In last week's Test clashes, the southern hemisphere trounced the North, as South Africa thumped Sri Lanka by ten wickets and Australia treated their visitors India with similar lack of mercy.
At Cape Town, Jacques Kallis reminded everyone why he is the greatest all-rounder of his generation, compiling a career-best 224 and taking 3-34 in the second innings, while AB De Villiers proved he can also put together a big innings at Test level. Thilan Samaraweera was the only Sri Lankan batsman to show real commitment to the cause. Sangakkara, Dilshan and Jayawardene are the big names yet the 35 year-old from Colombo now boasts one of the highest Test averages by any player still in the game, helped by his latest unbeaten century in a losing cause.
Over at Sydney, the Aussie seamers looked strong, before Zaheer Khan reduced the home team to 37-3. The next two partnerships put on 287 and 334! Nice to see Ricky Ponting reaching three figures, although it took a desperate lunge to the crease. If the attempted runout had hit the stumps he's have been out and the cheery smiles would surely have been replaced by some forthright language! His successor as captain Michael Clarke was joined by the ageless Michael Hussey, who made 150 chanceless runs before Clarke declared. However, the latter had already broken all number of records.
His 329 not out was by some margin the highest Test innings ever at Sydney, and the fourth best score by an Australian batsman. It is to his credit that he chose to close the innings when only five short of the Bradman/Taylor score of 334, just as the world applauded Mark Taylor when he also declared to avoid overhauling the legendary Don's then record. Matthew Hayden had had no such qualms en route for the world record 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003, which was eclipsed a year later by Brian Lara's 400, the record which still stands today. Michael Clarke also deserves to be my Man of the Moment because he has eschewed the T20 fortunes to concentrate on restoring those of his nation at Test and ODI level, and he seems to be doing a fine job without harming his own form. His Test average is heading rapidly towards 50, even better than his impressive ODI statistic of 45, and his run aggregate across both formats has topped 12,000. With a rejuvenated Ponting and Hussey at his side, perhaps Marsh, Cowan, Warner and Watson can be inspired to make Australian batting the best in the world again.
