Twenty-one for nine

Australia led by 188 on first innings at Newlands. Michael Clarke had made 151 in a total of 284, and South Africa had been bowled out for 96 in 24.3 overs, Shane Watson taking five for 17. It was the second afternoon and Australia were batting again with the match in hand.

Ninety-five minutes later they were all out for 47.

The eighteen overs

Watson was leg before to Dale Steyn off the third ball. Ricky Ponting was leg before to Vernon Philander for nought in the sixth over, having survived one review and lost another. Phillip Hughes was caught at 13. At tea Australia were 13 for three, and the first ball after it took Michael Hussey, caught at short leg for nought.

Clarke was leg before to Philander at 15. Brad Haddin was caught behind for nought at 18. Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Marsh went at 21, the last of them leg before, and Australia were 21 for nine with fewer than twelve overs bowled.

Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon then added 26 for the last wicket, which was more than the previous nine had managed between them. Lyon was caught for 14 in the eighteenth over. Siddle was 12 not out. The extras column reads 0.

The bowling

Philander, playing his first Test, took five for 15 from seven overs. Morne Morkel took three for 9 from six. Steyn took two for 23 from five. Three bowlers, eighteen overs, 47 runs, and South Africa did not need a fourth.

The scores at the fall of each wicket read 4, 11, 13, 13, 15, 18, 21, 21, 21 and 47. Nine of the eleven failed to reach double figures, and four of them made nought.

Full scorecard: South Africa v Australia, 1st Test, Cape Town, 9–11 November 2011 →

The day

Twenty-three wickets fell on the second day. Australia’s last two of the first innings in the morning, South Africa’s ten either side of lunch, Australia’s ten either side of tea, and one more before the close.

By the close South Africa were 81 for one, chasing 236. Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla then put on 195 for the second wicket, Amla making 112 and Smith 101 not out, and South Africa won by eight wickets on the third day. A first-innings lead of 188 had been turned into a defeat inside two of the five days.

What the card cannot explain

The pitch is the first thing anybody reaches for. South Africa’s own 96 had been made on it that morning, so it was doing something all day. But Clarke had made 151 on it the day before, from 176 balls, and Smith and Amla made hundreds on it the day after. The two collapses happened in the middle of a match with three hundreds in it.

The card also shows the reviews. Australia used three in the innings and lost all three: Ponting on his leg-before, Clarke on his, and one more. South Africa reviewed against Marsh and won. The technology confirmed what the umpires had seen, which removes the one explanation collapses usually leave room for.

Where 47 sits

On the collapses list on this site, 47 would sit between Sydney’s 45 and Trent Bridge’s 60. Four of the five totals there are lower. What separates Newlands from all of them is where the ninth wicket fell.

Twenty-one for nine is the worst nine-wicket line of any of those innings. Auckland was 26 for nine, Adelaide 31, Sydney 41, Lord’s 42, Trent Bridge 47. Then the last pair added 26, and the number that went into the record was 47 rather than something in the twenties.

That is the usual trick of a total. It measures the tail as much as the collapse. The collapse here was nine wickets for 21 runs in under twelve overs, and the total was more than twice that, because two men who bat at ten and eleven survived for six overs.

What the card holds

A first-innings lead of 188. A total of 47 with no extras. Nine wickets for 21, the last for 26. A debutant with five for 15. Twenty-three wickets in a day, and a match lost with two days to spare, by the side that had been 188 ahead at the start of the afternoon.

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No. 8 in Collapse, a series of 16.

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