da luck： Mickey Arthur, who has asked for “fast and bouncy” pitches in the build-upto this Test series, admitted that South Africa had been comprehensivelyoutplayed so far at the Wanderers
Dileep Premachandran at Johannesburg16-Dec-2006
‘Hats off to Sourav [Ganguly], he came in and did a very good job’ – Mickey Arthur© Getty Images
Mickey Arthur, who has asked for “fast and bouncy” pitches in the build-upto this Test series, admitted that South Africa had been comprehensivelyoutplayed so far at the Wanderers. While praising the Indian bowlers, heaccepted that his team hadn’t executed their gameplans well enough,leaving India 311 ahead on a difficult pitch with three days remaining.”They bowled very, very well, but there was no way that we should havebeen bowled out for under a hundred,” said Arthur, speaking to the mediaafter the second day. “India showed us the right lengths to bowl on thispitch. We have not got our lengths right throughout this Test. Over thelast two months, we have played a lot of one-day cricket, and yesterday inparticular, we largely bowled one-day lines and lengths.”That admission begs a question. While India warmed up for the Test with afour-day game at Sedgars Park in Potchefstroom, the South Africans took iteasy. Of the top eight, only Hashim Amla and Ashwell Prince had playedfour-day cricket this season, and complacent preparation could well comeback to haunt the hosts.Rather than focus too much on his own side’s shortcomings, Arthurpreferred to praise the resilience that the Indians have shown after beinghammered 4-0 in the one-day series. “We knew that they had been badlywounded after the one-day series, and we discussed every day the prospectof them fighting back,” he said. “Hats off to them for the way they haveplayed so far, and all credit to their bowlers in particular.”The pitch got a lot quicker today than it was yesterday. Yesterday, therewas a little time to adjust but today, things seemed to happen a lotfaster. At the same time, some of the shot selection and the applicationwasn’t perhaps where it should have been.”The bowling too was ordinary was vast stretches of India’s second innings,and Arthur agreed that the plans to target certain batsmen hadn’t quitecome off. Sourav Ganguly was expected to be set up with the short ball,but he showed oodles of courage and application to make 51 not out and 25over two innings. “We had our plans, but we couldn’t execute themproperly,” said Arthur. “But hats off to Sourav, he came in and did a verygood job.”The South African innings was doomed from the moment they slumped to 5 for3, and the frailty at the top of the order that saw them drubbed 3-0 byAustralia continued to trouble them. “It is a worry, but we have fullconfidence in the personnel we have,” said Arthur. “Today was a poor dayoverall, and everyone has owned up responsibility for what happened. Wehad a chat about it in the evening, and hopefully, there are big scores tocome soon.”Shaun Pollock’s 400th wicket was completely overshadowed on a day ofIndian dominance, but he remained confident that South Africa could pulloff an implausible victory. A session in the ice bath stopped him fromattending the press conference, but Pollock sent through a message thatsaid: “I’m chuffed to have got 400 Test wickets. I am hoping to get moretomorrow and help South Africa win this Test match.”It will need someone to play the innings of a lifetime for that to happen.