Centurion 2014—Autopsy of a Test innings
Every player in even the briefest of careers is likely to be able to look back at a passage of play, an innings or a spell of bowling and regard it as significant in the context of that career.
For me the innings that fits that bill, in Test match terms at least, is my fourth Test hundred, the 100 I made against South Africa at Centurion on 12 and 13 February 2014.
That may come as a surprise to some people given several other innings I’ve played that could be regarded as important. There was my maiden Test hundred, of course, 138 not out against England at The Oval in 2013; the 111 I made against the same opponent at the WACA in Perth later that year after I revamped my technique in mid-innings; the 199 I scored against the West Indies at Sabina Park in 2015 that showed me that my desire for endless practice wasn’t necessary after all; my 215 at Lord’s just over a month later, a maiden double-hundred, that helped us level the Ashes series; and the 109 I scored on a deteriorating pitch in Pune against India in 2017 to help secure the lead in a series in which we were given little chance of avoiding a whitewash by those outside our group.
Each Test hundred I’ve scored obviously means a great deal to me but at the same time I know that when I raised my bat skywards on the second morning of that opening Test against Graeme Smith’s side having reached three figures, it was the moment when I knew I really had made it at the highest level. Everything clicked, I played as well as I could and I did so to produce an innings that was important not only for me personally but also for the team.
The build-up to that Test and the series was an interesting one. We were off the back of our 5–0 whitewash of England that saw us regain the Ashes, and for me things had gone pretty well. After failures in the first two matches in Brisbane and Adelaide I scored that hundred in Perth and followed it up with 115 in Sydney. Both innings helped rescue us from tricky situations and my effort at the SCG meant I’d scored three hundreds in six Tests.
That was enough to ensure I went into the South Africa series full of confidence, but at the same time I knew the task in front of me personally and the team as a whole was hardly straightforward. We were up against a side that had lost just one of its previous 19 Tests and hadn’t been beaten in a series, home or away, for five years. And although we hadn’t lost a Test series in South Africa since the country’s readmission to international cricket in 1991, a statistic like that is pretty meaningless as history doesn’t win matches—playing well in them does that for you.
Our preparations for the opening match were disrupted by bad weather. Our training base was Potchefstroom, a quiet university town a couple of hours’ drive from Johannesburg and a place Australian sides had used to prepare for series in South Africa ever since doing so successfully in 2003 ahead of that year’s ICC CWC. The facilities and the stadium there were excellent but unfortunately heavy rain meant our warm-up match was washed out and we had to make do with hastily arranged practice among ourselves back in Johannesburg, at The Wanderers, to get ready for the series ahead.
That did not concern me too much. Conditions in South Africa were not that far removed from Australia—the pitches were hard and faster bowling was the order of the day—so there were no issues from that point of view. Although I’d not played a Test at Centurion, I had played there previously—a rain-affected ODI in October 2011 when I hadn’t batted and a Champions League Twenty20 match for the Sydney Sixers against the Northern Titans in October 2012 when I was run out for three and we won off the final ball chasing 164. The surface for that match had plenty of pace in it and in fact it wasn’t dissimilar to the WACA, so I was sure it would be pretty similar for the Test, given pace was one of South Africa’s strong suits.
I knew that my ability to combat Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morné Morkel would determine whether or not I made a success of the tour and so my thoughts going into the opening match were all about figuring out how they would try to bowl at me, and what I would do to try and counter that. I was helped by the fact that although I’d not played Test cricket against South Africa at that point, I’d faced all those bowlers at some stage of my career—albeit my exposure to Vernon was just one Champions League Twenty20 match for the Sixers against the Cape Cobras in Chennai in September 2011. So that made working out a strategy to face them that little bit easier. None of them were unknown quantities.
My planning to face that trio, as well as Ryan McLaren, another seam bowler and someone in the side to try and plug the huge hole left by the retirement of Jacques Kallis, involved some studying of videos of the bowlers in action, as well as discussion with batting coach Michael Di Venuto and net sessions to put the plans into action. At that stage of my career I was very much all about a high volume of balls faced when it came to my preparations as a batsman. And although the rain had ruined our chances of outdoor action in Potchefstroom, it didn’t stop me testing out Michael’s throwing arm in the indoor nets. Those practice surfaces had some pace in them, which was handy, and the same was true of the net pitches at Centurion too in the lead-up to the Test.
Morné Morkel’s main asset was his height, which allowed him to generate steep bounce. But although that made him awkward to play, I also felt it reduced his means of getting me out. It meant most of the balls he delivered would bounce over the stumps, making a bowled or leg before wicket dismissal unlikely—especially on what was expected to be a hard and bouncy surface—unless the ball was very full indeed. As such, my plan was to leave as much as I could and wait on him to get either too short, in which case I could cut or pull, or too full, in which case I could drive.
Dale Steyn had pace, was skiddier than Morné and I thought he would attack the stumps more, but he also had the ability to shape the new ball away and the old ball back in getting reverse swing. My desire with him was to ensure I waited for a ball that was right under my nose before I attempted a drive, as his main method of getting me out was likely to be to encourage me to play away from my body and edge behind the wicket. And I knew both Vernon Philander and Ryan McLaren were bowlers who tended to operate on a line just outside off-stump and they, too, would be likely to try and play on my patience, hanging the ball out there, trying to encourage me to play a rash shot.
It all meant that much of my time in the nets with Michael and also up against our bowlers—Jackson Bird, Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and James Pattinson—at Centurion in the two days before the Test was spent trying to leave the ball as much as I could and being sure where my off-stump was.
