They've Caught Up

SP on a rampant South Africa and the end of a worn question

So what do we name the upcoming review? Or is it a royal commission? The Australian Women’s team were roundly beaten by South Africa overnight in the T20 World Cup semi-final, ending their streak of four-straight titles and nine-straight finals. The nation isn’t used to this. Now finally, some grist to the question: “are the others catching up?”

From start to finish, Australia was out-skilled, out-manoeuvred and outplayed. Cutting the shape of a team looking to progress in a Dubai scrap, they instead met an opposition possessed. This was a famous performance from the South Africans, and the score was an apt reflection of the distance between the sides on the night.

Common parlance these days is to praise how a player, or team, goes about it. A phrase that somehow captures everything and nothing in one go. Whatever it means, many will remember how South Africa went about it here. They were tighter with the ball, and freer with the bat. Australia seemed to seek combat with an archetypal South Africa – the one susceptible to the moment with stakes at their highest. To drag them into an arm-wrestle and beat them with memory.

All things considered, Australia’s first innings total of 134-5 looked about right for that kind of story. As South Africa bowled stump-to-stump and leant on spin, there were contributions from Mooney (42), Perry (31) and McGrath (23), though it all seemed muted. Stand-in skipper McGrath later described it as under par. However, adjusted against history and aura, you were forgiven for thinking it was still, probably, enough.

Instead, they ran into Laura Wolvaardt (42 from 37) and Anneke Bosch (74 from 48), who, frankly, destroyed them. Bosch was rampant, delivering a clinic in both aerial strokes and opportunities for headline-writers. Having entered the game on the back of a string of low scores, surely her faith in nominative determinism is restored. Coming together at the fall of the first wicket, they combined for 96 runs from 65 deliveries before Wolvaardt departed, the game very much already iced. In a tournament where conditions have stifled dynamic scoring, it was partnership batting of a quality befitting the achievement of toppling Australia. There weren’t dropped catches of note or misfields that turned the game South Africa’s way. Australia, who employed seven bowlers, simply had no answers to the onslaught.

The game had that feel about it from the beginning. Bosch’s day started well, taking a sharp catch coming forward at point to dismiss a slashing Harris, putting South Africa in the ascendancy. Given the state of catching through the tournament, it was the sort of grab that suggested both Bosch and South Africa were on. And if catching was contagious, as Meg Lanning suggested on the Cricket Et Al pod earlier this week, Bosch’s take was a harbinger of what was to come. Yes, Tazmin Brits dropped Perry a little later in the innings, but that had less influence on the match than, for example, Marizanne Kapp’s brilliant run-out of Beth Mooney just prior.

Australia, in contrast, simply couldn’t conjure such moments or individual performances. And let’s face it, they usually do. But as the match wore on, and the din of the crowd rose, the commentators’ voices quickening, stump mic appeals becoming a little more shrill, the obligatory review burned, it was clear: the boilover was on.

Naturally, we’ll ask: what does it all mean? From personal experience, I’d suggest that we spare the Australian women that specific question. As part of The Grade Cricketer’s work with Channel 7, we recently had the opportunity to interview most players in the team ahead of the World Cup. In our best deadpan, on camera, we asked each player how much they enjoyed talking about the rest of the world catching up. The question was intended to highlight just how good they’d been, that they’ve attained that highest echelon of respect from the Australian sporting public: boredom-tinged expectance. As each took the question with good grace, the abiding pattern of their answers were that, actually, they did think it was good that other teams were improving, and that women’s cricket was improving as a whole. I’d honestly hoped for a tone of disdain and ruthlessness, even if parodied, commensurate with their attainments. We instead received that when we asked for their views on the Matildas receiving statues.

The Australian Women’s team is one of cricket’s greatest ever. They’ll be back. But South Africa was far better last night, and cricket may be better for it, too.