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Match facts

July 4-8, 2009
Start time 10.00 (04.30 GMT)

The Big Picture

Will Kaushal Silva make his Test debut?•AFP

Over the last four months, both sides have fought mental battles to rid all memories of the horrific Lahore attack; putting the past behind you and moving on is often easier said than done, though, and it will be a deeply emotional moment whenthey take the field for the first Test. They’ve played against each other, of course, most recently in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 less than a fortnight ago. Pakistan won that match but the hosts will look to settle the score in a completely different format.There’s a lot of change in the air. This will be Kumar Sangakkara’s first Test series as captain. Pakistan had welcomed back one rebel ICL player, Abdul Razzaq, in England and now prepare for the return of another – Mohammad Yousuf, whose presence in the middle order will be invaluable.Sri Lanka have already suffered a setback, with their lead spinner Muttiah Muralitharan missing the Test due to a knee injury. With Chaminda Vaas not included and Lasith Malinga unfit for Tests, their bowling could be a bit weak. Their batsman, though, will be expected to continue their ominous touch from the previous series, where they piled up scores of 644 and 606.That series was a poor advertisement for Test cricket and the conditions, on paper, cannot promise anything entirely different now. Attacking cricket is the best way to encourage results and Pakistan have the incentive to push for it. A series win will see them jump up by two slots to snatch the No.4 ranking from their opponents.

Test form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)
Sri Lanka – DDWWW
Pakistan – DDDDL

Watch out for …

Nuwan Kulasekara: In Vaas’ absence, Kulasekara will take on a new role as the pace-bowling spearhead. He remains the No.1 bowler in ODIs and it remains to be seen if he can maintain that level of consistency in the Tests. His ability to bowl a stump-to-stump line and get the ball to skid through has fetched him several wickets. A promising Test future awaits.Mohammad Yousuf: On reputation alone, Yousuf will walk into the line-up, despite the fact that he hasn’t been with the team since November, or for that matter played a first-class match for the last 13 months. Pakistan’s policy on ICL returnees was to review players on a case-by-case basis but they wasted no time in netting Yousuf as soon as he made himself available.

Team news

Hit by injuries, Sri Lanka may hand out a couple of Test caps. The allrounder Angelo Mathews and offspinner Suraj Randiv could make their debuts, although Rangana Herath, the 31-year-old left-arm spinner, is a frontrunner to take Murali’s place. Another likely debutant is wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva, who’s filling in for the injured Prasanna Jayawardene. If Mathews plays, either Sangakkara or Tillakaratne Dilshan will have to keep – both were practising their glovework on the eve of the match. The question is whether Sangakkara is willing to take on the additional responsibility of keeping wicket and batting high up the order.Sri Lanka (likely) 1 Malinda Warnapura, 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (capt), 4 Mahela Jayawardene, 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Angelo Mathews / Kaushal Silva, 8 Nuwan Kulasekara, 9 Thilan Thushara, 10 Ajantha Mendis, 11 Rangana HerathMore debuts in store from the other camp as well. Mohammad Aamer, the 17-year-old left-arm quick, could make his Test debut along with the right-arm seamer Abdur Rauf, since Pakistan have decided not to play Abdul Razzaq and risk him bowling long spells. Pakistan are very likely to play Yousuf. They may also go in with just one specialist spinner, and should they do so, Shoaib Malik can expect to do a lot of bowling. Another possible debutant is Saeed Ajmal, the offspinner, who had a good outing in the World Twenty20.Pakistan (likely) 1 Salman Butt, 2 Khurram Manzoor, 3 Younis Khan (capt), 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq / Faisal Iqbal, 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Kamran Akmal (wk), 8 Danish Kaneria / Saeed Ajmal, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Mohammad Aamer, 11 Abdur Rauf

Pitch and conditions

Preparations were hit by rain over the last few days but on the eve of the Test, the sun was out. The covers came off after a very long time and the outfield looks lush green.

