Smith's golden Aussie summer

There was the successful 414 runs chase to win the Perth test match; there was the stunning debut series of JP Duminy including a maiden century in only his third test innings; there was the first 10-wicket haul against Australia of Dale Steyn, not to mention a career-best innings; there was AB de Villiers century; Paul Harris' significant role with the ball.....the list is endless.

But right up there must be the acknowledgement that captain Graeme Smith received from the Sydney crowd on his way around the SCG boundary to attend a tea time interview that was shown live on TV by Channel 9 and SuperSport.

The applause was polite and generous and an indication of just how respected a figure Smith has become in the world game.

Smith has, of course, had a golden Australian summer, injuries excepted. He arrived in Sydney last week with the series already in the bag and a batting performance that has seen him only once fail to reach at least 50 in a test innings and that was a score of 48 apart from his 30 retired hurt in the current game.

His team will take the field on Wednesday's final day with a real chance of either coming out of the match with a draw or even with a victory that would give them a 3-0 win in the series and possession of the coveted No. 1 ranking on the ICC Reliance Mobile ratings.

As things stand at the close of Tuesday's fourth day the Proteas need 314 runs for victory with nine wickets in hand, including all their major batsmen with the exception of the injured Smith. Alternatively they need to bat for 90 overs to secure the next best option of a draw.

There are thus four possible results available, including an Australian victory and a tie, and anybody who has watched the series to date is not going to make any predictions with any confidence.

“There is a dressing room full of guys here who are going to fight every inch of the way,” commented coach Mickey Arthur. “Losing the dead rubber match against England took some of the lustre off our series victory there last year and we don't want that to happen again,” he added.

The significant feature of the fourth day was the Australian use of the heavy roller which seemed to take a lot of the sting out of the pitch and the Proteas, who had used the light roller for their first innings, had no hesitation in switching to the heavy roller themselves.

The result was that apart from one delivery from new cap Andrew McDonald to Hashim Amla, the ball did not misbehave at any stage of the South African second innings and, if that continues to be the norm, then the overall target of 376 in 126 overs may become a lot more feasible.

Arthur said that the team would not get ahead of itself. “The first thing to do is to get through the first two sessions and, if we still have plenty of wickets in hand at the tea interval, then we can see where we take it from there.”

Significantly only five wickets fell in the day's play with all the Australian batsmen making a contribution before Ricky Ponting declared with only four wickets down.