Different players have different habits when it comes to the pitch on which a match will be played. Matthew Hayden, for example, liked to go out to the middle the day before play and visualise facing the opposition’s bowlers, thinking how they would bowl and where he would hit them. He even went to the extreme of sitting at one end of that pitch, just off the cut strip, with his shoes off, perfectly still and in his own world, trying to picture the action that would take place when he batted. I know others opt not to look at the surface until the morning of the match on the basis that it could still change and so they don’t want to have any preconceptions about it before the time comes to bat or bowl. I don’t fall into either of those two camps, and ahead of the Test I was relaxed about walking out to the middle to take a look at what we would be playing on, something I do ahead of every game. I don’t go through any visualisation routines but instead just try to figure out what the pitch will do based on grass cover and how dry it is, and also have a look at the distance to the boundaries on either side of the pitch. I like to understand whether or not one side is shorter than the other and which way the wind is blowing, as that can affect my choice of shot, especially if it’s a matter of whether or not to loft the ball. Hitting in the air into the wind can be something that’s fraught with danger. One thing I did realise in the days leading up to the match, as we went through our fielding drills, was that the outfield was very fast and that if I hit the gaps with any shot I played I would get full value for it.
Wanting to face a high volume of balls meant I still felt underdone despite half-hour sessions in the nets—situated just to the right of the playing area, behind the hospitality chalets, as you look out from the main grandstand—against our bowlers two days before the Test, and then some local bowlers the day before, so I resorted to more throw-downs with Michael just to top myself up. They took place in the indoor nets located in the bowels of that grandstand and, as in Potchefstroom, those surfaces had decent pace in them. My purpose was two-fold: to feel bat on ball and to rehearse leaving as well as playing the ball, something I found was made easier by my new trigger movement that saw my back foot go back and across to off-stump just before the bowler delivered. It meant that as I received the delivery my head was in line with off-stump and so I was in an ideal position to know what I could play and what I could leave. One of Michael’s tasks during our sessions was just to keep an eye on my foot movement and to let me know if I was ever going either too far across or not far enough. He was happy and so was I with the work we did.
Because there’s a responsibility on players to get their own preparations right, team meetings before matches such as this don’t tend to drag on too long, with around 30 minutes being about the maximum. A typical meeting sees our video analyst offering up shots of batsmen and bowlers and what they are looking to do. In the case of the opposition’s batsmen, there’ll be some clips of how they have been dismissed and graphics of where they score their runs. But those things are not dwelt upon mainly because it is expected that players do their own research using that footage and information. Before that main meeting of the whole touring party, batsmen will get together to discuss tactics and bowlers will do likewise so that when everyone gets together, that gathering is simply all about the conclusions reached in those batting and bowling discussions. The group discussion is usually led by the head coach and the captain and they may ask others to weigh in, but this meeting was straightforward with just two main messages: that the first Test was important in setting the tone for what lay ahead and that we should look to give the ball to Mitchell Johnson whenever we could! He was fresh from terrorising England’s batsmen by taking 37 wickets at 13.97 in the Ashes series. He had done much the same to South Africa during our tour there in 2009, and having faced him in the nets in the lead-up to the match I could confirm how frighteningly fast he was. We all felt his presence was a huge psychological boost for us.
Once a team meeting breaks up then players will go their own way and there’s no set way of spending the night before a match. Some players just lounge around in the team room getting massages—the fast bowlers usually fall into this category—while the medical staff will also tend to use that room as a place where treatment is administered. Others will get together to have a meal and as, on this occasion, we were staying next to what was probably the biggest collection of restaurants in the country, all part of the Sandton shopping and entertainment complex, there was no shortage of options. For my part I chose to have room service with Dani and just try to switch off as best I could before the action got underway.
My evening before the Test was more than a little unsettled as I found out I was set to drop down the order to number six, something I wasn’t overly happy about. Unlike the Ashes series where we kept the same top six—and indeed the same starting 11—for all five matches, there was a great deal of uncertainty surrounding our order before Centurion. George Bailey had been dropped for the tour, with Tasmania’s Alex Doolan, who’d been added to the squad as injury cover for the final Test against England in Sydney, and Shaun Marsh selected for the trip. Shaun then picked up a calf injury during the limited-overs series against England and withdrew from the tour squad, replaced by Phillip Hughes. However, Shaun made a quicker-than-expected recovery from his injury, proving his match fitness by playing in the Perth Scorchers’ Big Bash League final victory (Marsh scored 63 not out off 43 balls) and so was drafted back into the squad when Shane Watson, who’d batted at number three during the Ashes, sustained a calf injury of his own after we’d arrived in South Africa.
It meant there would be at least two changes in the batting line-up from the one that played against England and the selectors settled on Alex Doolan, who had been on the fringes of selection since the previous summer, and Shaun Marsh coming in for George Bailey and Shane Watson, with Phillip Hughes and all-rounder Moisés Henriques missing out. But having settled on who would play, there was then a decision to be made by the captain Michael Clarke on who would bat in which positions.
Alex, making his debut, moved into the number three spot vacated by Shane Watson and that left the question of where Shaun would bat. He had batted at three in all but one of his previous eleven Test innings (when he came in at number ten because of a back injury in the Cape Town Test of 2011 when we were bowled out for 47) but with that spot taken he would have to slot in elsewhere. The opening partnership of Chris Rogers and David Warner was a settled pairing—so that left numbers four, five and my spot during the Ashes series—up for grabs.
I was happy at five. My desire was always to bat as early as I could so I could try and influence the match as soon as possible, and I thought I’d made the position my own by scoring all three of my hundreds from there, but the decision was made by Michael to put Shaun in at four while the captain (who’d occupied that position during the Ashes series) moved down to five and so I had to drop to six. A creature of habit, I was disappointed with the decision but I decided to let it go and opted not to argue about it with either the coach or captain. It was just a case of making the best of my situation.