Stats and trivia

• Sri Lanka have never won a Test series against Pakistan at home. In five meetings since 1986, Pakistan have claimed three series, including the previous meeting in 2006 which they won 1-0.
• Pakistan trounced Sri Lanka by a massive innings and 163 runs the last time they met in Galle. Pakistan piled on four centuries and Razzaq took a hat-trick.
• Sri Lanka’s only victory in a Test at home against Pakistan came in March 1986.
• Pakistan will miss the services of Mohammad Asif. In the previous Test between these two sides, in Kandy, he took 11 wickets and shot out the home side for 73 to set up the win in a low-scorer.

Quotes

“The shots you play in limited-overs cricket has to change in Test cricket. You definitely have more scoring opportunities in Tests. For some reason or the other, the mindset of the batsmen changes in whites. Mental strength, physical fitness and temperament plays a big part in Test. The side that is good on these accounts will win.”
“Rustiness is not an excuse in cricket. We hadn’t played much cricket, but we won the World Twenty20. India had played a lot of cricket, but they couldn’t even make it to the last four. When we played Test cricket for the first time in 13 months, our team scored 700 and I scored 300. So it all depends on how we play on the day.”

India 159 for 1 (Rohit 80, Gambhir 52*) beat Pakistan 158 for 6 (Misbah 37*, Younis 32, Ishant 1-11) by nine wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outRohit Sharma never looked out of place as an opener•Associated Press

Finally India and Pakistan played out a one-sided Twenty20 game. Filling in for Virender Sehwag as opener, Rohit Sharma continued to give India a combination dilemma and made the chase seem like an afternoon walk in a London park. A target of 159, with extra bowlers available by the virtue of this being a 13-a-side game, was by no means an easy one, but Gautam Gambhir and Rohit managed with the ease that belies the tension an India-Pakistan match brings.Nothing about this encounter suggested it was a warm-up game. The sell-out crowd, and the intensity in the first innings was something even the final of the actual tournament will be proud of. But in the second innings, Pakistan went into the experiment mode. They went in with an interesting strategy, interchanging the usual roles between Umar Gul and Sohail Tanvir. Gul, who usually bowls in the last 10 overs, opened the bowling, and Tanvir came on to bowl in the 10th over – none of the moves worked.Nothing about Rohit’s innings suggested that he was a makeshift opener. Although Gambhir kickstarted things with three boundaries in the first three overs, including one off Gul’s first ball, it was Rohit who took the match away from Pakistan. He got going with a heave over mid-on in the third over, but the slogs were conspicuous by absence in the rest of his innings.Yasir Arafat, who bowled three overs at the top of the innings, went for a six in his second and two boundaries in his third. The 17-year-old prodigy Mohammad Aamer produced good pace in his first over, but he too was pulled for four by Rohit. By the end of the seventh over, when Pakistan threw the final roll of the dice – the spinners – India had already reached 65.The batsmen played out Saeed Ajmal’s first over quietly, but in Shahid Afridi’s first over Gautam Gambhir joined the party, with a short-arm-pull over midwicket. Tanvir, in his first over, was hit for perhaps the shot of the day, a yorker flicked to fine leg. By the time captain Younis Khan called the spinners back, Rohit was in the mood for some fun, hitting Ajmal inside-out and pulling Afridi over midwicket. When he got out for a 53-ball 80, India needed only 19 runs in four overs.Lack of discipline and a few big hits from MS Dhoni and Gambhir meant the game ended in the next over. Quite fittingly, Pakistan finished the match with a wide.It wasn’t as facile when the old sparring partners started off for the first time since last year’s Asia Cup in Karachi. They wasted little time in going for punches and counter-punches during a frenetically-paced first innings. A wicket in the first over didn’t deter Ahmed Shehzad and Kamran Akmal from counterattacking spectacularly with a 25-ball 43-run stand. They stumbled just as sensationally, losing the next three wickets on the same score before the two coolest heads in the team, Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq, rebuilt and took Pakistan to what seemed a fighting total.Praveen Kumar and Shehzad set the agenda early. Praveen followed two bouncers with an outswinger to clean up Shahzaib Hasan. Akmal then crashed the first ball after the wicket through the covers for four. In the next over, Shehzad hit RP Singh for three boundaries, an over during which he was also dropped by Harbhajan Singh at short midwicket.Dhoni quickly called on the raw pace of Ishant Sharma and the effect was immediate. First Suresh Raina ran out Akmal through superb work at cover, and Shehzad top-edged a pull in the same over. The panic set in when a promoted Shahid Afridi went boom first ball he faced from Irfan and managed just an outside edge to Dhoni – 45 for 1 had become 45 for 4.Shoaib Malik counterattacked, but fell soon. Either side of Malik’s dismissal, no boundary was hit for 42 balls until Misbah made room and lofted Ojha to wide long-on in the 13th over. By the time Younis fell for a run-a-ball 32, the two had been added 50 in 45 balls. Arafat and Misbah provided the final impetus, scoring 29 in the last two overs, but it proved to be way below-par on the night.

