The Australian openers made the most of some fairly ordinary bowling by the experienced South African opening bowlers, as both Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock turned in insipid spells with the new ball. In his opening five-over burst, Donald drifted towards middle stump or further down the leg side a shocking 60% of the time; a third of his deliveries were either too full or too short. In his second spell of four overs, he bowled 46% on the pads, and almost 38% strayed in length.

Shaun Pollock's first spell was comparatively better: 66% of his deliveries were on and around off stump, and almost 85% were on a good length.

Both Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden were mostly on top. Only 14% of the time was Langer not in control – that is, he edged, played-and-missed, or didn't look entirely at ease. For Hayden, the figure was an impressively low 10%.

As always, both openers were on the attack, and the confidence of runs under their belts in the previous matches was apparent. 69 out of the 122 runs scored off the bat came off good-length deliveries – that's an astonishing 57%. And almost 49% came off balls which pitched middle stump or further off side.

Their footwork was top-class too, allowing them to get onto the front foot and stroke away even good length balls for runs. And when the bowlers pitched short, they were equally quick to latch on to and work the ball away.

The conclusion is not difficult to draw. The South African bowlers were not on top of their game, but Australia's in-form openers made them look thoroughly pedestrian.

S Rajesh is sub editor of Wisden.com, India.

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