Day two of the New Year’s Test against South Africa was all about Usman Khawaja, who continued his extraordinary love affair with the SCG on Thursday.
The Australian opener peeled off a classy 195 not out in the first innings to heap misery onto the fatigued Proteas bowling attack, steering the hosts towards a commanding total of 4-475.
The South Africans are already eyeing their plane journey home. Only rain or a monumental batting performance from the Proteas can prevent Australia steaming towards a 3-0 whitewash.
These are the Talking Points from day two of the third Test.
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TRAVIS’ TECHNIQUE TO SPIN UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Travis Head has enjoyed a remarkable summer, but all eyes will be on the left-hander when Australia travels to India next month.
The South Australian’s susceptibility to spin was glaring during recent Test tours of Pakistan and Sri Lanka — in six knocks, he fell victim to slow bowling on five occasions, departing for less than 25 each time.
His Test batting average in the subcontinent is currently 21.30, the third-lowest for an Australian top-order batter in history. His most recent scores in Asia are 14, 36, 8, 23, 26, 11*, 6, 12 and 5.
During last year’s Warne-Muralitharan Trophy in Sri Lanka, Australia scored more runs from extras (26) than off Head’s bat (23).
The New Year’s Test was earmarked as an opportunity for the Australians to test their skills on a dry wicket that would somewhat replicate what they can expect to find in the subcontinent. The SCG wasn’t the raging turner South Africa had hoped for on Thursday, but Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer began generating some spin in the afternoon session.
Harmer, who spins the ball away from left-handers, immediately troubled Head when he was brought into the attack moments before the tea break.
The off-spinner caught the outside edge with his third delivery, but it fell agonisingly short of first slip. Head looked considerably more comfortable facing Maharaj, who turned the Kookaburra into his pads.
Australian greats Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist critiques Head’s technique against spin, particularly his habit of taking a giant stride and reaching for the ball.
“That front pad is going towards the leg side, not towards the ball,” Waugh noted.
“What you don’t want to do as a batsman is take too big a stride. It makes you get lower, for a start, so your hands are lower, your bat’s lower, and you don’t get your weight over the ball, you don’t get your head in the right position.”
Gilchrist continued: “Travis Head is a big striker, he likes to feel bat on ball, and so therefore you’re pushing out at the ball.
“You just start searching for the ball. No way if your head isn’t in line with the ball. You don’t know whether you can leave that. You’re just drawn to it. That is a big stride forward.”
Waugh responded: “You don’t want to do that. You want to play it as late as you can, under your eyeline.”
Head looked unstoppable after the tea break, rocking onto the back foot whenever Harmer dropped short and carving the spinners through mid-off when they overpitched.
However, Ravichandran Ashwin poses a much larger threat on India’s dusty tracks next month.
‘STAGGERING’ CALLS FROM PROTEAS SKIPPER
Dean Elgar’s captaincy has been tested throughout the summer, but the South African’s leadership came under heavy scrutiny on Wednesday.
As Australia’s total stretched towards 500 on day two, Elgar’s desperation grew. He was accused of reactive field replacement, plugging gaps with teammates whenever a boundary was scored rather than planning and anticipating where chances would come.
Former Australian batter Mark Waugh said Elgar’s decision to put multiple players on the boundary rope for Head, who had just come to the crease, left him “speechless”.
Proteas quick Anrich Nortje, arguably South Africa’s best player of the tour, was tasked with bowling into the wind on Thursday morning, somewhat negating the impact his extra pace generates.
“Nortje has bowled into it all day, which I find staggering, for their quickest bowler to be working up into the breeze all day,” Waugh said on Fox Cricket.
Elgar’s sporadic use of his spinners also raised eyebrows. South Africa didn’t bowl spin for 10 overs in the first session, despite a complete lack of swing or seam on offer for the quicks.
Keshav Maharaj eventually came on, despite Simon Harmer looking more dangerous on day one.
Former Australian spinner Kerry O’Keeffe questioned why it was taking Elgar so long to turn to spin with Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith untroubled in the middle.
“I’d have Harmer on now because there’s no seam or swing from (Marco) Jansen, so he’s really just bowling 130km/h, looking for angle,” he said.
“These are too easy runs. You’ve got to make this pair work and put them under some pressure, and I’m not sure if there’s enough in it for the quicks to do that.”
Harmer didn’t come into the attack until nearly the 20th over of the day. Australian legend Allan Border said he “couldn’t understand” why it took so long.
“I think they missed a trick … certainly today, he spent a long time out of the attack,” he said.
Former England bowler Isa Guha, meanwhile, said it was a “real head-scratcher”, with Harmer bowling only six overs during one particular 67-over period during Australia’s first innings.
Rain permitting, Elgar could return home as the first South African captain to be whitewashed in Australia since 2002. The left-hander’s batting has been disappointing this summer as well, registering scores of 3, 2, 26 and 0, albeit with a fair dose of bad luck along the way.
It’s been a forgettable tour for many of the South Africans, but Elgar will be particularly desperate for this series to wrap up.
SMITH MISSES OUT ON ‘HAPPY HOUR’
Has Steve Smith ever looked more disappointed following a Test century?
The 33-year-old brought up his 30th Test century on Wednesday afternoon, reaching the milestone in 190 deliveries to put himself ahead of Sir Donald Bradman on the all-time tally.
Smith reached triple figures with a powerful pull shot off Nortje, swivelling on his toes and sending the Kookaburra flying to the boundary.
But two deliveries later, he was gone, chipping a regulation catch back to Proteas spinner Keshav Maharaj. Smith had looked to flick the tweaker through mid-wicket, but the ball gripped and caught the leading edge.
It was a rather anticlimactic end to an entertaining knock from the New South Welshman, who smacked 11 boundaries and two sixes in the first innings.
The Sydney crowd stood and applauded as Smith trudged back towards the Members’ Stand, but the Australian vice-captain wasn’t having a bar of it. He looked distraught, repeatedly shaking his head as he presumably replayed the dismissal over and over in his mind.
“I had just missed out on happy hour,” Smith explained to reporters at stumps.
“It was the time to start playing some shots, as Heady just did. It was time to have some fun.
“I was actually about to start practising a few things, potentially sweeping and things like that with our upcoming Indian tour. I felt like it was an opportunity to do that against some good spinners.
“That was the main disappointment, that I’d just lost concentration for a little bit. Wasn’t the ideal way to go out.”
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As he approached the boundary rope, Smith reluctantly removed his helmet and sheepishly raised his bat, but he wasn’t satisfied. He knew there were a lot of runs on offer, and he had thrown away any chance of joining Khawaja in the daddy hundred club.
“Let‘s be frank, (being) self-consumed is his strength,” former Test spinner O’Keeffe said on Fox Cricket.
“When he’s in his bubble out there, nothing affects him. He doesn’t let the bowler into his bubble, he doesn’t let the crowd into his bubble. And when he walked off, he didn’t let the acclaim of the ground affect his bubble.
“He was disappointed. So instead of standing there for five minutes bat raised, he shook his head, threw his helmet, and gave them a token, ‘Thank you for that, but how do I chip that one to Maharaj?’
“And that is what has made him a 30-Test century veteran for Australia. That ability to just lock himself in to what he does, which is get hundreds.”
Smith’s home summer has been a mixed bag, with a double century against the West Indies in Perth followed by scores of 0, 35, 36 and 6 in Adelaide and Brisbane.
But the right-hander is suddenly looking in ominous form ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
