Writing this from Chandigarh airport [ain’t technology wonderful], where — story of my life — there seems to be a wait for the flight to Bombay, which will lead to a flight to Bangalore.
Thoughts about the play on day two can wait till sometime tomorrow post noon, when I am back at my desk. This post is prompted by what I am seeing just now — Jacques Kallis and Paul Harris bowling to overnight not outs Amit Mishra and VVS Laxman.
This morning, I read in the papers noises from the South African camp that the team on day two failed to “implement the strategy”. Err — what strategy? Bowling so wide outside leg, on the second day of a Test after having won the previous one by an innings and plenty, is not strategy, it is idiocy. Bowling a spinner first up on the third morning — when you have three genuine quicks capable of going at 150k-plus, and the opposition has a tailender at bat — after having been allowed a foot in the door the previous evening and with gloomy conditions adding an edge, is not strategy — it is surrender.
The question is not whether the team implemented its strategy — the real question, as far as I can see, is whether the team at least in this Test has one. [Unless it is: We won the first Test, a draw gives us the series, so let’s play safe].
Right — later; power running out on my laptop. See you tomorrow, from work.
Smoke Signals 