvey all rotating.
Doing this upsets the batters’ concentration, as they do not get their eye in to one particular bowler for any period of time. Of course, it goes without saying though that the rotating bowlers must be able to bowl well in spasmodic overs in order to achieve their task of restricting the runs and forcing errors.
At 2-124 runs off 32 overs, South Africa still need 176 runs off 17 overs, they still have 8 wickets in hand but are not gaining any momentum due to a continual diversity in the Australian bowling attack.
If South Africa lose 2 quick wickets, Australia will certainly win the game and a partnership like Waugh and Bevans is needed for South Africa.
At the 33rd over, South Africa need 10.88 runs per over and a magnificent tactical move by Steve Waugh and the bowler Ian Harvey saw Daryl Cullinan attempting a pull shot to a ball which was too full.
Steve Waugh left the deep mid wicket position open because Harvey has good change of pace and can pitch the ball full with regularity.
By leaving the deep mid wicket position open, Cullinan was looking to pounce on anything short, trying to score through the vacant deep mid wicket position.
EXIT CULLINAN, ENTER RHODES
Cullinan was clean bowled by Ian Harvey and you can put this down to a great tactical move by the Australian skipper.
Immediately Steve Waugh tightened the noose by bringing all the fielders in from the deep starving the new batter of any cheap singles.
This technique worked well on the new batter, Jonty Rhodes keeping the South Africans down to 6 runs off the next 2 overs, increasing the run rate to an insurmountable task.
Ian Harvey again broke through with the wicket of Kallis, L.B.W .
The ball looked to be heading slightly down the leg side but that is cricket.
South Africa require 149 runs of the last 13 overs at a run rate of 11 runs per over.
Steve Waugh decided to bring Warne back into the attack and this tactic immediately proved fruitful.
Jonty Rhodes is a busy player at the best of times and reverse swept Warne to the third man boundary for three runs.
It did not take long for Jonty’s downfall, again trying to reverse sweep Shane Warne on the 4th ball of that over, he top edged the ball to be caught out at backward point by Damian Martyn.
The reverse sweep has been employed by the South African’s over the years, but it is best played to a delivery that is pitched outside off stump.
The danger in the reverse sweep is it can be frowned upon by coaching staff for it is not a high percentage shot and it shows the desperation of the South African’s to make something happen in their run chase.
Rhodes was very disappointed at his dismissal and hit his helmet in an angry manner.
At the 40th over South Africa require 14.5 runs per over with only 5 wickets in hand.
Steve Waugh and his Australian bowlers will grind out the last ten overs by bowling as many maiden balls as possible.
Each maiden delivery creates further pressure on the batter and cause mistakes to come in a hurry.
At this stage of the game South Africa could only win this game by a miracle occurring.
THE KEY REASONS FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S FAILINGS
1} The lack of diversity in their bowling attack gave the Australians a chance of getting back into the game at 3 – 38 and gaining some momentum resulting in a magnificent batting partnership between Waugh and Bevan.
2} They would have lost some confidence after giving away such a strong position in the game at 3 – 38 and having to chase 296 instead of 230, which puts them on the back foot mentally when they have to go and bat.
3} They lacked bowling and batting partnerships.
4} Australia did bat very well but they backed it up in the field with some quality bowling and fielding which built up the pressure on the South African’s.
5} Australia also had a greater diversity and varied bowling attack which did not allow South Africa to gain any momentum.
With 24 balls remaining South Africa still required 112 runs and both teams went through the motions until Australia finished of the game and were deserved winners.
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