The real test for Test debutant Stuart Clark came in the
second innings. With Australia leading by 103 runs on the first innings, it was up to the bowlers
to secure a manageable target. Following five wickets in the first innings and
reports likening him to Glenn McGrath, Clark was under pressure to prove it was more than just a good day at the
office.

Prove it he did, finishing the Proteas
second innings with 4 for 34, and even earning the praises of the opposition
captain.

The final result, a comfortable seven
wicket victory to Australia, was a return to the natural order of things after a tumultuous one
day series. Despite their monumental run chase just a few days earlier, the
South Africans didn’t seem to take a greater self-belief into the Test. Or if
they did, it was Clark who neatly undid it.

While nobody can argue with nine wickets in
a Test match, whether or not Clark can become “the new Glenn McGrath” – that is, a bowler who can take
a few wickets each innings – remains to be seen. He is not a revolution in fast
bowling terms, but the greatest fast bowlers never have been revolutionaries.
They’ve done a few ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Writing in the SMH, Peter Roebuck put
Clarke’s contribution into context. “Clark does not send the ball down with the seam in the
right place and pray. He uses his fingers to give the ball a flick to entice
leg-cut and pulls his relevant digits down the side of the ball in an attempt
to create movement in the opposite direction. Apart from chucking, this is the
oldest form of ‘bowling’ the game has known.”

While Clark might have solved Australia’s
fast bowling woes in the short term, he’s still a hundred Tests and 500 wickets
away from being “the new” Glenn McGrath.

While he’ll be thrilled and relieved with
his debut, you can bet the selectors are enjoying it too. After the Hodge
axing, and the embarrassment of recalling some of the Ashes fall guys, this is
one selection that went their way. Finally.