The Australian Test umpire, Simon Taufel, believes the pink ball being trialled by MCC could have a future in the game after watching it in action during a match at Lord’s on Wednesday.Taufel stood for ten overs of the contest between MCC and MCC Young Cricketers before flying back to Johannesburg where he will be umpiring in the final stages of the IPL.”It looked pretty good.” Taufel told the lords.org website. “There was a little bit of a comet trail to it but it certainly gave me a lot more information off the pitch and off the seam. My view was you could probably see it better than a white ball.”Now we have to look at the duration of that ball. Will it last the 80, 90, 100 overs?” he asked. “What’s it going to change [for] a swing bowler; or someone who uses shine as a method of competing in the game? Spinners – how do they feel about it? Can they grip the ball because it’s not a dye, it’s still a lacquer. Does that change the way we’d play Test cricket? That’s something I’m conscious of.”Under the current regulations for one-day internationals, there is a mandatory ball-change after 34 overs, mainly due to the discoloration it suffers in the course of an innings. “With this [pink] ball we don’t see that problem,” said Taufel. “I’ve seen a ball that’s 40 overs, 50 overs old – you don’t get the same sort of discoloration. From that perspective, it’s certainly a better colour.”As for the prospect of one day umpiring in a day/night Test match, Taufel was open to the possibility. “I think what we have to do is respond to the changing markets that we’re seeing,” he said. “In some parts of the world we’re seeing Test cricket as very alive and flourishing – we’re seeing high spectator attendance and high TV ratings.”But in some parts of the world, with some participants that’s not the case. We have to make sure we respond to that feedback. If there are ways we can encourage more people to watch, enjoy and appreciate Test cricket, and that means changing the timing of it, to suit what the market wants – then I think we need to look at that.”

