South Africa's chase
This was strangely the calmest chase of a team that is the worst at them in these moments.
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Two things can be true - and often are - at the same time. It is really bloody annoying when you can’t get the tail out. But also, it usually means the pitch has changed.
So as a team, you are out there - pissed off, mumbling to yourselves and hoping they finally spoon one up in the air. But there is always a part of you that thinks, ‘If the number nine and eleven can bat for nearly an entire session, then yes, our chase is higher, but maybe the wicket is different.’
Often, it doesn’t matter. You finally end the partnership, and your opening batter nicks off to a freak wide ball. Then you look up and remember you forgot to pick a real number three for this match.
But on other days, the pitch has changed so much that your batters who were used to the minefield earlier, are suddenly going for a stroll.
South Africa should have panicked; they should have run themselves out, or found wacky and mysterious ways to get dismissed. Instead, this was strangely the calmest chase of a team that is the worst at them in these moments.
Steve Smith is standing at first slip, but it is not like any position we have seen before. It is the shortest first slip, with a helmet on. On occasion, short second and third slips are used. But rarely at first. Part of the reason is because the ball does actually carry a lot more in those positions, but also because you’re kind of next to the keeper. Meaning it is hard for the wicketkeeper or first slip to dive correctly.
A few overs earlier, we saw the issue. A genuine edge from Aiden Markram died, and it didn’t carry to Alex Carey, but the short first slip didn’t really feel like they could dive for it. Or even perhaps, they didn’t even have time to, because they were so close . Fielding at short first slip is not really something people practise for.
But what did happen prior to play was that Steve Smith was doing slip catches with the helmet on. Perhaps later that is why he took over from Usman Khawaja in this made-up dangerous position. The issue was that the ball that came to him was not low and short; it was flying, and it took Smith’s finger almost clean off. It’s possible his finger was mashed up because of the helmet, as he was taking a normal - if not fast-moving - chance, but his fingers seemed to get awfully close to his helmet, which is such a weird thing for a slip fielder.
After this, Australia did not take a wicket for 51 overs. When they finally did, the game was basically over. South Africa clocked this chase.
In the long history of South Africa’s miserable time in major tournaments, the biggest issue is usually the chase. It tortures them the most, like they’re unable to simply execute what they would in a regular game. I won’t relitigate all the occurrences, but I will point out their first World Cup since readmission had a bad chase in 1992, and since then, there have been plenty of others.
My rule for big chases in Tests is that at one stage, the batting lineup will look comfortable - like it is going to happen. It’s a little different when you’re only chasing 280, which is more of a high middling total, and it’s day three. So it should be easier than normal.
But this is South Africa, in a game with ‘World’ in the title, so there should have been issues even on a flatter wicket.
When Markram pushes through the offside, it is hard to say that the wicket hasn’t changed. That is not a shot that is easy on a pitch like the first two days, but Markram’s so composed.
Remember, South Africa came in with a makeshift number three who really struggled in the first knock. But in the second innings, he was playing a lot better. Wiaan Mulder can bat, but clearly in the first knock that was a job too far. However, when the pitch became easier, he did really well.
His wicket was almost a surprise. Australia had barely looked like taking a wicket at all, so this certainly could have swung it back.
Australia’s ‘what if’ moment follows soon after. Had Steve Smith been in a normal spot, he might have taken this catch, with his finger still attached.
It’s not to say that that was their only chance. There was, of course, low bounce. In the space of a couple of balls (8.6 and 9.2), they had it from either end. Generally, if that happens early in the innings, you would expect that to get worse as the game progresses. But it really never did, even if it was there most of the innings.
One over from Lyon really gave some issues, and Markram was lucky to survive. And it was the 23rd over, so this was pretty early on. You’d have perhaps expected it to do more over time. It’s not that the ball stopped keeping low, but it never quite felt as dramatic or dangerous as it should have.
South Africa’s real issue was almost self-inflicted. Early on in Bavuma’s innings, it felt much more likely that he would get himself out. He seemed to believe that counter attacking was the way. He was lucky to get away with some of it.
Two things seem to slow him down. One is the drop, but the other is a more literal halt to his momentum, when he steals a run from Starc in the 22nd over and then bends over to clutch his leg.
A few overs later, we get to see the full limp. It’s as if Bavuma has come off an imaginary horse, or is a child wearing pads for the first time.
By the 25th over, he’s getting lots of treatment. And he’s crease bound from there on. It seems to focus his batting away from the risks of earlier, to a more nudge and jog mode. It slowed down his scoring rate and his elite running between the wickets, but allowed him to bat like the middle overs of an ODI.
He is not the only thing getting slow. Bavuma blocks a ball from Cummins on the back foot in the 36th over. The ball was short, but sedate. It felt like Bavuma had to hold the block for an extra second, waiting for the ball to turn up. That is not a wicket where it looks like you can blow through players anymore.