That simply added to thoughts racing through my mind on the eve of the match and I slept poorly, although that wasn’t unusual for me at that stage of my career. I found it hard to switch off from thinking about what was to come and all the possible scenarios that could confront me and I was restless ahead of the action getting underway. I did, though, have a decent breakfast the following morning. As a child I used to avoid it, although I’m not sure why, whether it was superstition or nerves, but as I grew I realised the importance of getting some energy inside my body, something emphasised to me by the team’s support staff, and I had some Weet-Bix.
Centurion is located just outside South Africa’s capital city, Pretoria, but teams and officials always opt to stay in Johannesburg as the hotel used by Cricket South Africa is superior to anything closer to the stadium. Doing that means a 45-minute journey north by road, although it is freeway virtually the whole way so it is not the toughest assignment. A trip of that length will see players listening to their own music using headphones, some will sit and read while others will chat quietly. The buzz that morning was actually all about the IPL as the start of the Test coincided with the auction ahead of the 2014 IPL season and I found that a very helpful distraction. Rather than thinking about what was to come, players spent the journey chatting about who had been picked up by which franchise—and who had been passed over. I was chosen by Shane Watson’s side, the Rajasthan Royals, which also included fellow Australians James Faulkner, Brad Hodge, Ben Cutting and Kane Richardson. I was actually the franchise’s most expensive purchase on auction day, for US$666,000, although that was dwarfed by quite a few of the picks by other teams, including India’s Yuvraj Singh, who fetched a price of more than US$2 million to go to the Royal Challengers Bangalore; Kevin Pietersen of England, who cost Delhi Daredevils US$1.5 million dollars; Mitchell Johnson who went to Kings XI Punjab for just over US$1 million; David Warner who was picked up by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for US$916,000; and Michael Hussey who was chosen by the Mumbai Indians for US$833,000.
I had an iPod with my own playlist that also helped to pass the time and at that stage of my career my routine extended right down to the last song I had to listen to before I arrived at a venue and that was ‘23’ by Jimmy Eat World. It was a song I really enjoyed and what I wanted was to ensure it was going through my head as I stepped off the transport and into the dressing room as I found it relaxed me.
I had a net session ahead of the day’s play, although not a very long one as there was obviously only a certain amount of time between arriving at the ground and then going through our group warm-ups and some light fielding drills. The weather was fine and it felt like a good day to bat and so no one was more surprised than me when Graeme Smith opted to field first when he won the toss. It looked like a good pitch to me, rock-hard, but even on day one there were cracks to be seen. Those cracks made the pitch become more and more uneven in bounce as the match went on and played into our hands with South Africa batting last, but if we hadn’t made a decent first innings score then that would have been far less of a factor in our favour.
With us batting first it was a case of me having some time to relax, although that time wasn’t all that long as it turned out, as both David Warner and Chris Rogers were dismissed within the first nine overs. My own preference as a batsman waiting to go in was to watch the action live in our viewing area at the front of the dressing room rather than on the television inside the dressing room, despite the fact I disliked our vantage point. The dressing rooms at Centurion are at the extreme end of the massive grandstand that covers one side of the oval, and so when the bowler has that grandstand at his back and he’s bowling to a left-hander, then we were situated above deep extra-cover and therefore almost side-on to the play. I find that sitting square of the wicket can be quite disconcerting because it can give the impression the bowling is quicker than it actually is. It’s all about perceptions, of course, but it’s much harder to track the flight of the ball from side-on and when all you see is a bowler’s delivery followed by the ball thwacking into the wicketkeeper’s gloves 20 to 25 metres back then that can be unsettling to even the best of players.
My own preparations to bat began when Chris Rogers was the second man out. I changed out of my training gear and put on my whites and football socks, as well as my thigh pad and abdominal protector and laid out my pads, gloves, bat and helmet alongside me when I returned to my seat at the front of the dressing room. My pads went on at the fall of the third wicket, Alex Doolan, four overs before lunch. The batsmen dismissed, after they’d got changed out of their whites and lost their initial frustration, shared information on what was happening out in the middle. As was clear from what I could see—I watched every ball—and from what they said, there was a bit of bounce in the surface, as we’d expected, as well as some movement in the air and off the seam, to judge by not only our dismissals but also the times when the batsmen were playing and missing and the movement of their feet. As the first session continued and the ball lost its initial hardness it looked as though batting became slightly easier but it was still a challenge, that was plain.
Lunch brought the question of what to eat, which was tricky given I was next in. Eating too little had the potential to leave me short of energy out in the middle but eating too much could leave me feeling sluggish and lethargic, not ideal with Morné Morkel and Dale Steyn set to be in operation. I settled for some grilled chicken and vegetables—not a big meal but enough to tide me over. The food was served in the dressing room in big metallic trays that allowed players and staff to help themselves, with fish and pasta also available.
During an interval the not-out batsmen will often share their impressions of the pitch with those still to bat, not in a formal way, but usually just by the odd comment here and there. Generally, though, they are left to relax as much as they can, and the non-playing reserves will be buzzing around at a distance ready to assist them in anything they need, whether it’s drying their gloves or pads—usually done by putting them out in the sun—or getting them some food while they relax.
It was the seventh over after the interval when I was finally into the action, although I wasn’t on strike straight away thanks to Michael Clarke’s dismissal, a top-edged hook to fine leg off Dale Steyn, caught by Vernon Philander. The batsmen crossed and so Shaun Marsh took strike for the final ball of the over.