Andy Flower has been confirmed as England’s new full-time team director of cricket after working on an interim basis during the recent tour of West Indies.Flower, 40, stepped up from his assistant role in January, following the dismissal of the former head coach, Peter Moores. Though England’s results were mixed during a turbulent 11-week tour, he impressed the selectors with his work ethic and formed a strong bond with the captain, Andrew Strauss, which was rewarded with a last-gasp victory in five-match ODI series that followed the Tests.Flower’s is expected to be approximately £250,000, and his first major job will be to help select the squad for the first Test against West Indies, at Lord’s, which begins on May 6. An enlarged squad is expected to be named at the weekend.Having called upon the professional headhunting firm, Odgers Ray & Berndtson, to help pinpoint the ideal candidate for the role, the ECB were left – partly by design and partly by accident – with what Morris described as “a very short shortlist”. One high-profile target, Western Australia’s coach, Tom Moody, chose not to put his name forward, while another, Kent’s coach Graham Ford, the former favourite for the role, withdrew from the nomination after criticising the long-drawn-out nature of the process.Other names mentioned but since ruled out include the coaches of South Africa and India, Mickey Arthur and Gary Kirsten, while Warwickshire’s director of cricket, Ashley Giles, was told he lacked sufficient experience, which left him frustrated. John Wright, the former India coach and now New Zealand’s high performance manager, remained as the one genuine competitor but in reality the job always seemed to be Flower’s since the end of the West Indies tour.One factor in Flower’s favour, in the short term at least, was the sheer volume of cricket faced by England’s cricketers in the coming months. After a period of intense upheaval, encompassing the loss of three captains and a coach in the space of four months (and with a fourth captain in the pipeline for the World Twenty20), the time has come for some consolidation at the top, especially with the Ashes looming in early July.It may have taken Flower until the final weeks of England’s tour to register his first victory in the role, but on his watch the team has put a greater onus on personal fitness, which will prove invaluable given that most of the squad faces a non-stop 11-week schedule in the run-up to the Ashes, starting with the IPL in South Africa for several key members, including Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen.Furthermore, Flower will also have to make a call on the readiness of the former captain, Michael Vaughan, for a return to the Test side. He quit the captaincy in August on account of a prolonged run of poor form, and he made just 12 for MCC against Durham in the season opener at Lord’s last week, but Vaughan’s reputation in Ashes cricket could well count in his favour, especially if doubts continue to linger about his competitors for the No.3 spot, Ian Bell and Owais Shah.

Andrew Symonds is back in Australia’s plans after a troubled season and is part of the preliminary squad for the World Twenty20 in England in June. Symonds, who has been chosen in the 30-man group with the injured Shaun Tait and Brett Lee, was banned from the South Africa tour due to his off-field problems, which began with him going fishing in Darwin last year.His selection in the outfit increases his chances of being involved in the limited-overs matches against Pakistan starting later this month. Cricket Australia told the selectors Symonds had shown enough in his rehabilitation programme, which increased following a handful of incidents during the home summer, to be considered solely on fitness and form.”I’m grateful that I’ve got the chance to get back to playing for Australia again,” Symonds said. “Hopefully the boys go well in South Africa [on Friday] and for the rest of the series because I’d love to be back in the rooms with them again sometime down the track.” He will be in South Africa next week to prepare for the IPL with the Deccan Chargers.”Cricket Australia and Andrew have been speaking, as have members of the team leadership group, and we are satisfied he is committed to doing the things needed of an Australian international cricketer,” the chief executive James Sutherland said. Symonds may be back in Australian colours by the end of the month if some of the senior players, including the worn out Michael Hussey, take a break for the Pakistan engagements in the UAE.Symonds last played for Australia during the second Test against South Africa in December before undergoing knee surgery. He showed his fitness – but not much form – with Queensland over the closing stages of the season.The Twenty20 squad will be cut to 15 for the 16-day tournament, which doubles as an Ashes warm-up for Australia. Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, has looked to the uncapped spinner Aaron Heal while Graham Manou has the inside running as Brad Haddin’s understudy following the slump of Luke Ronchi.”The squad includes Tait, Shane Watson, Lee and Shaun Marsh, who are all currently recovering from injuries,” Hilditch said. “Marsh has, from all reports, now made a full recovery from his hamstring injury. The recovery from injury of Lee and Tait will be carefully monitored in the next few weeks.” Tait has suffered a long-term hamstring problem while Lee had ankle and foot surgery after limping out of the Boxing Day Test.Watson, who is returning from back stress fractures, has started light bowling in the nets and is “pretty happy with how I’m going so far”. “We’ve made some minor technical adjustments to my action and I’ll be looking to gradually build up my workload over the next six or seven weeks,” he said. “I’ll have a much better idea during that period as to when I can bowl again in a match, but I’m certainly looking forward to getting into a regular playing routine with Rajasthan in the IPL.”Australia’s women’s outfit was also announced, with the tournament giving the players a chance to forget their disappointing fourth place in the home World Cup last month. The final squads will be named on May 5.Australia squad Nathan Bracken, Michael Clarke, Callum Ferguson, Brett Geeves, Brad Haddin, Ryan Harris, Shane Harwood, Nathan Hauritz, Aaron Heal, Moises Henriques, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, James Hopes, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Jason Krejza, Ben Laughlin, Brett Lee, Graham Manou, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Rob Quiney, Peter Siddle, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, David Warner, Shane Watson, Cameron White.Australia women’s squad Sarah Aley, Sarah Andrews, Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Kate Blackwell, Melissa Bulow, Jessica Cameron, Jude Coleman, Sarah Coyte, Lauren Ebsary, Sarah Edwards, Rene Farrell, Jodie Fields, Corinne Hall, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Emma Inglis, Jessica Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Shelley Nitschke, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry, Kirsten Pike, Leah Poulton, Karen Rolton, Lisa Sthalekar, Selena Tainton, Jo-Ann Verrall, Elyse Villani, Julie Woerner.