That could not be more obvious when a while later, Markram plays an extraordinary shot. It is off the slower Beau Webster in the 45th over, someone Australia kept out of the attack for a long while, but it’s a thing of beauty. A front-foot straight bat guide to third, and he’s in scary control.
It would be wrong to say that the ball didn’t do anything. There was the odd explosion off the wicket, but not enough, and often they ended up safe.
It is almost another surprise wicket when Sam Konstas dives forward at deep midwicket to almost pick up Bavuma’s sweep in the 42nd over. It felt like Konstas was just a second too late seeing the ball.
The other moment they almost get a wicket is by luck. In the 51st over, Markram smashes a straight drive, and Hazlewood almost gets a hand on it. But he doesn’t, and it goes off to the boundary.
It is only later that people noticed that Bavuma would have got caught short, because he had his bat in the wrong hand. But the ball didn’t hit Aussie fingers, or the stumps. Australia’s chances are barely that. Explosions, almost catches and a flyby attempt at a run out.
There are other days when this would have been enough. Australia even force a ball change through at the end of the 53rd over. Often in England, that can change things dramatically. This time, it didn’t.
Instead, Markram brings up his hundred. The game with 28 wickets in two days has had four on the third, and Australia is well out of it.
There is some rain overnight, and it seems to mean there is slightly more life in the wicket for what is going to be the final day.
That is evident when there are some plays and misses early on, but then Bavuma nicks one behind. Is this what Australia need? Because even a slither of movement is enough to Cummins and Hazlewood at their best.
Markram is beaten soon after in the 61st over, and it’s good seam movement. Easy to see without Hawkeye, and the sort that Australia was dying for the previous day.
But next ball, Markram hammers one through the offside. There is a fielder on the rope, and he doesn’t get to it.
The replacement ball is moving, though. Cummins nips one back in the 65th over and Tristan Stubbs misses it before jogging off for a leg bye. Australia review, but obviously in hope, and with not much of that. It is nowhere near nothing, and the next ball Markram smashes away another boundary.
A few overs later, they donate another review in the 71st over. They barely appeal for a caught behind from Stubbs, but review anyway.
It doesn’t matter as much, as Stubbs misses a straight one the next ball. This is the first time since Ryan Rickelton was out that you start to think, ‘Oh, this could go wrong.’ The second new ball is coming, and in the first innings, South Africa lost 5 wickets for 12 runs. There are reasons to believe if you’re Australian. And reasons to be terrified if you’re South African.
But soon after, another desperate review comes and goes for them, and the South African fans are cheering.
On the field, South Africa just get a little tight, but they are saved by a couple of threes. They are not quite edging their way to victory, but certainly legging it.
Those two balls help relieve a lot of tension.
But in the 78th over, a ball is flicked to short leg’s foot, and it ends in his hands. It kind of looks okay, but not like it was clearly off the shoe and straight up. It is shown straight away that it bounced first. The South Africans are so nervous that no one remembers to chant ‘Same old Aussies, always cheating.’
With one over to go before the new ball, South Africa decide to try score faster as Markram attempts a slog sweep that is a bit ugly, but gets away with it. Lyon bowls well in the rest of that over, and they kind of give up that tactic.
It doesn’t seem to matter, because Markram whacks the first delivery with the new ball. He keeps attacking as well. If this was Australia’s last chance (maybe that was already dead anyway), he is determined to end it.
Except, Markram is out at the back end of the over. You can’t not think about Heinrich Klaasen getting out to Hardik Pandya here. Again, it is a moment where the contest is over, South Africa have won. But that is the problem. South Africa have often won, until they don’t.
There is no way South Africa won’t win, but until they have, there is almost no way of emotionally accepting it. Verreynne is playing some of the weirdest shots ever.
In what would be the last over, South Africa decided to give Australia one more chance. Years ago, my club team put the scores level with five wickets in hand, and then they lost five for none. If there was ever another team who could do this, it would be South Africa. I mean, sure the countback laws might not matter, but in my mind I start to wonder if South Africa can somehow spook the playing conditions to ensure they will still lose.
While this is happening, Verreynne tries to scoop the ball for victory. Instead, he gets the ball off his glove. The umpire is not sure, even if the Australians are. But they have no reviews. This is the kind of thing that usually would have gone against South Africa. Now, it happens too late, and they are still on the right side of it.
Now all we can wait for is the winning shot. It’s not an MS Dhoni or Carlos Brathwaite flourish, but a toe-ended full toss that squirts away. It’s like the first Ali vs Liston fight; it isn’t pretty, but it doesn’t matter.
South Africa had to chase. Of all teams, and they had to do it over two days to win their first world title. Yes, the pitch changed, but so did South Africa.
Really enjoyed the "no one remembers to chant" line!