First of all, I have to say that India produced a magnificent fightbackon Wednesday to get themselves over the loss at the Wanderers lastFriday
Allan Donald12-Oct-2001First of all, I have to say that India produced a magnificent fightbackon Wednesday to get themselves over the loss at the Wanderers lastFriday. The South Africans bowled well and their ground fielding was asgood as ever – a couple of sensational stops by Jonty (Rhodes) – but theIndians kept their nerve, showing that they’ve got a bit of fight inthem, and they thoroughly deserved to win on the night.Even as a South African, in one way, Wednesday’s result wasn’t a badthing. It keeps the series open as far as public interest is concerned.For the South Africans, losing a game isn’t the end of the world, andthey will be absolutely determined to bounce back. I know those guys,and I know that they absolutely despise losing. They will take a sometime to reflect and then, when they play India again, they will bedetermined to put the record straight.As for the Indians, they did a lot of things right. Most times, ninetimes out of 10 in fact, you would back the South Africans to get 234,but India managed to turn on the pressure and it worked for them. WhenLance Klusener and Mark Boucher were there South Africa were always inwith a chance, but the Indians stuck to it, got the breakthroughs, andgot home from there.Harbhajan Singh was really impressive in his first game against SouthAfrica. He is one of those “mystery” off-spinners with a ball that goesstraight on and is really difficult to pick. He got Jacques Kallis witha beautiful ball, and if you can fool someone who is in as good form asJacques is, then you have done well.I was talking to Glenn McGrath and Steve Waugh when they were in Englandthis year, and they both reckoned that Harbhajan could be somethingspecial for India. Steve says Harbhajan could turn out to be a hugewicket-taker for India. Certainly, the way he bowled on Wednesday showedthat he could be a real force for India in South Africa, both in theTest matches and the one-dayers.One area of South Africa’s game that will give coach Graham Fordsomething to think about is the catching. It is not often that you seeHerschelle Gibbs miss one, but he put one down at mid-on and there werea couple more that went down around the field.I know from personal experience how much time the South Africans spendon their fielding, so it is not as simple as saying that this part oftheir game needs more work. Sometimes you just have these patches whenthe catches don’t stick, and you just have to make sure that yourconfidence is not undermined.Sometimes the catches seem to follow one man around the field and, atthe moment, Zulu (Klusener) is the one to whom the ball keeps on going.He has missed a couple at slip, but they haven’t been easy, and I reallydon’t think there’s too much of a problem.The slips are specialist positions, but even the specialists havepreferences. Some guys like to take the ball with their fingers pointingdown, others with their fingers up in the “reverse cup” position. If youlook at the ones that got away from Zulu, they have all been quite highup, so that might be the explanation.It is not a crisis, as I said, but it is something for the SouthAfricans to think about. And Polly (Shaun Pollock) and Fordie (coachGraham Ford) do have a few options. For instance, it is not as if Zuluis bad fielder in the outfield. He has a good arm and he can get aroundquickly enough, so it might just be that South Africa will try somethinga little different the next time around.I am pretty sure that I know what they will be thinking. They will besaying: Fair enough, we got beaten; we got our butts kicked in fact, butnow it’s time for us to show what we’re made of. That is what they havedone ever since I have played for South Africa.The home team have a few days’ break now. They don’t play again untilthey come up against Kenya in Kimberley. India play Kenya in my hometown of Bloemfontein on Friday. Meanwhile, I will be in East London fora provincial match against Border.