Former East Zone batsman Robin Mukherjee has died of a heart attack. He was 65.Mukherjee was an opener for Bengal, Jharkhand and Railways and played 60 first-class games, scoring 2984 runs at 33.00 with five centuries, his best being 183. Mukherjee also served as a selector for Bengal and later as chief curator for East Zone.”Besides being a reputed cricketer Robin was also dedicated to the game. He also served the game as a selector, coach and curator of pitch,” said Jagmohan Dalmiya, the former ICC and BCCI president and current CAB president. “In his death, Bengal and East Zone have lost a multifaceted personality of cricket. I convey my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family”.Mukherjee died at his Kolkata residence on March 14. He is survived by his wife

Giles Clarke has found himself at the receiving end of much criticism in the light of the news about Allen Stanford, raising questions about his current position as ECB chairman.Although he was only last week re-elected unopposed for a second two-year term, his close relationship to Stanford has already caused a raft of negative media comment in the UK. And his critics in the cricket world have wasted no time in taking swipes at him.”In any normal organisation the chairman’s position would be untenable in these circumstances,” Neil Davidson, chairman of Leicestershire and a vocal opponent of Clarke’s during his recent re-election campaign, said. “Clarke is the architect of this deal, not David Collier [the ECB chief executive]. A lot of us felt it was an error of judgement to get involved with Stanford and while we can’t prejudge what will happen, those views seem to have been vindicated.””We need to understand who knew what and who did what and that’s an internal matter which we need to get to the bottom of … my understanding is that Giles was very much at the forefront of this deal.”Lord Marland, the former Conservative party treasurer who failed in his bid last week to usurp Clarke as ECB chairman, echoed Davidson’s views. “The ECB has walked into the open arms of a man who has now been charged with fraud. What due diligence was carried out? The picture of Clarke, Collier and Stanford standing behind all those dollars will haunt English cricket for a long time. In any other organisation, heads would roll.”And Hampshire’s Rod Bransgrove, a constant and vociferous critic, said that he “always thought the whole association would crumble as soon as the ECB chairman election was over and Clarke was reinstated”.

