BRISBANE, (Reuters) – Australia’s bowlers must make the most of second new ball if they want to get anything out of the rain-disrupted first test against South Africa after disappointing on the opening day, coach Mickey Arthur said yesterday.
The second day of the contest was washed out by the Brisbane rain but, if the wet weather relents today, Australia will still need to dislodge seven South African batsmen before they get a chance to bat.
The tourists had reached 255 for two on Friday with Hashim Amla (90) and Jacques Kallis (84) at the crease in an unbeaten third wicket partnership of 136.
Australia’s pacemen James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus were about to get hold of the second new ball when bad light brought an early close to play on Friday.
“(Our bowling) probably wasn’t good enough, I thought we got our lengths wrong, I think we needed to be a bit fuller,” Arthur conceded at a rain-soaked Gabba.
“We weren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but we weren’t as clinical as we had been and as we had hoped to be. We weren’t able to put South Africa under pressure for long enough.
“So, on our report card, probably disappointing. We discussed it, and I was confident the guys would have come back today and executed better.
