David Warner’s historic unbeaten double century in his one hundredth Test shall be what’s most remembered from the second day of the second Test between Australia and South Africa at the MCG on Tuesday, however Anrich Nortje’s phenomenal effort with the ball shouldn’t be forgotten both.
Although Nortje completed with figures of simply 1/50 in 16 overs as Australia piled up 386/3 and Warner retired damage with extreme cramp after scoring 200 off simply 254 balls, his fiery, indefatigable quick bowling actually caught the creativeness of the 42 000 individuals at the MCG.
Lightning tempo
Nortje strung collectively a few of the quickest overs recorded in Test cricket, persistently exceeding 150km/h for prolonged intervals, and his endurance on a sweltering day when the temperature touched 40° was unbelievable. Even the infamous Bay 13 spectators have been charmed by Nortje, who signed many autographs on varied gadgets, downed a bottle of water for his or her leisure and had his warm-up routine mimicked by the crowd, as they used to do most famously for Australian quick bowler Merv Hughes.
Not even being struck to the floor by spidercam might get Nortje down.
READ MORE: ‘I didn’t know what hit me’ – Nortje knocked by spidercam
“I was just trying to get a breakthrough, be more aggressive and bring out the pace. I wasn’t bowling as quickly as I can, but I did try to speed it up,” Nortje mentioned after a torrid day’s play for the Proteas.
“Bowling the one over on the first day, I felt I wanted to regulate to the wicket, which is an effective one. There’s a little bit of a slope upwards and my focus was on getting my momentum by the crease quite than leaping up.
“It began clicking after which you’ll be able to push a bit extra if you really feel you have got the momentum, you simply trip it and never attempt to pressure the rest. I felt I had good rhythm and simply tried to return as onerous as I can.
“It’s a good wicket for batting, but if you can hit good areas over time then you can get reward, good bumpers can make the batsmen a bit uncomfortable. Unfortunately it just didn’t work out for us today,” Nortje mentioned.
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Warner grew to become simply the second batsman after England’s Joe Root to attain a double century in his one hundredth Test, and the veteran left-hander grew to become the eighth Australian to attain 8000 Test runs. It was his first Test century in almost three years.
“He batted really well, hats off to him for the energy and fight he showed,” Nortje mentioned.
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