Dein erstes Forum » our hits. However, he did walk five batters.

In the Christmas break of 2001, my family and I holidayed in the Cederberg, a remote wilderness area about two and a bit hours drive north of Cape Town. We rented a cottage at the foot of a gravel pass and spent long, lazy days with our three young sons splashing about in the nearby rock pools at the foot of our veranda.The cottage had no television, radio reception was erratic and the nearest newspaper - invariably a day or two old - could only be found if you were prepared to slog 60 or 70 dusty kilometres back down the valley. At the time, the South Africans, captained by Shaun Pollock, were struggling their way across Australia. It was a nuisance - but, lets be honest, oddly convenient - not to have to follow them too closely.One day in early January we decided to escape the inland heat. We bundled the children into their car seats and headed for the soft, misty seascapes of the Namaqualand coast. Out of the mountains, radio reception improved. We tuned in just in time to hear about Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer putting the brutal finishing touches to yet another Aussie victory.This was in Sydney, the third Test of the series, and they duly won by ten wickets. They had taken the first Test, in Adelaide, by 246 runs and won by nine wickets to seal the series in Melbourne. Despite protestations to the contrary, the bravado of young men, South Africa didnt really come close to winning.In our heart of hearts, we all knew they never would.There was nothing easygoing about the way in which the Australian side of that vintage approached victory. They softened you up for three or four days, rattled about in your head, and then administered the knockout blow.This was not a bad South African side. The Aussies, though, were enviably complete, with Damien Martyn batting at six (he scored a first-innings century in Sydney, after Hayden and Langer had started the match with an opening stand of 219) and Adam Gilchrist at seven. After that came four bowlers, including Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. Here was the perfectly proportioned side.For some reason, I remember that early January morning surprisingly clearly. Driving west through the desert scrubland, savouring the vast emptiness, the children fast asleep in the back on the car, I thought that Australian cricket was so preternaturally strong that this was how it would always be. The South Africans, with their pluck and threadbare optimism, would pretend to believe they could take Australia but they couldnt, not really.When Western Australia scored 600 against the South Africans in a warm-up game and then the tourists lost by five wickets to an Australia A side at the beginning of the one-day series that followed the Tests, you suddenly understood something about the Aussie cricketing empire. Here was an imperium with reserve armies you didnt know they had. There was something frighteningly eternal to their strength and depth.This is a myth, of course, we know that now. Things even out in the long cycles of decline and fall and the South Africans go into the first Test early next month with genuine rather than mock belief. One of the reasons why such myths persisted for longer here than anywhere else is because South African cricket had been readmitted to the world game for only ten years when Pollock took the team to Australia in 2001-02. South African fans - and journalists - didnt have the luxury of long comparisons to fall back on, comparisons going back, say 20, or even 30 years. To us - to me - this frightening strength was unlikely to change because we never had the benefit of long, uninterrupted comparisons.From the vantage point of the present, though, Australian cricket looks unaccountably vulnerable, mortal. Watching their ODI side being drubbed 5-0 here in South Africa a month ago, I was reminded of nothing so much as a South African side of yore, almost to the point of caricature. There was precious little variation in the right-arm-over bowling, and a curious diffidence hung about them. They had no big turning spinner and there was a certain iffiness about the batting. Things pretty much seem to have come full circle.The liberation of knowing you have achieved something worthwhile in the same place before will give the South Africans strength ahead of the first Test. They have won in Perth on both previous trips to Australia and you do rather wonder about Cricket Australias wisdom of putting them there again.This is not to make any rash predictions about the series. What I do know is that somewhere along the line, thanks to South Africa and others, like England in 2005, the myth of Australian invincibility got rudely shattered. It has never been quite the same again. 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Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). Esa Lindell and Rasmus Ristolainen replied for Finland (1-1-0) Lindell opened the scoring for Finland just 41 seconds into the game, but the hosts quickly regained their composure and tied the score less than four minutes later on Wennbergs first of the game.Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Torii Hunter led the way in a Detroit Tigers offensive onslaught against the Washington Nationals. Hunter finished a triple shy of the cycle while going 4-for-5 with three RBI in the Tigers 11-1 rout at Comerica Park. Alex Avila clubbed a two-run homer and Ramon Santiago plated a pair with a double for the AL Central-leading Tigers, who swept this two-game interleague set and have won five straight and nine of their last 10 games overall. Detroit, playing without slugger Miguel Cabrera (abdominal strain), roughed up Washington starter Gio Gonzalez (7-4) to the tune of 10 runs and 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings. Gonzalez had given up just 15 earned runs over a 10-start stretch since his last loss on May 27. "This isnt going to dictate who I am as a pitcher," Gonzalez said of his poor outing. "Im going to go out there and keep pitching how I pitch and try to get more wins for the team." Justin Verlander (11-8) needed 103 pitches to get through six frames, but limited the Nationals to a first-inning run and four hits. However, he did walk five batters. "Even though I was erratic, I was able to grind and battle," Verlander said. "It makes it a lot easier when your boys put up 10 or 11 runs for you." With Verlander laboring on the moound, the Tigers put up five-spots in both the second and fourth innings to give their ace plenty of breathing room.dddddddddddd The bottom of the Detroit lineup did most of the damage in the second. Santiago, the No. 8 hitter, smacked a ball down the third-base line in front of Avilas opposite-field blast to left. Hunter took Gonzalez deep later in the inning. The fourth inning began with a strikeout, but Gonzalez then walked Avila before allowing five straight singles, four of which scored a run, to end his outing. Hernan Perez added an RBI base hit off reliever Ross Ohlendorf, who departed during the next at-bat with an apparent injury. Hunter doubled home Santiago in the seventh. Despite loading the bases with no outs in the first, Washington came away with just a Jayson Werth sacrifice fly. The Nationals also had a runner in scoring position against Verlander in three straight innings from the third and failed to score. Game Notes Victor Martinez had three hits and one RBI for Detroit ... Verlander recorded six strikeouts ... Three relievers held the Nationals to one hit ... Washingtons Denard Span went 2-for-3 with a walk ... Bryce Harper also had two hits for the Nationals ... The Tigers were 8-for-16 with runners in scoring position, while Washington finished 0-for-9. ' ' '