An interesting finish is on the cards in Barbados, with Guyana needing 289 with nine wickets in hand on the final day against Combined Campuses & Colleges. CCC gained the first-innings lead after Guyana’s last two pairs managed only ten runs. Fast bowler Kevin McClean struck both blows for CCC to complete his maiden five-for in first-class games.Nekoli Parris then struck his first first century as CCC piled on 300 for 5 before declaring their second innings. Parris built on a solid start from openers Romel Currency and Simon Jackson – both of whom were out in the 40s, offering catches to the close-in fielders off the spinners. Kurt Wilkinson retired hurt on 9 after he was hit on the hand by a delivery from medium-pacer Brandon Bess and the score was 189 for 4 when Floyd Reifer was trapped lbw for 6. Wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton, who made an unbeaten 51, then added 94 with Parris, who was dismissed for 105 by Veerasammy Permaul. Permaul was the pick of the bowler, with 2 for 25 off 12 overs.Guyana lost an early wicket, that of Shemroy Barrington, in their chase, finishing the day at 30 for 1.Windward Islands need another 194 to avoid an innings defeat against Barbados in Grenada. Windwards crumbled for 194 in their first innings after Barbados declared on their overnight score of 395 for 8. Rawl Lewis, the captain, played a lone hand, scoring 84 in a team score of 192. He struck 11 fours and two sixes in his 155-ball innings. Kemar Roach (3-33) and Tino Best (2-25) ripped through the top order. Lewis led the fightback with Shane Shillingford, with the duo putting on 63 for the seventh wicket. Corey Collymore got rid of Shillingford, and Ryan Hinds wrapped up the innings with his 4 for 36, with Lewis the penultimate batsman to be dismissed. Barbados enforced the follow on, and Roach quickly dismissed Devon Smith, coming into this game on the back of a double-century, for the second time on the day. Windwards closed the day on 9 for 1.A late three-wicket burst from allrounder Richard Kelly raised Trinidad and Tobago’s hopes against Jamaica in Port of Spain. Having dismissed T&T for 202, Jamaica were cruising at 136 for 2 when Kelly struck. Brenton Parchment led their reply with 54, with one-drop Donovan Pagon scoring 41. Kelly, who made an unbeaten 25 in T&T’s innings, struck thrice off his 9.5 overs as Jamaica finished the day at 148 for 5.

Stones
Another rowdy element in the crowd, another stone-throwing incident – the third of this series – and 27 minutes were lost as the Indian team left the field. Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar and now Pragyan Ojha, fielding at deep fine leg, have all complained of objects being thrown at them. Interestingly, on all three occasions, Dhoni kept the fielder where he was after the game resumed.Record
When Muttiah Muralitharan removed Gambhir to become the highest wicket-taker in ODIs, the celebrations were surprisingly muted – to the point of being almost silent. Was Murali bored at breaking yet another record? Was the crowd – small as it was (see below) – tired of the long wait? Even the brass bands failed to turn it up, though they did break into “For he’s a jolly good fellow” during the interminable pitch side TV interview. However, the moment was spiced up by the identity of the umpire who made the correct decision. It was Murali’s old team-mate, Kumar Dharmasena, who used to bowl his overs so quickly that many batsmen asked the umpires to get him to slow down.Fire
Irfan Pathan and Sanath Jayasuriya were involved in a face-off. After Jayasuriya picked a length delivery over square leg for a fine four, Irfan fired in a high bouncer. Jayasuriya obviously didn’t like it. He charged the next ball to lift it over long-off after which he went down again but edged the ball on to his pad. Off the first ball of Irfan’s next over, Jayasuriya went down the pitch again and hit a stupendous inside-out six over extra cover. Next ball, he dashed down the track once more. Irfan shortened the length and kept it outside off. Jayasuriya went for his short-arm pull but ended up swatting it to short cover.Bananas
When the Indians were fielding, Dhoni munched a banana at the end of an over. It must have been yummy because he took a while to finish it. Play was held up till he completed munching. Thankfully, he was not eating a jack fruit.Missing
Where were they? One local reporter guessed it was the lowest turnout in an ODI game since Sri Lanka won the World Cup. On the brighter side, it must have been easy to find the person who threw the stone.

