It’s no real surprise that fast bowling emerged as the key difference between Australia and South Africa at the Wanderers, where discipline is required to make the most of the seam- and swing-friendly conditions

Brydon Coverdale at the Wanderers02-Mar-2009
Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle were Australia’s main bowling weapons © Getty Images
It’s no real surprise that fast bowling emerged as the key differencebetween Australia and South Africa at the Wanderers, where disciplineis required to make the most of the seam- and swing-friendlyconditions. But what few expected was that South Africa’s imposingattack of Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini and Morne Morkel would be outshoneby Australia’s unheralded group of Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle andBen Hilfenhaus.South Africa’s trio had played a combined 144 Tests compared to the 22matches that Australia’s fast men had under their belts. However,South Africa’s bowlers consistently dropped the ball too short whileAustralia’s men stuck to the team plan of sending down fuller,swinging balls and Graeme Smith was in no doubt that it was the majorreason his side failed.”We never were precise enough with the ball throughout the match eventhough yesterday we bowled Australia out for a pretty low total,”Smith said following South Africa’s 162-run defeat. “At the Wanderersthere’s a really good contest between bat and ball. You need to beprecise with your lines and lengths.”They achieved better areas than us with the ball, putting our battersunder more pressure than we put theirs under. That was the differenceat the end of the day. For the first time in a long time we haven’tachieved the results with the ball that we have over the last periodof time. Our bowling attack has the ability, there’s no doubt aboutthat, and we’ve just got to improve those levels in Durban.”Australia’s youthful bowling unit was led by Johnson, who was the Manof the Match for his eight wickets and unbeaten 96 in the firstinnings. The exhausted Johnson said by the time the fifth morningrolled around he was feeling “flat”, which was a worrying sign asAustralia needed another eight wickets to claim victory.It was Siddle and the medium-pacer Andrew McDonald who made the earlybreakthroughs and Hilfenhaus applied impressive pressure. Johnsonfinished the task by grabbing two wickets in the final ten overs andhe said there was a positive feeling in the enthusiastic young group.”Before this tour, the last Test in Sydney it was starting to click,”he said. “We had a lot of young players in the side then. Coming overhere, the boys are a very tight-knit group. Sidds and myself get onvery well and are always talking. Hilfy playing his first Test bowledextremely well. I’m very excited about the group that we’ve got at themoment and just looking forward to the future.”The immediate future means Friday at Kingsmead. South Africa havethree days to regroup but 1-0 down is not an unfamiliar position forthem. Last summer against West Indies, South Africa lost the firstTest at Port Elizabeth before coming back to take the series 2-1 andthe previous season against India they also returned from one-down towin the three-game series.”It’s probably a bad habit to be getting into,” Smith said. “Weprobably haven’t always started at our best in South Africa. It’s anunfortunate thing and it’s tough to put our finger on why ithappens. We know what we are capable of and if we play to that levelwe can win the Durban Test match.”We also know Ricky [Ponting] is not going to give it to us on aplatter. We are going to have to earn it. The confidence is stillthere, the confidence of knowing we can match Australia and we’ve justgot to go out there and perform better than them and put it into playin the middle.”South Africa have the option of altering their attack with theinclusion of Albie Morkel in the squad to replace the injured LonwaboTsotsobe. However, it’s unlikely they will tinker with the groupthat performed so strongly in Australia.