I hadn’t batted with Shaun in a Test before Centurion as the start of his career, in Sri Lanka in 2011, coincided with my two years out of the side, but straight away I found him a very easy player to bat with. He called well, ran well between the wickets, and he came across as a very relaxed person in the middle, despite the fact we were 4–98 when I came to the crease.
My arrival prompted a change in the attack with Vernon Philander being replaced by Ryan McLaren, something that surprised me given I was new to the crease. Philander had bowled eight overs before lunch and another three straight after the interval but I thought with a new batsman at the crease, Graeme Smith would have persisted with his two best bowlers in tandem for a little longer. Not that I was complaining as Ryan McLaren gave me a juicy half-volley that got me off the mark as I crunched it square on the off side for four.
It was nice to get underway immediately but I’m not a player who tends to fret if I’m still to score, or someone who is especially concerned about feeling bat on ball at the start of an innings. As I wrote earlier, that was something that did concern me earlier in my career but experience had removed the desire to get on with things. There are some who I’ve known who are like that—Michael Clarke and Adam Voges were always desperate to get that first run on the board—but I can block out those sorts of feelings. That might seem odd given my sleeplessness before the match but much of that was worrying about what might or might not happen. Once I was out in the middle then I was in control of my own destiny and that made me far more relaxed. And I’ve always had the attitude that a half-volley is a half-volley if you are on zero or 100 and it should be put away.
I was content to wait for a very full-length ball or something angling into my pads in order to score and I actually left three of the next four balls I faced, allowing them to pass harmlessly through to AB de Villiers behind the stumps. Patience had been my watchword in the build-up and now was the time to put it into action. And although I respected Ryan McLaren, I also felt he would give me something loose now and again. It was just a case of waiting for it and not doing anything rash in the meantime, especially given our situation.
It was Dale Steyn, who bowled a five-over spell after the interval, who gave me my next run as I worked a ball backward of square on the onside for a single. The ball was into its 37th over now and so had lost that initial hardness but Ryan McLaren reminded me there was still plenty of reason to be on my guard as he nipped one back at me quite sharply, although the resulting leg-before-wicket appeal was stifled as the ball would clearly have gone over the top of the stumps.
After my first-ball boundary I scored just that single off Dale Steyn from the next 14 balls I faced, but although I am someone who looks at the scoreboard at regular intervals during an innings, I didn’t feel under any pressure to lift the tempo at that early stage of my time at the crease. I knew that at that point it was all about consolidation and earning the right to bat later in the innings when the bowlers were tired. It was a warm day and I felt the best time to bat would be in the final session, especially given the speed of the outfield. Shaun was thinking the same way and when we came together between overs all we tended to say to each other was ‘Keep going’ or ‘Don’t give it away’. He wasn’t a big talker and that suited me as I felt I knew what I had to do, and so it was just a case of getting on and doing it.
Morné Morkel replaced Dale Steyn after the latter’s post-lunch burst and straight away he presented that different challenge that I’d been preparing for. I was relaxed enough, after the tea break, to actually upper-cut him over the slips for four, using the extra bounce he generated. Before I played the shot, the thought did cross my mind that if he bowled it in a certain area then I would simply help the ball on its way over the slip cordon, especially as there was no third man in place that meant the shot carried with it no real risk of being caught, but it wasn’t a shot I practised before the match and I hadn’t played it in a Test previously. It was pure instinct.
Morné Morkel gave me another interesting moment later in my innings when I punched him back down the ground for four, through mid-on, when he pitched the ball up. He’s not one to say a great deal out in the middle but as I admired my handiwork and just jogged down the pitch he turned to me and said: ‘That’s a good shot!’ I was lost for words in response and as I settled back into my stance I thought: ‘That’s odd, he’s complimented me!’ I’m absolutely certain there was no sarcasm involved—it was a very good shot anyway—and he was 100 per cent genuine. It just goes to show that not every word said out in the middle is an out-and-out sledge.
Robin Peterson, the left-arm spinner, came on for the 41st over, replacing Ryan McLaren, and by that stage I was seven off 22 balls. Robin wasn’t a big spinner of the ball and I wasn’t expecting the surface to offer a great deal of turn as well—and sure enough it didn’t—and so I never felt my outside edge was likely to be threatened by his stock delivery. So on that basis I straight away set out to try and mess up the length that he wanted to bowl. I knew his role in the side was primarily to try and keep things tight while the quicker frontline bowlers rested and so my plan was to try and ensure he wasn’t able to settle into a rhythm of bowling lots of dot balls and slowing our scoring rate too much while the likes of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander were out of the attack. I skipped down the pitch to his second ball and although I only defended it into the leg side, my idea was to make the bowler think, and to let him know that if he kept trying to bowl the same length then I was willing to use my feet and hit him over the top. It was a game of cat and mouse and when he dropped the ball a little shorter on the final ball of the over, maybe suspecting I would use my feet again, that gave me the chance to work the ball into the leg side for a single.
It was during this part of my innings, with Morné Morkel bowling with good pace and control, that I became becalmed, going 18 balls for just two singles at one stage. There was just one occasion when I lost my patience and was drawn into a loose stroke outside the off-stump by him, flapping at a ball that beat the outside edge, but otherwise I felt relaxed and focused only on the next ball I was going to face. That really is the key to batting as, whatever has gone before, the next ball you face is the only one that can get you out. It’s always a case of focusing concentration and energy on that delivery.
