Sydney, Nov. 8 (ANI): South Africa's proven, high-rated pace attack would possibly turn up the heat on the relative rookie trio of Ed Cowan, David Warner and Rob Quiney, in the hope that they wilt beneath it and trigger some sort of domino effect on the remainder of the Australian batting order.
According to a column in Sport24, it is no doubt that the world's no. 1 Test team would seek to make life particularly uncomfortable for the unproven Australian top three in the batting line-up when the first Test starts in Brisbane on November 9.
Considering debutant cricketer Quiney, there are wide concerns in the Australian squad about his performance on the Gabba pitch and subsequently in the rest of the matches in the Test series.
About Cowan, he is a workmanlike character about whom the jury remains out after seven Test matches: 358 runs at an average of 29.83 although, in fairness, there have been umpteen cases down the years of openers who blossom only once they are well into double figures in caps terms. But it is not the easiest trade in the world to grasp, the report noted.
According to the report, perhaps the best hope of Aussie productivity among their top three comes from his anticipated opening partner Warner, the limited-overs blaster of note who has occasionally transferred that brutality into the Test environment, a withering 180 against India at Perth in January this year that quickly comes to mind.
Should Warner come off, and genuinely wallop the shine off the new ball, he will strike key psychological blows for the Baggy Greens more broadly, giving them even greater reason to hope that they have unearthed a worthy answer to the muscular Matthew Hayden and company of the earlier 2000s era, the report pointed out. (ANI)
