By Geoffrey Dean in Sydney
SOUTH AFRICA failed dismally to capitalise on a number of factors in their favour on the opening day of the second Test. They won an important toss on a flat pitch expected to turn, soon found that Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne were badly jaded after the Melbourne Test, but then batted with excessive caution to crawl to 197 for five from 97 overs. Moreover, they presented at least two wickets to the Australians.
Warne did not pose too great a threat after his marathon bowl in the first Test. Not that he bowled poorly, but he was clearly fatigued after only two days' recuperation. The wicket was a little too slow with no great bounce and Warne had to content himself with passing the bat on half-a-dozen or so occasions.
Bearing in mind the conditions on a hot day and the state of his two key bowlers, Mark Taylor made particularly good use of his resources, giving an umpteenth tutorial in the art of captaincy. His decision at 70 for one to introduce the occasional medium pace of Greg Blewett, whose first over brought two wickets, was his most obvious masterstroke. But throughout a slow day, he was always trying to make things happen, using eight bowlers including Matthew Elliott's left-arm spin.
Taylor's thoughtfulness was in contrast to the near farcical lead-up to the start of play, delayed by half an hour. The night before, the groundsman had overdone the watering of a relaid pitch two away from the Test one, leaving it sopping wet. Then, when the national anthems were played, the first two attempts at South Africa's had to be aborted halfway through for technical reasons, leaving Hansie Cronje's team to shuffle about in acute embarrassment on the outfield.
Adding to the farce, there were then problems with the mechanised drinks cart. This broke down and several Australian players had to push-start it clear.
Australia, for whom Steve Waugh became their third player after Allan Border and David Boon to make 100 Test appearances, achieved an immediate breakthrough when McGrath found Gary Kirsten's edge with a leg-cutter. But movement off the seam was noticeably rare once the ball was 20 overs old, and nor did it swing.
While Adam Bacher and Jacques Kallis were together, the platform for a large South African total seemed to be under construction. When McGrath came back for a second spell, not only was he bowling at medium pace but also barely following through. Blewett was immediately called upon to replace him and had Bacher leg before playing across his second delivery.
Moments later, a 35,000 crowd erupted after an electrifying piece of fielding by Ricky Ponting. Picking up Cronje's push to midwicket, he threw down the stumps in the same movement at the non-striker's end to run out a dozing Kallis.
Herschelle Gibbs, a replacement for Daryll Cullinan, now joined Cronje to add 97 in 44 overs against tight but unpenetrative bowling. Cronje completely suppressed his attacking instincts, being comfortably outpaced by Gibbs, a natural stroke-player who scored prolifically on the South Africa A tour of England in 1996. As quick on his feet as one might expect of a former Western Province outside-half, he looked as comfortable against Warne as against the other bowlers.
But having reached fifty off 151 balls with some fine shots off front and back feet, he fell to his first really loose shot. A flamboyant drive at Michael Bevan's wrist spin resulted in an inside edge and a fine catch by Ian Healy. Soon after, Brian McMillan flat-batted a Bevan full toss to wide mid-on.
Bevan seems to have sorted out the problems he had falling away at the time of delivery in England last summer and settled into an immediate rhythm helped by South African paralysis at the fear of failure. His wrong 'un was not always picked.
That Cronje finished with an unbeaten 56 in exactly four hours suggested that avoiding defeat in this Test is more important to him than winning. Shaun Pollock, who made one from 40 balls, batted as if under orders.
Day 2: Waugh breaks shackles to give Australia edge
By Peter Roebuck
IN a telling last hour the Waugh twins gave Australia an edge in a match testing the nerves and resources of cricket's strongest team. While his brother Steve gave glint-eyed support, Mark Waugh tore into the bowling, taking 13 runs off an erratic over from Brian McMillan and then punishing some inviting full tosses from Pat Symcox.
He was undefeated on 78 at the close and his team 113 behind with only three wickets down. Hitherto this second Test against South Africa in Sydney had been close; now the Australians surged and their opponents could not hold them.
Both Waughs had particular reasons to rouse themselves. Steve is playing his 100th Test match, and is only the third Australian to reach this landmark. Mark's place was in jeopardy again after a wayward contribution in the first Test in Melbourne. Neither is yet ready for the scrapheap.
Steve joined his brother with Australia tottering on 103 for three in pursuit of their opponents' 287. Apart from Allan Donald, inconvenienced by a slight injury, the South Africans had bowled well, especially Shaun Pollock and Paul Adams. Pollock swung the ball from a full length and troubled everyone, and despite previous sightings the batsmen could not read Adams's spin.
None of the Australians had been able to escape, not even Mark Waugh, whose early minutes had been hazardous. Yet no sooner had Steve taken guard than his brother began playing strokes all around the ground, breaking the bowlers' stranglehold and dispelling notions that the pitch was too slow for anything lively.
Steve batted in his matter-of-fact way, suppressing emotion and keeping to his plan. Mark splashed around like a dog in water and showed a fine disregard for the bowling. The score rattled along as the skies darkened and dampened and the visitors were pleased enough when the umpires pulled up stumps with a few minutes remaining. Play only lasted so long because the lights had been switched on around tea-time.
As Mark Waugh dictated terms in the evening, so Warne had dominated the morning. Bowling with a venom absent in recent months, he tore into a South African order batting purposefully. Determined not to waste the opportunity presented by winning the toss, the South Africans had pottered along at two an over on a scorching opening day. Admittedly, wickets fell in foolish ways and at inopportune moments. Nevertheless, it was a timid performance.
