South Africa: pushed back but not defeated..

Unlikely to what was expected out of the series, the first test between South-Africa and Australia saw a dismal performance from the Proteas who ended up losing the match by a huge margin of 281 runs. This was only the second defeat faced by them in the last 19 tests that they have played and it was more disheartening for them because it happened in Centurion which was considered to be the fortress of South Africans over the years. By putting the world no Test team down in the series the Aussies have increased the excitement of the series because Proteas have not become number one by chance. They have the ability to strike back and strike back hard. They’ve showed that in recent times by coming back after losing a test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
But winning over this Australian side is going to be a mammoth task for them. The Aussies are high on confidence after white-washing England on the home turf. Their batsmen are looking in good knick and the line-up is looking well balanced with everyone playing their part. But the real difference has been their bowling which has performed exceptionally well in the last few matches. Mitchell Johnson was the chief architect of the victory against SA. He is surely in the form of his life, continuing from where he left in the Ashes. He not only took 12 wickets but also inflicted some body blows to the protean batsmen. Ryan McLaren and Hashim Amla were at the receiving end. If South Africa have to win against Aussies, they need to find a way around Johnson by not giving him wickets. As AB de Villiers rightly pointed out in a press conference, they need to get rid of the fear of being hurt, the prime reason of why Johnson has been so effective.
Apart from AB de Villiers no other batsman in the line-up looked comfortable against the Australian bowling. Amla and Faf du Plessis showed signs of resistance in the last test too and were able to get a start. They have shown great mental strength in the past and need to repeat the same. But the real problem for South Africa seems to be failure of Alviro Petersen, Smith and JP Duminy. Smith has faced difficulties against Johnson similar to Zaheer Khan and needs to get his act together. Petersen has also been tentative against him and lost his wicket twice for cheap scores. JP Duminy’s ability to convert his talent to scores has hurt Proteas the most. He has been what Rohit Sharma was for India for a long time in his career.
The South African pace attack has also looked lack-lustre and the trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander looked off-colour in the last game. Steyn has lost some pace over the years and it was visible when he was pitted against Johnson. Its time for them to work hard in the nets and may be give Australians a taste of their own medicine by bowling bodyline. An experienced Kallis is definitely being missed by the South Africans but they have the talent and can surely fight their way back.