I broke those shackles by doing what I’d been threatening to for some time, using my feet to Robin Peterson and hitting over his head for four and then, two balls later, I used my feet again and worked him into the on-side for two more. I was perfectly happy to see him in the attack and I felt there was a strong case for Graeme Smith rotating his faster bowlers instead but I also knew it was a balancing act for him, too, as if he did bring them back and they didn’t break through then that might affect their ability to come back again later in the day when the second new ball was due. Robin was in the side to bowl and Graeme had to show some faith in him to do just that.
The South Africans, Morné Morkel’s compliment apart, were very quiet on the field, even when I came to the crease, which surprised me a little at that point given they were in the driving seat. There was very little chat on the ground aside from the usual encouragement for the bowlers and in fact the only time I can remember being involved in anything vaguely fiery during the series was in the second Test in Port Elizabeth when I was playing pretty well in a difficult situation as we struggled to avoid the threat of the follow-on. I edged Dale Steyn through the slips cordon for four and then, later in the over, clipped one through mid-on, an authentic shot to the boundary. He gave me the most almighty spray, no doubt frustrated given the luck I’d had with my first four of the over, but then, having done that, he apologised to me. Just like when Morné Morkel gave me a compliment at Centurion, it took me completely by surprise.
Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander had both got through 11 overs each before the drinks interval in the afternoon session, and out in the middle it seemed South Africa went into a bit of a holding pattern against us at that stage, playing a waiting game before those two could return to the attack and also trying to test our patience with the bat. Whether that was the right approach given we were four wickets down and Graeme Smith had put us in to bat was debatable but confirmation of that strategy seemed to come from the line that Ryan McLaren bowled at me at stages during the run-up to tea. I got the impression he was deliberately bowling a metre or so outside the off-stump, waiting for a mistake—what professional cricketers sometimes call ‘hiding the ball’—but it wasn’t a game I was prepared to play and I was happy to let the ball go rather than chase it. Robin Peterson had no bat-pad fielders close-in catching for me in front of the wicket, another indication of that holding pattern idea, but instead opted for two fielders on the drive in the covers, again looking to take advantage if I went for the big shot through the off side. And again, I wasn’t playing ball.
The benefit of my approach came when Vernon Philander came back into the attack just before tea and straight away, having seen me leave the ball from Ryan McLaren, he was tempted to go too straight to me and I was able to clip him through square leg for four to get the scoreboard moving again for me. To the outsider, strokes like that from me look like they contain an element of risk but they also represent my strength and I would back myself to clip the ball away through the on-side, even through square leg, 99 times out of 100, and the ball that’s either too full or too straight is always the one I’m on the hunt for. By that stage the ball was in its 49th over too and there was precious little swing for the bowlers, either orthodox or reverse.
That boundary off Vernon Philander brought up the 50 partnership, the cause for a handshake and a simple ‘Keep going’, and it followed another handshake when Shaun Marsh brought up his 50 with a pull for four off Ryan McLaren. There was a time, so Ricky Ponting once told me, when the Australian way was a proper manly handshake and glove-punches between batsmen were ridiculed. It’s not something that crops up any more as changing room chat, and with so many of us having now played in tournaments all around the world and with and against players from a host of different cultures, it’s a case of whatever feels natural at the time.
Dale Steyn came back into the attack for a couple of overs before tea and straight away started with a deep point, which did surprise me a little bit. It wasn’t as if I’d looked to dominate very much up to that stage, although the irony was that my first scoring shot off him in that spell was a push out to that spot for a single, which would have been four had the fielder not been there. In the handful of overs left before the interval there was a case for Graeme Smith attacking a bit more, as Shaun and I were obviously keen to ensure we didn’t expose a new batsman just ahead of the break but at the same time, and especially since I’ve become captain, I don’t mind a sweeper in that spot. It stops the scoreboard getting out of control for the fielding side, gives the bowler confidence to pitch up outside the off-stump knowing he’s got that protection, and bear in mind too that with the fast outfield at Centurion, Graeme knew that anything timed even reasonably well that beat the in-field was usually four.
Morné Morkel bowled one over before the break at the other end from Dale and the two raced in trying to get the breakthrough, but in Morné’s case he got a bit carried away when he banged one in way too short, it hit a crack, cleared AB de Villiers and went for five wides. Far from intimidating me or making me fearful of the bounce Morné was generating, I was quite positive about that happening as I felt those cracks were only going to get wider as the match went on, something that did actually happen.
At tea I’d worked my way to 29 from 67 balls with three fours; Shaun and I had added 78 and the two of us were very happy as we walked off the ground. It’s a long walk up steps from the field into the dressing rooms, something that’s great if you’re taking applause from the crowd, and backslapping and congratulations from your teammates, but not so much fun if you fail. In this instance the words were all positive from players and coaching staff but although we knew we’d done well, we also knew we needed another good session to consolidate and reinforce our position. South Africa, when Graeme Smith put us in to bat, would probably have been looking to get us out for less than 250, and so at 4–176 we still had plenty of work to do to reach that mark and beyond.
What we did know was that we were in for a long final session of the day, likely to be two and a half hours, as South Africa had only bowled 54 overs up to tea. I knew that if Shaun and I could bat for the first hour or so after the break then we would be in a position to try and cash in as tiredness inevitably started to affect the bowlers and fielders.
Twenty minutes isn’t a long time when you’re a not-out batsman. By the time you get to the dressing room and sit down, there are five minutes gone already and with the need to get ready to go out again at the end of the break you probably only have ten minutes of quality rest time where you can try and switch off, unwind, process what’s happened on the field and try and take in some refreshment. The reserve players brought me a banana and a protein bar and I had some water too but my regime during this innings was just to sit quietly and do nothing, not even taking my pads off. Some players might like a dry shirt or a dry pair of trousers, but I didn’t feel the need for either. I was comfortable in the gear I had on.