Committed to making amends, the batsmen struck five boundaries in the first five overs, an approach that delighted another large crowd (27,246). But Warne interrupted the flow. Directing his deliveries at the blind spot and pitching on leg stump or outside, he repeatedly ripped the ball across the right-handers. Pollock fell first, edging to slip where Mark Taylor took a sharp catch. Curiously, Taylor has taken more catches off Warne than Ian Healy.
Much to his bewilderment Dave Richardson fell next. Attempting a glance to leg, the dapper glove-man lost the ball and was mystified to hear his stumps complaining. At first he imagined that he had been bowled behind his pads. Later, he realised that the ball had turned prodigiously.
By taking this wicket Warne equalled Craig McDermott's haul of 291 Test victims. A few overs later, he surpassed it as he took the prized wicket of the opposing captain. Hansie Cronje had played a self-denying innings, holding his team together as colleagues threw their wickets away. He countered Warne by placing his front foot outside leg stump and relying solely upon his bat.
Switching ends, Warne induced Cronje to drive to slip. Among Australians, only Dennis Lillee (355) has taken more wickets. The leg-spinner finished off the innings with a pair of flippers, deliveries he seldom bowls to proper batsmen these days, and had taken five for 29 in 10.1 overs.
Australia's reply began confidently, Taylor driving serenely and Matthew Elliott playing some smooth strokes. But Taylor could not stop himself cutting as Pollock went around the wicket and Elliott sliced a drive to slip to give Symcox reward for his early probings.
Now came a partnership between Greg Blewett and Mark Waugh that gradually grew in stature but ended abruptly as Blewett drove at a wide delivery from McMillan and edged on to his stumps.
The South Africans were cock-a-hoop. But they needed another wicket. They needed to stop the Waughs. It was a task that proved beyond them.
Day 3: Cronje goes on defensive as Waughs attack
By Geoffrey Dean in Sydney
THE Waugh brothers' outstanding deeds against South Africa continue. Steve, who prior to this Test had an average of 71 against them, improved it with an immensely valuable 85 in close to five hours. Mark's hundred was his first for 12 Tests, the last being against South Africa, when his innings turned the match at Port Elizabeth.
South Africa were at one stage facing the prospect of a deficit of around 150, which would probably have settled the outcome of this second Test, but in restricting Australia's advantage to 105 with one wicket remaining, they have given themselves a chance, albeit a slim one.
For their lead, Australia can thank not only the Waughs but also Hansie Cronje. With his spinners lacking the variety and skill fully to exploit this turning pitch, his prime attacking weapon was Allan Donald, but as in Melbourne, Cronje failed to use him at important moments.
Donald's bowling yesterday was nothing short of heroic on a pitch offering neither pace nor bounce. On Saturday, troubled by a sore ankle and tendon, he looked a spent force, conceding 35 off eight overs, having to leave the field because, in his own words, he felt flat and devoid of energy.
But yesterday, his bio-rhythms back to normal and the pain from his injuries neutralised by a cortisone injection, Donald bowled a spell with the second new ball in the morning that was as fearsome as the bush fires that ravaged more than 80,000 acres of the Victorian Alps over the weekend. In his first two overs, he hit both Waughs three times each on the upper body with searingly quick deliveries that were not that short. Steve's technique did not look pretty, but as England know, he builds on bruises.
Donald was denied a deserved wicket but probably helped Shaun Pollock to get one the other end when he had Mark lbw, back when better forward. His 100 came off 186 balls, with most of his runs coming on his favourite legside, in contrast to Steve who scored predominantly on the offside.
Resuming on his overnight score of 78, Mark Waugh hit one six and 12 fours in a 3.5-hour innings that enthralled the SCG crowd.
After lunch, with the game about to enter probably its key session with Australia 259 for four and the second new ball still only 16 overs old, Cronje ignored Donald, and Pollock for that matter, opting for containment with defensive fields. But too many sides have lost the battle of patience with Steve Waugh, and when Donald was belatedly recalled 40 minutes before tea, he immediately removed him with a snorter that pitched off and hit off.
By now, however, it was almost too late.
The twins' positive partnership of 116 in 34 overs had swung the match, for the top three had found the going hard, particularly against Pollock and Paul Adams. Although he kept it tight, Adams was a little predictable, bowling nothing but wrong 'uns. Even so, Steve Waugh felt that he was under-bowled.
Although he had both the left-handers, Matthew Elliott and Michael Bevan, caught at slip, Pat Symcox did not really threaten. It was only Pollock and Donald who challenged the longevity of the Australian innings, but on such a placid pitch, it became increasingly difficult to worry batsmen as the ball got older.
Ricky Ponting, who has looked a player of exceptional class and technique in this series, with the straightest bat and quickest feet in the side, again played particularly well to reach a fluent 62, adding an important 98 with Steve Waugh. A leading edge provided Adams with a return catch.
Donald gave it everything in a rapid third spell, inducing Paul Reiffel to play on, but he could not wrap up the tail. Ian Healy once again made useful runs, as did Shane Warne to follow his superb bowling on Saturday morning. He took the last five wickets at a personal cost of 29, extravagant turn accounting for three of his victims and his flipper for the other two.
Warne (293 dismissals) now stands second behind Dennis Lillee (355) as the most successful Australian Test bowler, having passed Craig McDermott (291).