| SA given a
hiding Wednesday, 19 December, 2001 South African batsman and BBC Sport Online columnist Neil McKenzie enjoys the sights of Sydney, after a disappointing few days in Adelaide. I'm not one for beating around the bush and so I can make it clear up front that we were given a hiding in Adelaide. The Aussies batted, bowled and fielded better than we did. And even though we had a few things not go our way, we were always under pressure from the moment we let them get from 260 for six to 439 in the first innings. Be that as it may, the tour always moves on and we'll just have to dig real deep as a team and find the strength and resources to put up a better fight and go all out to level the series in Melbourne. On Thursday we start a four-day game against New South Wales - probably one of the stronger teams in the Aussie state tournament - at the Sydney Cricket Ground. We know that there will be no letting up and these guys will be trying to pressurise us to keep the heat on. This game is the last opportunity to get things right ahead of the back-to-back Melbourne and Sydney Test matches, where there won't be much time to rediscover any groove or form. Game plan Although we lost the first Test it was nice for me to get some runs against a bowling attack of world-class pedigree. Batting against such a lineup shows clearly that they don't have too many weaknesses and runs are not easy to come by. A few of the senior players were saying beforehand that you have to go in with a set game plan against the various bowlers and stick to that plan no matter what. It is important to make them bowl in your areas as opposed to you looking to bat in their bowling areas, which are obviously their areas of strength. But, as I say, the tour goes on, and on Wednesday we arrived in Sydney - my second visit to the city. Straight after checking into the Radisson Plaza hotel in the city centre I ventured out to Darling Harbour to have a bite to eat, sip on a few cold Ruskies and enjoy my afternoon off watching the passing traffic. Golf or shopping Christmas shopping was high on my after-lunch agenda and I went in with great expectations, but came out empty handed for the second time in two days! That's better than the other fellas who opted for another round of golf at the famed Lakes golf course, where Greg Norman holds his tournament every year. In all honesty, I know where I would rather have been, "shouting fore" instead of "shopping for ¿" Since
he's been coming to Aussie with the team since '92, I've
put The Fizz [physio Craig |