Almost exactly to the day one year ago, one had a déjà vu feeling of Australians desperately trying to win a test match. Last year it was a win to create a record and this year it was a win to stop a record being created. Both test matches had quite a few elements in common. There was a catch that was claimed incorrectly by Australia in each game. There was drama till the last few overs and there was the Australian win, if one reads only the result column on the score sheet, in the end.
Ricky Ponting yet again displayed his lack of sportsmanship and common sense when he jumped the third umpire and claimed that a catch was taken cleanly. Like Sourav Ganguly last year, it was Jacques Kallis who lobbed a simple leading edge back to the bowler. The bowler dived full length and claimed a catch. The umpires conferred and decided to go upstairs for confirmation. As they were debating, our man Ricky walks up to the umpire with his index finger held up. How stupid is that? From what I saw in the replays one angle did provide enough room to raise some doubts. However, the third umpire ruled in favor of the fielding side in the end.
When the match seemed to be over the last pair played out enough time and when the ninth wicket fell it was enough to force Graeme Smith to discard the cast on his hand and walk out in the field like a wounded gladiator. He got a standing ovation just for walking out in that hastily assembled kit of his. The man did not have the strength to tie his own shoe laces and still he walked to play out the last few overs. (Apparently he used his old trousers, Kallis’s shirt and Harris’s pull over with the hamburger stain. Then Morne Morkel helped him put the pads and shoes on.). What a brave effort. In the end he fell short by 10 deliveries but he won the hearts of millions like me. As the Age described it in the report as “South Africa lost without losing, Australia won without taking a prize. Trite as it sounds, the unconditional winner of yesterday's chewed-to-the-quick nailbiter at the SCG was the game of Test cricket, latterly much scorned as being too slow and passive for its times.”. Peter Roebuck announced in his article Exhilarating performance proves that Test cricket is alive and well. So in the end Australia retain No 1 ranking but just by a whisker. We will soon see what chopping and churning takes place there before the next season.
Finally, I never liked Asoka de Silva as an umpire simply because of the confidence he has in giving a dead wrong decision. Time and again when the bowler least expects to get an LBW decision, our man confidently raises the dreaded finger. He committed similar errors in this match and also allowed a five ball over. This man’s performance needs to be assessed and possibly he needs to be removed from the elite panel. What hurts is the fact that he himself has played Test match cricket.
