This is a story of ghosts, confrontations and secret agents — the story of what it takes to win a cricket Test in Australia.

The last time South Africa managed the feat was during the 1993/4 tour when a grim Aussie battler named Allan Border stood between SA and an improbable victory in the second Test at Sydney. At close on the fourth day, Australia were 63 for four, needing 117 for victory. Border was not out on seven. “I knew the ghost was always there for the Australians because they’d struggled to chase down low victory targets before that,” says Kepler Wessels. “Border was the key. I’d been in the Australian dressing-room often enough to realise that when he went, panic set in. We decided Allan Donald would come round the wicket to him. In those situations he often struggled to know where his off stump was. Allan would bowl across him and then bring one back. Border left the ball and got bowled. It’s not often that a plan works out perfectly but that time it did.” Border was out without the overnight score progressing, Mark Waugh fell nine runs later. Fanie de Villiers, meanwhile, who’d captured all four Aussie wickets to fall the previous afternoon, was bowling 16 uninterrupted overs of off-cutters. “We realised it wasn’t swinging,” says De Villiers. “During my time with Kent I’d taught myself to bowl off-cutters like Andy Caddick did. We had some dry summers at Kent and then the ball’s seam size was reduced, which made it difficult to swing. “Against the left-handers like Mark Taylor and Border the cutter was effective because I’d pitch the ball outside leg and it would cut across them. I had to learn new tricks.” De Villiers had his dander up because TV commentator Tony Greig mentioned SA had a “million to one” chance of winning. Naturally, he wanted to prove Greig wrong. But his anger stretched as far back as the warm-up match against Queensland when he and Border had a nasty verbal exchange about the standard of umpiring. “Kepler needed to come in and sort it out — there was a bit of an atmosphere between the two teams after that,” remembers De Villiers. “There were five or six of the Aussie squad in that Queensland side and the needle carried on into the Tests.” Wessels takes it back further. “For me, it extended to 1992 when we played against them,” says Wessels. “We knew what made them tick, we knew how to get under their skin. Mentally we were ready for them. That dust- up between Border and Fanie was a good opportunity for me to get stuck in.” Wessels, of course, was the secret agent, and he and the South Africans exploited his working knowledge of the Australian personnel and their system to the fullest. Having played for Australia, he knew them well, their foibles, idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses. The key, he says, is to never hold back, to identify those slightly more sensitive or vulnerable than the others and keep hammering away. South Africa nominated ringleaders during the three- Test series — Wessels, De Villiers, Pat Symcox and Brian McMillan — whose job it was to joust, probe and spar. They gave as good as they got. When asked about the core of the current SA side to tour Australia knowing nothing but failure against them, Wessels was diplomatic. “I think we can do well in Australia,” he says. “Yes there is some mental scarring. At the same time this side has been winning. South Africa have got a big advantage because the two Australians who they’ve really struggled with over the years, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, aren’t there. They’ll have to deal with Matthew Hayden, he’s important, and Ricky Ponting and perhaps a couple of the others, but they have a chance.” De Villiers’s theory is that the Proteas need to take the remaining Australian wickets as quickly as they can with the second new ball — before it loses its shine. He says the team who won in Sydney in early January 1994 were mature, fit and harder than perhaps the Aussies thought. “We read books,” he says. “We had a degree from the University of Life. We also had a few brain cells more. I remember in India phoning up Mother Theresa at the monastery and asking if we could visit. The more you know, the more you want to see… ”

Luke Alfred

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