South Africa produce a stunning comeback to halt the Australian juggernaut

South Africans celebrate their win over Australia in the second test match

When one witnesses a battle of such epic proportions, such high drama and such immense quality, the recollection at the end of it all becomes a little disorganized. “Where to begin?” is the question that rings in the people’s minds. The cricket teams of South Africa and Australia engaged themselves in a similar titanic quest over the last four days at Port Elizabeth and when all of it ended, this writer found it difficult for a brief period to recollect the whole drama.

On a peaceful rewind after the high of the contest, one realizes it all began with Dean Elgar’s stellar knock at the top of the order. With his captain Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla back in the pavilion for almost nothing on the scoreboard, “The Dean” was really up against it.

“We need to be prepared to get hurt”, is what AB had said at the Centurion and Elgar delivered AB’s words into true action, taking blows after blows from the menacing Mitchell Johnson, fighting his way to a gritty 83. He faced up to the quality of Johnson’s bowling without having a central contract.

Compare that with some of the other cricketers who get paid in millions for just turning up to bowl 4 overs in a T20. Alas! A well deserved century eluded him. But he had set up the platform for de Villiers and the struggling JP Duminy to grind down Australia’s bowling on a flat-as-an-LCD-TV pitch. Duminy fought his way to a career saving hundred. 150 overs of batting to score 423 runs; the kind of work-out Australia hadn’t had to go through in more than a year.

But the real twist in the story was yet to come. And came it did in the form of a towering frame of Morne Morkel. What did the people say? Unresponsive pitch? Forget it all, big “Mo Mo” made the pitch talk. No, he made it shout! He made the pitch shout right into the batsmen’s ears. Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Johnson may have felt it literally.

Had Morne Morkel chosen a career as a cop, he would have made the most stubborn criminals confess to their crimes in the interrogation room itself. Attorneys and judges could go holidaying. Australia were completely taken by surprise by his hustle. They did counter though.

Warner attacked, but sometimes appeared a little too risky for his own good. Then Steven Smith continued the assault, but it wasn’t going to be enough. Somehow, a last wicket partnership allowed Australia to avoid the follow-on. In between, South Africa lost the services of Wayne Parnell to an injury who up until then looked equally menacing and had benefited South Africa with two crucial early wickets.

But South Africa weren’t only fighting a tough team who had handed them a humiliating defeat at the Centurion, they were up against the weather. What amount of lead would be sufficient? What time would be perfect to declare? The storm clouds were still some distance away from Port Elizabeth, but clouds of questions were hovering all over Biff’s brain. He fell to Johnson once again.