I know my body is going to pay for it in the morning, but I have just watched one of the final days of a test match matches for a long time. South Africa were 45/4 when Faf Deplessis came to the wicket. The debutant batted for four sessions and made a very resolute 110*. It was thrilling all the way to the end as a late Peter Siddle surge kept Australia in the hunt for victory. However, Deplessis held firm along with South Africa's taileners and ultimately denied Australia.
This is proof that test cricket is still the ultimate form of the sport.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Debutant du Plessis stars in thrilling draw The Report by Brydon Coverdale
November 26, 2012
South Africa 388 and 8 for 248 (du Plessis 110*, Siddle 4-65, Lyon 3-49) drew with Australia 550 and 8 for 267 dec
Faf du Plessis became the fourth South African to score a century on Test debut © Getty Images
Related Links
Report : Bowlers keep Australia in control
Faf du Plessis would not have been playing in this Test were it not for JP Duminy hurting his Achilles tendon at the Gabba. And just as Duminy did on debut in Perth four years ago, du Plessis has grabbed his first chance at Test cricket to provide a remarkable result for the South Africans. At the WACA it was a near-record chase of 414 for victory; this time South Africa's challenge was to bat for four and a half sessions on a wearing Adelaide Oval pitch to salvage a draw. Thanks to du Plessis, they did so. Thanks to du Plessis, the scoreline remains at 0-0 heading into the decider in Perth, despite Australia having the best of the first two Tests.
In a match that came down to the final over, the Australians fell two wickets short. Peter Siddle was so exhausted that he could barely stand up but he fought on to bowl the last over, having barely ten minutes earlier bowled Rory Kleinveldt with an inswinging yorker. But in the end, Morne Morkel survived and was on 8 when the draw was confirmed, with du Plessis at the non-striker's end on 110.
Faf du Plessis went to tea on the verge of becoming the fourth South African to score a century on Test debut but more importantly he had also given his side a strong chance of avoiding defeat as Australia's bowlers toiled for little reward. Australia began the morning needing six wickets for victory and by tea they had claimed only one of those as du Plessis combined with AB de Villiers and then Jacques Kallis to frustrate the hosts.
At tea, South Africa were 5 for 212, although the score was of little relevance, as they had on the fourth evening given up hope of aiming for their hefty target of 430. The most notable aspect of the scoreline was that du Plessis was unbeaten on 94, to add to his 78 from the first innings, and he was hoping to join Andrew Hudson, Jacques Rudolph and Alviro Petersen on the short list of South Africans to have made a hundred on Test debut.
The Australians could have had du Plessis in the final over before the break, when the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade was standing up to the stumps to Ben Hilfenhaus and couldn't grasp a thin outside edge. A wicket would have given Australia reason for hope at the interval, with only South Africa's bowlers still to bat, but instead they were to begin the final session still needing to remove a specialist batsman, with Kallis also at the crease on 38.
South Africa had added 86 in the second session, with du Plessis and Kallis more inclined to look for runs than de Villiers, who was the only man to lose his wicket. He was bowled by Peter Siddle for a laborious 33 from 220 deliveries, an innings that did not include a boundary and was second only to Chris Tavare's effort at Madras in 1982 in terms of the lowest strike-rate for an innings of at least 30 runs in Test history.
Although de Villiers was happy defending, that was all South Africa really needed, and he and du Plessis added 89 for the fifth wicket at a run-rate of just 1.3 per over. Du Plessis still played his shots, though, and worked the ball through gaps all around the ground, striking 13 boundaries, while Kallis, still hampered by his hamstring injury, struck five fours.
There had been a number of close calls before lunch, including two lbw decisions in which Billy Bowden sent du Plessis on his way off the bowling of Michael Clarke, only to have both overturned on review. On 33, du Plessis thrust his pad out and offered no shot to a Clarke delivery that turned and would have hit the stumps, but the replays showed that the angle - Clarke was bowling over the wicket - meant the ball had pitched just a fraction outside leg stump.
Du Plessis was much more confident in asking for a review of the second decision, which involved Clarke coming around the wicket and darting a fullish delivery in towards the off stump. Du Plessis jammed the bat down on the ball and Bowden appeared to have been convinced by hearing two noises, but replays showed the ball had touched bat only, not pad or foot, and du Plessis, on 37, was reprieved again.
The Australians also used up their final review shortly before lunch when du Plessis, on 49, offered no shot to a Nathan Lyon delivery that pitched and struck him outside the line of off stump but was turning enough to interest Clarke. However, Eagle Eye suggested the ball would have bounced over the top of the stumps, and Clarke was left to consider how he would find six wickets in two sessions with no further reviews available.
Clarke and Lyon had created plenty of pressure bowling in tandem with men all around the bat, but du Plessis and de Villiers were up to the challenge. The absence of James Pattinson began to impact the Australians as Clarke had to be careful of asking too much of Hilfenhaus and Siddle, and by tea the Australians had to work out a strategy for getting five wickets when only one had arrived for the rest of the day.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo.
http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-south-africa-2012/content/current/story/593187.html