I did think about my innings—what I’d done to that point and what I needed to do after tea—but by and large it was just a case of switching off after the period of intense concentration. The coach, Darren Lehmann, came up to me and said ‘Well played’ as did a few of the players. I’m not someone who minds people coming up to me and saying something, as I’m not that intense in that situation. The only thing I can’t abide in those circumstances is someone coming up and fiddling with my bat, not that anyone did on this occasion. The bat I was using was the one with the two rubber grips that I’d started using after the hand injury I’d suffered during the Melbourne Test against England, and having scored a hundred with it in Sydney, it was something that felt good so I wanted to keep it going for as long as I could.
Starting again after an interval can be an issue at times. The bowlers have had a break and it is a case of switching on again, but it’s not something that I find too much of a problem and, sure enough, I felt great as soon as I reached the middle. My first two boundaries after tea were the uppercut and on-drive off Morné Morkel I mentioned earlier and I really did feel very comfortable at the crease. There wasn’t much movement now for the faster bowlers, either off the seam or in the air, but I knew this was a crucial stage of the match because if Shaun and I could continue our partnership then it would go a long way to putting us in the box seat.
Dale Steyn opened up after the break along with Morné Morkel and in the absence of much assistance for him he opted to put the ball outside my off-stump and invite me into a loose shot. In his second over after tea there were five balls I didn’t play at, four which were wide and one short delivery. It again emphasised my discipline in the innings, a determination to make the bowlers bowl to my strengths rather than looking for scoring opportunities that invited risk.
The cracks were still playing the odd trick and in the fifth over after the break I almost chopped on a ball from Morné Morkel that cut back sharply, although the ball eventually ran backward of square for a single. Apart from that, though, I felt pretty much in control of what I was doing.
Morkel came off following a four-over spell after tea, to be replaced by the off-spin of Jean-Paul Duminy. It was a victory of sorts to have forced South Africa into introducing a sixth bowler, but at the same time I knew it was no time to switch off. That was a possibility, however slight, especially when facing a bowler who, on that surface, wasn’t going to turn the ball very much at all. There was also the danger of thinking it was time to cash in against a part-timer in the absence of the big guns, but for both Shaun and myself it was just a case of trying to continue to bat rather than think about any need to play big shots. A five-day Test match is a long time, especially on a surface that would clearly get harder to bat on, so runs made in the first innings would always make things easier later in the match.
Duminy’s approach was an interesting one, as he operated around the wicket to me. Off-spinners normally do this if the ball is turning sharply as it brings the lbw dismissal into play if a bowler can pitch the ball in line with the stumps and then spin it back, but there was no spin to speak of from this surface. His plan, instead, was to use the angle across me to try and get me edging behind the wicket or to run past one as I looked for a big shot down the ground. I was happy, though, to once again bide my time and wait for the right ball to hit and after playing out a maiden I stood at 38 from 98 balls faced.
There was actually a double-change as Graeme Smith had withdrawn Dale Steyn, and replaced him with Ryan McLaren for the preceding over. I faced him in the second over of his spell and greeted him with a cover-driven four, one of my best shots of the innings as it beat the deep point on the boundary, so well did I time it. It was another three overs from McLaren before I got something else that I regarded as hittable as he continued the policy he adopted before tea of operating to that fifth stump line against me. And when I got the ball in the areas that I wanted I took advantage, first dropping the ball into a gap on the on-side and scampering two before then crashing a full ball through extra-cover for four to reach my fifty from 118 balls including seven fours.
That two was just about the riskiest thing I’d attempted, as the throw to the bowler’s end could have left Shaun short of his ground if it had been a direct hit, and to an extent it was a slight misjudgement. McLaren’s line outside the off-stump meant he was operating to a packed off-side field and that, in turn, meant there were gaps on the onside with just a mid-on and a fine leg in position. We took the fielders on and won, but having done it I knew there was no need to be quite so cavalier in future.
The quickly taken two and the aggressive drive for four had nothing to do with any nerves as I approached my fifty. By that stage of my career I had moved past the idea of getting nervous close to landmarks. Being near my first Test hundred at The Oval made my heart beat a bit faster as it was only two Tests earlier that I’d been dismissed for 89 at Old Trafford but now I was calm and I just saw this half-century as a stepping stone to a bigger score.
Shaun Marsh reached his hundred with a nudge backward of square on the on-side off Duminy and I was delighted for him. He batted patiently, hadn’t really looked in any trouble and was the perfect partner for me in this innings. Watching him bat the way he did, it was incredible to think it was only his second Test hundred and his first since reaching three figures against Sri Lanka on debut more than two years earlier. He has the ability to make batting look very easy indeed and did so in that innings.
Shaun benefited from South Africa’s holding pattern of using Duminy and McLaren in tandem and I’m sure he would have been delighted to be moving towards his hundred with those two in operation as opposed to any other members of the home side’s attack. But at the same time Graeme Smith was also mindful that the new ball was due just a handful of overs later and he wanted the likes of Steyn, Philander and Morkel to be as fresh as possible to use it. It was a tough balancing act for the fielding captain.
