It's the Maharaj 'drop' which Wins

What's the bird in the Food Court?

Just a postcard from Cairns today, no breaking news. Although it was insightful to hear Keshav Maharaj’s explanation for the failure of Australia’s top and middle order to pick his length. Five wickets in his first 25 balls was extraordinary enough, but without the assistance of a single fielder?! Three clean bowled and two lbws.

It was abundantly evident (and painfully to home supporters) that none of Maharaj’s five victims knew where the ball was pitching. Play forward, or back? Or be trapped in the crease…

“That is true,” said Australia’s captain Mitch Marsh afterwards. “You have to give credit where it’s due, he bowled a fantastic spell and we didn’t have the answers tonight.”

“When you bowl with over-spin the ball ‘drops’, as spinners say, especially with the new ball, but once I saw that there was a bit of spin I tried to use my pace and a bit of angle at the crease and, fortunately, I put the ball in the right place and did get the rewards. It happens a lot more with the new ball and, as we saw, it happened less as my spell went on and the ball became older,” Maharaj explained.

“Sometimes you put every ball in the right place and get no reward – tonight I was lucky.” Luck, in sport, is invariably linked with hard work. “I’ve put in many hours over many years, from the age of 15, so maybe I’m reaping the rewards of that now,” said Maharaj with his characteristic smile.

Hard work is measurable, its direct rewards are not. Neither are the effects of being happy and content: “I’m loving being here in Cairns, walking on the seashore with a coffee, lots of lovely cafes nearby, everything is within arms-length. It’s a wonderful place to be,” said Maharaj, before and after his match-winning, career-best return of 5-33. Wicket-to-wicket, his analysis read 4.1-1-13-5 at one stage.

It’s unlikely that Maharaj and his team mates have made it to Cairns’ Botanical Gardens, although it’s only four kilometres from their hotel. A veritable Rain Forest awaited if they had. It may be sunny and dry in the winter but north Queensland is ferociously tropical for at least half of the year with incessant rain. The evidence is in the greenery.

The pre-series photo-shoot with captains Marsh and Temba Bavuma will remain a tour highlight for its preposterous hype and very silly longevity. “You’ve gotta have a couple of decent snaps by now mate, haven’t you?” asked an exasperated Marsh after 18 minutes of twisting, turning, flag-waving and awkward posturing. It was embarrassing. Bavuma remained impassively calm and unperturbed. Outwardly. But the ever-so sly grin/grimace was evident to those who know. But he will never complain.

And here is a beautiful bird looking for dropped chips beneath my seat in the outdoor Food Court tonight.

Onward to Mackay we go. Considerably smaller than Darwin and Cairns, apparently, but equally hospitable and enthusiastic about their sport. What a memorable tour this has been so far. “The boys have been going mad on the (hire)scooters around town,” said Lungi Ngidi. “We don’t have them in South Africa so everyone’s been charging up and down the seafront.”