Adelaide 2012: Day Four

While you'd have been pretty sure the horse had bolted when Australia went to lunch yesterday at 7/206 with Wade and Pattinson still there after Clarke and Hussey departed in the morning session by the tea break with Smith and Amla gone it was a definite case of no use shutting the gate.

Sure, they've got de Villiers and du Plessis at the crease with Kallis to come, but you'd reckon that unless rain intervenes you wouldn't need much more than two sessions to find the half dozen decent deliveries that would wrap up proceedings on a fifth day track in Adelaide. As for 353 runs to win, regardless of what was accomplished in Perth on an improving autobahn four years ago, you can rule a South African victory right out of contention.

More particularly, given the fact that the Proteas managed 37 off the same number of overs between tea and stumps and Lyon's rather remarkable figures of 15 overs, 7 maidens, 2 for 15 you'd figure the offie will be getting more than his share of action with men clustered around the bat.

If that doesn't work, and Siddle and Hilfenhaus can't deliver the goods at the other end there's always the prospect of Clarke and Warner rolling their arms over with slightly less aggressive fields.

Actually, given an early wicket or two, it could all be over by lunch.

The part time bowling side of things, with Clarke, Warner, Quiney and Ponting getting a trundle yesterday, and sending down just under a quarter of the fifty overs so far, would have you suggesting that up and coming batsmen with ambitions of playing at the international level might be advised to work on their bowling a bit.

After all, there has been a considerable amount of work put into getting the likes of Glenn McGrath to the point where they can stick around with the willow, you'd reckon there'd be a fair case for getting the batsmen to spend net practice doing a bit more than just rolling the arm over and trundling them down at medium pace or sending down a bit of half-hearted spin.

It's not as if you're talking rocket surgery in that department. You're not looking for someone who has mastered the factors that induce reverse swing, the dodgy biodynamics of the doosra or the intricacies of the flipper. All you need is someone who can land the ball fairly tidily for a couple of overs and has reasonable mastery of a variation (or, at the most, two).

That presents some intriguing possibilities. Quiney delivered some tidy medium pace, and it would be interesting to know whether he has anything else in his armoury. At that pace, something like the old knuckle ball would possibly be worth working on, and if that didn't work out it'd be worth investigating other variations that would deliver a slower ball.

Even if it didn't translate into a spell at the bowling crease you'd think that sort of work would definitely come in useful when it comes to the batsman's key role, which is, of course, to deliver large quantities of runs without getting out.

Let's pause a moment and consider these things a little further. Not that I'm suggesting Quiney isn't going to find himself back playing for the Bushrangers as soon as Watson's fit or Khawaja is deemed to have displayed a run of form that deserves a recall.

The point behind the pace bowler's slower ball (and I'm applying the same principle to anything from military medium upwards) is to induce the batsman into a false shot by getting them through the stroke early so the ball is hit in the air rather than along the deck. That means you bowl it with the same arm action you'd usually use but find a way of slowing the ball down as it leaves the hand.

Arm speed the same, but slower out of the hand, compris?

There are a couple of ways of doing that, and the topic gets fairly detailed coverage in Dennis Lillee's The Art of Fast Bowling, which is where I picked up on the knuckle ball.

The trick here involved folding the middle finger in behind the ball and flicking the knuckle upwards as the ball leaves the hand. What this should do is impart a bit of topspin as it slows the release speed so the ball will loop a bit, arrive slightly later and bounce slightly higher, hopefully inducing that elusive catch.

It should be almost impossible to read out of the hand, since there isn't much change in the wrist action and could, in the right hands, be a rather tricky little delivery to deal with.

In any case, if your military medium net bowler is consciously working on and exploring the various ways you can cut back the release speed the knowledge is quite likely to be helpful as far as your main job description is concerned.

The same principle would seem to apply to a batsman who explores the intricacies of wrist spin or sets about a part time career as a finger spinner. There's plenty to be learned there, even if it doesn't translate to a swag of wickets under match conditions.

And, if you've got that little variation in your bag of tricks Clarke looks like the sort of innovative captain who's likely to make use of it.

As far as Perth is concerned, of course, you'd have to reckon Quiney's days are numbered, and assuming Watson is fit he'd slot straight into Three, with Starc replacing Pattinson and possibly Bird from Tasmania or Queenslander Feldman getting some exposure to the Australian setup by being named in the twelve. Bird's got 25 wickets at a tad under 20 in the Shield this season after a 6/25 yesterday against the Warriors, and you'd reckon he's be free to fly across to Perth to join the squad by tomorrow afternoon, given the state of play at Bellerive (WA 67, Tasmania 2/201).

Lyon, of course, could well end up carrying the drinks, and the selection panel might go for a squad of thirteen by slotting Mitchell Johnson into the squad as well.

The other question, of course, concerns Ponting. Watch the press conference this afternoon for more in that department...