Philander came back in place of McLaren for the 72nd over and I was able to pull him through straight midwicket for four when he dropped short. With Philander bowling that sort of length then I knew I was winning the battle because his stock length is full and tries to induce a false stroke from a drive. But it illustrated how nothing much was happening for South Africa at that stage and that Shaun and I were nullifying them, making them bowl in ways and in areas they weren’t comfortable with. Having said that, I almost fell to the next delivery when Philander dropped short again and I miscued to mid-wicket, short of any fielder, with my bottom hand coming off the bat, just about the ugliest shot I played in the innings. To an extent it was clever bowling from Philander as the last thing I expected from him, especially after my previous shot, was another short ball, and perhaps it was one of the few times—maybe the only time apart from my dismissal—when I let a desire to be aggressive take unnecessary hold of me. I just lost a little concentration in the over, as I then looked to drive only to miscue when not quite to the pitch of the ball, and it was just a case of re-gathering my thoughts and realising there was plenty of work still to do.
I chopped Duminy, still operating round the wicket, away to deep point for two to bring up the 150 stand and my share of it—66, from 133 balls, with eight fours—was another illustration of my patience and the fact Shaun had dominated the partnership. It was that patience and discipline that was a key to my success in the innings. It might not have been champagne batting but it was a case of playing the situation—the need for a partnership, the need for crease occupation and the belief that the pitch wasn’t going to get any easier for batting as the match progressed—and that was what gave me so much satisfaction at the time and still does. And as the new ball approached, with Graeme Smith turning to Robin Peterson alongside Duminy, I felt we had South Africa on the defensive for the first time in the match.
Oddly enough, Smith didn’t take the new ball immediately. He actually waited until the 83rd over before doing so when he threw the ball back to Philander. Part of that may have been down to a desire to give his faster bowlers just a little bit more of a break and part of it may have been down to the fact we weren’t scoring very quickly, as both Shaun and I knew the importance of not taking risks so as to ensure we were at the crease when the quicks came back for another burst. Philander’s first delivery with the new ball—taken at 4–263 with Shaun on 110 and me on 73—was something of a loosener (it was the second ball of his spell) and was floated up wide outside the off-stump. My aggressive tendencies took over and I just threw my hands at the ball with no real movement of my feet. It wasn’t the best of shots, especially in the circumstances, but I was seeing the ball well and instinct took over again. I got away with what was still an error of judgement as the ball sliced off the outer half of the bat away on the off side for four, but it just emphasised the need to maintain the discipline that had served me so well in the innings up to that point.
I wasn’t tired, either mentally or physically, at that stage and the shot against Philander actually illustrated how good I was feeling. The second new ball with the close of play looming had the potential to be a difficult time for us but I felt very positive. The bowlers were tired, it certainly hadn’t been South Africa’s plan to be in that situation when we were asked to bat first, and often the new ball can be a good time to bat as, given it’s harder, it can come on a little quicker and make timing easier. I produced two far more convincing cover drives for four from Philander and Dale Steyn and they took me into the eighties.
The false stroke against Philander acted as an alarm for me in that I realised I had moved away from the discipline outside the off-stump that had served me so well throughout the innings. So when Steyn offered me six deliveries in a row that I didn’t need to play, I ensured I didn’t. That was poor bowling with the second new ball by the side’s premier fast bowler, but it also helped me get back into the groove of playing balls only when they were in the areas I was looking to score from.
Those leaves also showed how calm I was. At that point there were five overs left in the day and I was close to three figures, but there was no feeling in my mind about that landmark. It didn’t enter my head to try and get there before the end of the day’s play and so avoid the potential for a sleepless night. I knew sleep would be difficult anyway with the innings set to go through my head and it was now just a case of trying to repeat the processes that had served me so well during the day. I wanted to be positive against the new ball, but there was no point in throwing away all the hard work that had got me to that position in the first place. I still had to play each ball on its merits.
Steyn did tempt me to play at the odd ball wide of the off-stump, but the balls I chose to try and hit were ones I felt confident I could score from, and in his last-but-one over of the day I cut a ball hard into the ground, over point, and away for four. I was happy to cut from that wide line but not to drive and so it was Steyn’s length that encouraged me to believe I could play the shot and have success with it.
There was just one more alarm for me ahead of the close, and it came when Morné Morkel replaced Philander for just one over. He raced in and gave me a rearing ball that I just managed to play down from in front of my face, away from any close catchers. It wasn’t the sort of ball I would ask for after close to four hours at the crease but, on the other side of the coin, batting for that length of time meant I was better able to deal with it. It also served as an encouragement to me—and to the rest of the team sitting on the sidelines too, I’m sure—that there was still plenty in the surface that allowed the faster bowlers to inconvenience batsmen, and as we had Mitchell Johnson in our side it was something South Africa would have been aware of too.
I walked off 91 not out, out of a total of 4–297, with Shaun Marsh on 122, and it represented a terrific first day of the series for us. That was reflected by the mood in the dressing room too. It wasn’t euphoric but it was very positive, as you might expect given we had been 4–98 just after lunch, and there are few better feelings that walking off to the shouts of your teammates and pats on the back, as Shaun and I got then. The two teams’ dressing rooms at Centurion are next to each other and South Africa would have heard how good we felt about the day’s play. We had a short debrief in the dressing room and Shaun and I chipped in about the surface and how we thought South Africa had bowled, with lessons to learn for us. With the cracks on the pitch it was important for the faster bowlers to run in and really hit that pitch as hard as they could to try and exploit any uneven bounce rather than just put the ball in the right area.
For me the regime after play was simple: to rehydrate and replenish my energy levels. I usually like to take water after an innings although if it’s especially hot and I’m cramping—it wasn’t and I wasn’t in this innings—then I’ll take an isotonic shot to boost my system. I’m not a big fan of an ice bath but I had to have one here to help reduce the lactic acid build-up and so reduce stiffness from muscle fatigue. And once I got back to the hotel it was room service and a massage in the team room, another way of looking after my muscles after a long day.
