Wizard Warne Rocks S Africa
The Age
Monday January 3, 1994
The legend of Shane Warne grew to mythical proportions at the SCG yesterday when hapless South Africa became the latest team to fall under his seeming unbreakable spell.
Urged on by a crowd of 32,681, the largest for an SCG Test in 11 years, Warne took 7/56, second only to his match-winning 7/52 against the West Indies in Melbourne last season as his Test best.
That, however, was on a crumbling, turning last-day pitch. This was on the first day of this second Test, on a pitch that turned, but not outrageously, on which there were a few scuffs rather than genuine footmarks, and on which he rarely had cause or opportunity to go around the wicket.
Yet with merely a flick of his wrist, and a snap of his fingers, Warne was able to produce all his favorite tricks. The first three wickets were from flippers, two others were from snappy catches by Mark Taylor at slip _ the 15th and 16th such dismissals in Test cricket _ and the last was a Warne classic, bowling Pat Symcox behind his legs with a ball from around the wicket that pitched conservatively half a metre outside leg stump.
The softest dismissal was, surprisingly, captain Kepler Wessels, who was perhaps tenser than usual because of the havoc that was being wrought around him. He hit too soon at Warne's full-toss and could only watch as the bowler stooped to take the return catch.
Wicket to wicket, Warne took 7/22 from 78 balls as South Africa crumpled from 1/91 to 169 all out. Only the dogged Gary Kirsten (67), the dapper Hansie Cronje (41) and the desperate Fanie de Villiers (18) reached double figures; the rest of the board read like a telephone number. Helpline, perhaps? One of Warne's several distinctions was to take his first five wickets in a single session, a rarer feat than a batsman's century in a session.
There was one blemish. It was at the fall of his first wicket, Daryll Cullinan, whom Warne loudly and needlessly sent on his way. ``He had a little smile on his face when he hit me for four (the previous ball), and I was happy to get him out," Warne explained later. But such coarseness does not become a man of his fine talents.
When the reckoning was done, Warne had his fourth five-wicket innings in Test cricket, and had confirmed Australian intelligence that its best tactic against South Africa would be the wiles of Warne and Tim May.
``It looked a pretty good wicket to me. It turned more than what we expected, I suppose, but it was mainly out of the footmarks," Warne said. ``I thought (South Africa) played very well in (the first Test in) Melbourne. We talked about it ... we had a few ideas and I suppose they came off."
Again, Warne had changed every reasonable perception and dimension of the game. In mid-afternoon, when South Africa was 2/110, any or all of these might have been the issues of the day: 1.The unfortunate lbw decision against Andrew Hudson (0) in the second over the day; the ball from Glenn McGrath appeared to be passing well above the stumps, and Australia was somewhat abashed that its muffled appeal suddenly became a celebration.
2.The way the ball bounced at different heights for the pace bowlers.
Keeper Ian Healy was struck painfully in the ribs as he tried to take one ball from Craig McDermott on the second bounce; yet an over later, Cronje broke his duck by fending a McDermott lifter over slips for four.
3.Wessels' decision to ease himself to No.6 in the batting order, with a view to using his left-handedness to counter Warne.
4.The joys and tribulations of Mark Waugh, who dropped Kirsten at second slip from a McDermott no-ball, watched in bemusement as another Kirsten edge from McDermott flew at chest height between him and first slip Taylor for four, and then took a splendid diving catch in the gully to dismiss Cronje, which was due reward for McDermott.
5.The grit of Kirsten, the left-hander summoned late to the tour, who is batting out of position as an opener, who sometimes appears out of his depth, and yet who fought the good fight for more than three-and- a-half hours to make his first Test half-century.
Kirsten's tactic against Warne was either to pad him away or move out to drive him, which worked well until he was stranded between those two options, tried simultaneously to lay bat on ball and to regain his crease, and was stumped by Healy.
Warne had bowled as early as the 12th over of the match, but after swapping ends twice without reward, it seemed he would be made to sweat and toil along with everyone else on a sticky Sydney day. With only two wickets in two previous Tests here, Warne was not anticipating miracles.
But everything changed with the fall of Cullinan. Two years ago, Australians generally thought of flippers as adjuncts to snorkels and goggles; now they know Black Rock to Broome that if Warne holds and delivers the ball in a certain, contorted way, he can cause it to beetle beneath the helpless defences of otherwise quite capable batsmen and get them out.
Cullinan knew this, having fallen already to one in a one-day match at the MCG - and for a duck, too - but having cut Warne's previous ball for four yesterday, he was fatally lulled. Too late, he tried to push foward to the next ball; it was already into his stumps.
The Cullinan wicket seemed to transform Warne. ``I like to get a wicket early, then I get a bit of a confidence lift," he said. The innings, and the match, would never be the same again.
Allan Donald took out Taylor (7) half-an-hour before stumps, but at 1/20, Australia is well-placed to grind South Africa into the dust that is already beginning to puff up from this SCG pitch.
ends Baum
TEST SCOREBOARD
SOUTH AFRICA FIRST INNINGS
Runs Mins Balls 4s 6s
A HUDSON lbw b McGrath 0 7 7 - -
G KIRSTEN st Healy b Warne 67 218 186 4 -
H CRONJE c Waugh b McDermott 41 152 101 6 -
D CULLINAN b Warne 9 16 11 2 -
J RHODES lbw b Warne 4 31 20 - -
K WESSELS c and b Warne 3 24 15 - -
D RICHARDSON c Taylor b Warne 4 9 8 1 -
P SYMCOX b Warne 7 52 48 - -
C MATTHEWS c Taylor b Warne 0 6 3 - -
F DE VILLIERS c Waugh b McDermott 18 57 48 1 -
A DONALD not out 0 19 9 - -
Sundries (1b, 4lb, 11nb) 16
TOTAL 169
FALL: 1 (Hudson), 91 (Cronje), 110 (Cullinan), 133 (Rhodes), 134
(Kirsten), 141 (Richardson), 142 (Wessels), 142 (Matthews), 152
(Symcox), 169 (De Villiers).
Bowling: C McDermott 18.1-2-42-2 (7nb), G McGrath 19-5-32-1 (2nb), S
Warne
27-8-56-7 (1nb), T May 10-1-34-0 (1nb).
BATTING TIME: 301 minutes. Overs: 74.1.
AUSTRALIA
FIRST INNINGS
Runs Mins Balls 4s 6s
M SLATER not out 5 52 36 - -
M TAYLOR c Richardson b Donald 7 20 13 - -
D BOON not out 7 31 24 1 -
Sundries (1nb) 1
TOTAL (for one wicket) 20
FALL: 10 (Taylor).
Bowling: A Donald 6-2-10-1 (1nb), F de Villiers 3-1-9-0, C Matthews 3-
2-1-0.
BATTING TIME: 52 minutes. Overs: 12.
Crowd: 32,681.
© 1994 The Age