Bowled over

After the orgy, the disbelief. Have 872 runs scored in a hundred overs in a single day 8212; 438 of them a successful run chase against world champions Australia 8212; and even the victorious skipper can be sent reeling from the excess. Amidst the instant punditry about the greatest one-day international in the history of cricket, the emblematic words belonged to Graeme Smith. 8220;Chasing 434 is a bit sick really,8221; said the South African captain after the feat, 8220;unbelievable.8221; Quite. It is a day that8217;s changed the game. And after we tire of replaying the Ponting and Gibbs innings, we will return to our favourite sport to find it bereft of any sense of proportion.

Be certain that they 8212; ground staff, enraptured batters, ambitious administrators 8212; stand condemned to a future devoted to vying for the charm that now glazes the Wanderers at Johannesburg. It is, now and forever, hallowed turf. And at fixtures around the cricketing world they will be driven to surpassing its March excesses. John Wright once joked that the dreadful day is not far when the playing eleven will be chosen on batting ability alone. The countdown to that future began in right earnest on Surfeit Sunday. But you have to wonder, don8217;t you, what cricket has come to when the average total chased in a one-day threatens to surpass that chased with success in the fourth innings of a Test match, never mind the differences in playing regulations.

India, then, seem to be on the right track. Survey the innovations that have brought them returns in Tests, and an uncanny replication of the one-day magic is revealed. They gave away the gameplan most dramatically in the first Test against England at Nagpur last week. The only time they seemed to be in with a chance was when, in the last session, they went in pursuit of a daunting total as if it were a one-day game. Johannesburg will awaken more teams to that strategy. So to bowlers, there is only one advice, be afraid, be very afraid.