I’m not a good sleeper when in the middle of an innings and this night was no exception even though I was tired. I found myself replaying the innings in my head and sleep only came with difficulty. I will admit I felt a little fatigued on day two when we arrived at the ground, more mentally than anything after all the concentration of day one, but at the same time physically I felt good. After all, if you can’t feel good when you’re due to bat in a Test match and already have 91 against your name, then when can you feel good?
The outdoor practice nets, after our sessions on them ahead of the Test, were a little worn and so I opted to go indoors again with Michael Di Venuto ahead of play. It was just a case of feeling bat on ball as much as anything and by my standards at the time it was a relatively short session—about 15 minutes—before the squad assembled for a brief chat about the day to come with the emphasis on more of the sort of intelligent cricket we’d produced on the first day.
I wasn’t nervous as I went out with Shaun but I did get a terrific wake-up call first ball as Vernon Philander nipped the ball back off the seam and had a big appeal for lbw against me turned down. What saved me was the extra bounce in the surface as the ball struck me above the flap of the pad.
I was certainly made to work for every one of the nine runs I needed for my hundred that morning. Philander nagged away around off-stump getting just a hint of movement away in the air, although I was again pleased to show plenty of patience against him, while Steyn had better control than on the previous evening and made me play a lot more. The ball continued to misbehave every so often too, with one delivery from Steyn that I left flying off a crack and rising from just short of a length to armpit height, although thankfully it was too wide to cause me any issues, while another squatted lower than expected and I squirted that to square leg for a single. Steyn also produced a nasty ball from back of a length that went past my outside edge and a ferocious short ball that cleared everyone, including wicketkeeper AB de Villiers, for five wides.
Steyn bowled with some serious pace on that second morning, getting one ball to cut back and hit me in the thigh pad before it looped to slip, but when he offered me width and something that was a little bit short, I was good enough and quick enough to pounce, cutting him through point for my first boundary of the day, which took me to 95. Another single squirted through square leg in the following over, from Philander, took me to 96, and although once I got within a boundary of three figures it was tempting just to let the adrenaline get the better of me by looking for the big, pressure-relieving shot, I had worked too hard for too long to think about giving it away and so was determined to continue to try and be as patient as I could be.
Finally I got some respite when, after five overs apiece, Steyn and Philander gave way to Robin Peterson and Ryan McLaren. Peterson came on for the 101st over. I was surprised with the choice of Peterson when the ball was eighteen overs old and Morné Morkel was available, but I wasn’t complaining, skipping down the pitch to clip Peterson through square leg for a single before twice clipping McLaren through the on-side for singles to move to 99. Graeme Smith had obviously left that gap there to try and get me to play across the ball but, as ever, I was completely confident in my ability to hit straight balls in that area.
The second of those singles got me on strike against Peterson. It’s a funny aspect of cricket that suddenly, when a player is close to a landmark, all fielders seem to be on their toes far more than is the case at other times and that can be a cause for anxiety and wondering where the all-important run will come from. But I was actually quite relaxed about things. I knew it would come from somewhere and sure enough, to the third ball of the over, a ball that skidded on with no spin, I squirted it behind square leg for a single to bring up my milestone.
I might not have shown it but I felt quite emotional and very elated to get to my hundred. I’d helped dig the team out of a decent-sized hole and to do it alongside Shaun Marsh, a player coming back into the side, and so with something to prove, made the moment doubly pleasing. More than anything, though, the innings gave me confidence and belief that I really had arrived as a Test batsman. To score those runs against a top Test attack, against a team that had an exceptional home record and in conditions that were tricky, made me realise I had the ability to really make something of myself at the highest level. Whatever job you do, imagine doing it to the very best of your ability in the most testing of circumstances, coming out with flying colours. That’s how I felt when I raised my bat that morning.
After all that, however, the end came for me suddenly, in the next over, and it was a bit of an anti-climax. I pushed hard at a ball from Ryan McLaren and edged to Robin Peterson, who took a comfortable catch at second slip. It was a decent ball, it nipped away off the seam and drew me into the shot but it was a ball I’d been leaving countless times during the innings and it was, without doubt, a lapse in concentration on my part. The relief of reaching my hundred undoubtedly played a part and that was disappointing.
It meant I walked off with a mix of emotions—elation, yes, at scoring a Test hundred, an important innings for me and the team, but also frustration at getting out in the way that I had. I was satisfied with what I’d done, but at the same time that frustration was there, as once reaching three figures it is often the best time to bat. The job isn’t done, but having achieved something it can be a time to play with a bit more freedom, score more quickly and really turn the screw on the opposition.
As a child I tended to get pretty upset when I was dismissed and would shout and carry on when I got back to the dressing room. I’ve settled down from that over time and although I do get angry when I make a mistake, if I get a good ball then I can be fairly relaxed about getting out. I was calm by the time I got back to the dressing room this time, helped by the fact it was a long walk from the middle and boosted by the applause I got from the crowd. It’s hard to be too angry when you raise your bat as you walk off. Since the death of Phillip Hughes I’ve certainly been calmer after being dismissed, whatever my score, as that really brought home to me that there’s no point, when you’ve got out, in getting too worked up. It’s only a game, after all. My career yes, but still only a game.
Michael Di Venuto and Darren Lehmann both came up to me and said ‘Well played’ and I knew they were right. It had been hard work, especially on that second morning when my last nine runs took 14 overs, but my hundred was my reward for the thought I’d put into the innings beforehand and the execution of my plans once I got out in the middle. It was a template for me for the time ahead and I really do feel that it marked the point where I actually believed that international cricket was where I belonged. Before that innings it was something I’d wanted to believe. After I walked off at Centurion I knew it was.