South Africa 7 for 198 (Smith 62, Siddle 3-24) trail Australia 394 (Ponting 101, Clarke 88*, Katich 54, Steyn 5-87) by 198 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Australia were winning the battle of the fast men but it wasn’t Brett Lee who surged the home team back into the series. After Dale Steyn, the form bowler of 2008, stormed to five wickets in the opening session, South Africa’s top order was knocked over by Peter Siddle, a 24-year-old Victorian who is growing as a Test quick in front of his home crowd.Siddle’s knowledge of the surface helped gain him a start after the disappointing defeat in Perth, and he was responsible for driving Australia to a position of strength with 3 for 24 from 13 overs as they attempt to level the three-match contest. At stumps South Africa were in severe trouble at 7 for 198, still 196 behind Australia’s first-innings 394, which grew in value with each wicket.Steyn collected three breakthroughs before lunch to capture 5 for 87, but by the end of the day the 114 runs Michael Clarke marshalled from Australia’s lower order in that session was the most important early development. From there they controlled the South Africans in a style that was familiar to the country’s previous outfits. Once again it looks as if Graeme Smith’s side is better as a chaser instead of a leader.Smith followed his 108 in Perth with a committed 62 that held the top order together until he departed to a clever plan from Siddle. The dismissal switched South Africa to survival mode and JP Duminy was the only specialist left to deal with the problems. He reached a calm 34 at the close and should not expect much help from the remaining batsmen.In his second spell Siddle was trying to force Smith, who was starting to appear affected by his nagging elbow injury, to hit down the ground instead of square on the offside and between midwicket and square-leg. When Smith had grown comfortable with the straighter line Siddle delivered a wider ball and the captain reached for it, but could only edge it to Brad Haddin. It may be the most important dismissal of the game as Smith was the best of the visiting batsmen.AB de Villiers, who spent 24 balls on zero, was a different man from the hero of Perth and followed Smith on 7 when beaten for pace by Siddle. Siddle appealed loudly for an lbw until his team-mates pointed to the broken stumps and he smiled like it was a surprise birthday party. South Africa were 5 for 132 and Siddle had his third wicket, which came in a six-over spell of 2 for 12.He had taken the new ball in his third Test and began by bowling a confused Neil McKenzie, who probably still doesn’t know whether he was trying to leave or defend. McKenzie departed to his fifth delivery as Siddle out-performed Lee, who was expensive, giving up 68 runs in 13 overs, and usually slower than his new team-mate.

In between Siddle’s first and second wickets the offspinner Nathan Hauritz benefitted from a poor mistake by Jacques Kallis, who was so comfortable until trying to dab a sweep in the over before lunch. The ball bounced off Kallis’ glove, Haddin had an easy take, and the Australians were buzzing at the end of a 63-run stand between the tourists’ most experienced pair.Hauritz’s second wicket also arrived from a poor sweep when Mark Boucher (3) found Michael Hussey at square-leg. At 6 for 141 only Duminy remained a threat and he put on 43 with Morne Morkel before he was bowled for 21 by Mitchell Johnson. Johnson had struck early, with Hashim Amla cutting hard to Andrew Symonds at gully, and he backed up Siddle with 2 for 53.South Africa had let Australia off in the morning when Clarke’s 88 boosted the Australian total significantly. While Steyn was hurting the bowlers, Clarke was providing discomfort for the visitors, who will look back at his innings as the first major turning point.Clarke and Lee resumed at a delicate 6 for 280 but spread 45 at more than a run a ball, with the two senior men showing Australia would not be backing down. After crawling throughout the latter stages of Boxing Day, Clarke almost turned his overnight 36 into a century, swinging his bat powerfully and effectively. He stayed for 208 balls and collected only four fours and a top-edged six from Makhaya Ntini, preferring to find the gaps and run hard.A partnership of 42 with Siddle, a composed No. 11, added to the South African problems that grew when they batted. Australia’s position was annoying for Steyn, who had showed his emerging class. He arrived in the country with a reputation for high-quality speed and after a quiet game in Perth – by his 2008 standards – he clicked over the first two days of the crucial contest. The haul took his tally for the year to 69 victims at 20.49.Having dismissed Simon Katich and Michael Hussey on Friday, he followed up by removing Lee (21) to an edge and Johnson, who played-on, in the same over. He finished with Hauritz’s nick to Smith and the South Africans were buoyant until Clarke and Siddle swiftly swung the game Australia’s way.