da 888： The Plays of the day from the first day of the third Test between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town
Brydon Coverdale in Cape Town19-Mar-2009
The long wait ends: Bryce McGain finally gets his baggy green© Getty Images
On board the McGain train
It’s six months since Bryce McGain embarked on his first tour with theAustralians and finally he has a baggy green to show for it. After thedisappointment of being sent home from India with an injury, and beingoverlooked in Johannesburg and Durban, McGain was given his chanceafter a bout of gastro felled Marcus North. McGain has waited a longtime for the opportunity and he turns 37 next week. At the age of 36years and 359 days, he became Australia’s oldest Test debutant since his fellow legspinner Bob Holland, who was 38 and 35 days when heplayed the first of his 11 Tests against West Indies in Brisbane in1984-85.The debut blues
After South Africa lost the toss their new opener Imraan Khan had towait for his first opportunity to bat for his country. But there werestill some nerves from Imraan in the field when he put down a sitter atbackward point in the first session. Simon Katich was on 9 when heprodded the ball straight to Imraan, who couldn’t get his hands aroundit and felt the eyes of more than 8000 fans at Newlands hone in on himafter his first unsuccessful act in Test cricket.Captain by consensus
Jacques Kallis is the kind of captain who asks his team-mates whatthey think. It’s a method that might work given their success on thefirst day but it wasn’t so useful when they tried to make the most ofthe referral system. When Katich was on 4, a giant lbw shoutfrom Makhaya Ntini was turned down and Kallis declined to ask thethird umpire. The replays showed the ball pitched in line and wouldhave hit the stumps. Then when Kallis did decide to use the reviewsthey backfired – also both from Ntini to Katich lbw appeals. The firstpitched outside leg and the second was inside-edged.Tossed out
South Africa joked in the lead-up to the match that maybe withoutGraeme Smith at the helm they would have a chance of winning the toss.Smith called incorrectly in all three Tests in Australia and RickyPonting picked right at the Wanderers and Kingsmead. But Kallis didn’tadd any luck to that department for the hosts and Ponting again chosecorrectly. When Australia battled to build a decent score on the firstday the South Africans might have been thinking that their fortune hadturned after all.