ESPNcricinfo presents the plays of the day from the first day at the Gabba
Brydon Coverdale and Firdose Moonda09-Nov-2012Cinderella of the day Playing the reverse sweep early in the day is seen as the ultimate sign of confidence, perhaps even bordering on arrogance, and maybe that was the message Alviro Petersen wanted to send out. With South Africa opting to leave out Imran Tahir, their batsmen decided to show why and Lyon was a clear target. In Lyon’s second over Petersen pulled out the shot and found the gap in the point area. The joke was almost on him when he kicked off his own shoe which bounced off the middle off the pitch, but managed not to lose his step to complete the first run and finish the secondName of the day Hashim Amla must be wondering what he has to do for people to get his name right in this part of the world. At the SCG, the stadium announcer called him “Hamish,” Amla every time he said his name – and there were a few times, Amla scored a half-century and bowled – and in Brisbane Amla was written as “Alma” on the television graphic which reflected his score when he was on 42.Morne Morkel of the day The oft-used jibe when Morne Morkel takes a wicket is that it can only be given out when the umpire has checked for the no-ball. Morkel would have been relieved to see he is not the only one who errs in that fashion. Peter Siddle got Jacques Kallis to attempt a hoick over mid-wicket to a ball that was not as full as he expected and caught at mid-on. But Siddle was on the line, not behind it and Kallis got a line of his own, a lifeline.Milestone of the day
Amla has been a marvellous accumulator of runs over the past few years and when he passed 5000 Test runs with a single nudged through leg side off Michael Hussey’s medium pace his consistency was highlighted with a look at the list of the quickest men to that milestone. Amla reached the mark in his 109th Test innings, second only among South Africans to Herschelle Gibbs, who got there in his 108th. Not surprisingly, the top of the list is dominated by cricket’s all-time greats: Don Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Garry Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar and Viv Richards.Over-eager call of the day
Australia haven’t played Test cricket since April and the adrenaline of being back in the whites and the baggy green overcame Michael Clarke in the third over. Desperate to make a good start to the series, Clarke asked for a review from the 16th ball of the game but it was one based on hope rather than good sense. There was a noise as Graeme Smith tried to glance a ball down leg side off Ben Hilfenhaus and despite the fact that the wicketkeeper Matthew Wade wasn’t over-excited, Clarke wanted the not-out decision checked. Hot Spot didn’t show any sign of bat and Australia were left with only one review.Cap of the day
Rob Quiney grew up with a poster of Allan Border on his bedroom wall, so it wasfitting that Border was given the job of presenting Quiney with his baggy green cap before play. Quiney became the 429th Test cricketer to represent Australia and his debut also provided the first instance of four Victorians playing in the same Test side for 20 years. Quiney was joined by James Pattinson, Matthew Wade and Peter Siddle, the first time four Victoria players had shared Test duties since Dean Jones, Merv Hughes, Paul Reiffel and Wayne Phillips did so against India at the WACA in February 1992.
