Tomorrow’s another day

Ntini didn’t quite borrow Bob Woolmer’s ‘‘Today’s history, tomorrow’s a mystery’’ quip made during CWC99. But the South African fast bowler’s responded to how he saw today’s play — ‘‘Today is past, tomorrow is a new day’’ — does emphasise a new image in the side.

For nine days, they have handled Indian conditions better than they thought; they held out against India at Green Park in Kanpur and, until after tea on day nine of the Test series, have shown how well they have adapted to the subcontinent. After the trauma and disturbance of Sri Lanka in August, this team came prepared to learn.

‘‘If we don’t learn anything from this tour then we have done all our homework for nothing’’, said coach Ray Jennings. ‘‘There are a lot of positives and we are looking at those and where we went wrong.’’

Which is what Ntini was emphasising, suggesting that perhaps setting India 110 runs to win might be a stiffer target than it may appear. After all, didn’t Australia fall five runs short at the Sydney Cricket Ground in that New Year Test of 1994 when bowled out by Fanie de Villiers?

Can history repeat itself? If we listen to Ntini’s bubbling enthusiasm, quite a lot can happen. The tour has been about defining class, defining performances and defining ability as well as learning to cope with spinners as Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble on subcontinent surfaces.

It has also been about learning to bat in such conditions. Jacques Rudolph going lbw to Bhajji without playing a shot is part of the education process. How many times will the videotape of that particular incident be replayed to the youngster? That is what learning is all about.

Graeme Smith’s highest Test score against India was one of the important signposts of this match. It was an innings that displayed some of the skills that had been learnt on the tour. It was also what Ntini referred to as ‘‘positive action’’.

Ntini is not only the fittest player on both sides; he is probably one of the fittest sportsmen in the game today. He believes in the new team ethic of helping each other learn about what it needs to build special camaraderie that was missing in New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

The way Ntini and Shaun Pollock bowled for almost two hours before lunch showed how the spirit is working. It showed the ‘‘Give me one more over’’ plea, where some bowlers have a belief they can take wickets. At Eden Gardens today, Ntini ended with his best return on the subcontinent and believed he could do it again on Day Five.

Losing is not part of this team’s vocabulary, it is about learning and carrying the lessons forward to make it a better team. Yet Day 10 could be the most fateful of this short tour. They have competed for nine days, now they need to put the tour lessons into one final performance.

As Keith Medlycott, the coach of the ICC’s Elite Umpires panel said, ‘‘There is still a lot to play for in this match’’.