Adelaide Test, Day 4, Close
Monday, December 17, 2001

That was a very conservative and wary declaration from Steve Waugh. The target is way too much in my opinion, but that's a reflection of the respect he has for South Africa.

Maybe Steve feels the wicket is holding up better than I've been predicting. But if they get to the end of tomorrow and South Africa are still 100 runs or so shy, he may rue that caution.

He willl be delighted with 17 for 2, though. That really puts the batsmen under pressure and denies them the freedom to play shots that Australia had this morning. They've got to play some shots tomorrow otherwise they'll just bat themselves into a hole, and Waugh can set whatever fields he likes.

Glenn McGrath - he's the man! The length he bowled to Herschelle Gibbs is just the length he needs to bowl. And he's the bowler who can consistently hit that length.

The Australian attack is nicely balanced for this wicket. You've got Shane Warne's spin from the one end - he can attack or tighten things up. Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie will do the balance of the work in short bursts, really banging it in and looking for the irregular bounce.

The South Africans can expect men around the bat, a lot of chat - it will really be a high-pressure day. If the South Africans can get through tomorrow they will really deserve a draw.

And if Australia can win the Test it will be today that set it up for them. I can't give enough credit to Matthew Hayden. He was able to score at such a rate today that he's almost single-handedly put the match beyond South Africa.

It was a disappointing day for South Africa. They bowled poorly and let the game slip away after some good work with the bat. They can't have been very impressed with today at all.

Ian Healy made a record 395 dismissals in 119 Tests for Australia. His comments will be appearing on Wisden.com at the end of every session in the series. He was talking to Tim Stoney.

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