"Maybe because it’s at altitude or perhaps it’s in the mind, but from the speed of delivery to the ball flying from the face of the bat, everything seems to happen more quickly.”
Saturday 16 January 2016 15:35, UK
If there is one performance inextricably linked with the career of Michael Atherton, then it is his herculean efforts alongside Jack Russell to salvage the 1995 Test when England looked fatally skewered in the Bullring.
The oil canvas Russell painted from a photograph of the two of them in the middle at the New Wanderers - Atherton on his haunches, Russell stood over him - hangs proudly on the wall of Atherton's home. It is the only piece of cricketing memorabilia in the house.
"It was a quick pitch in 1995," the Sky Sports cricket expert recalls. "I put South Africa in and was correct that it would hold together throughout the Test, but it didn't do that much for the bowlers, so it wasn't a particularly smart move."
The Number One Test: check out more expert analysis from Athers here...
Chasing 332, England were dismissed for 200, saw the home side chalk up another 346 runs and by the time Robin Smith was out leaving England 232-5 on the fourth morning, a home win looked certain. Then wicketkeeper Russell, dark shades and peculiar open stance, joined his captain at the crease.
"We were right up against it, just before lunch on the fourth day. I remember Allan Donald bowling really quickly. He'd hit Alec Stewart just above the chest guard, and although a tough cookie, even he flinched. Donald was aggressive and as he ran in those sitting at the front of the stands would lean over and start banging the tin hoardings. It made for a tremendous cacophony and quite a hostile atmosphere.
"Jack made 29 in 274 minutes and drove them up the wall. He had a curious, crabby, open-chested stance and would drag his bat inside the line to leave the ball, so opponents always thought he played and missed. And he used to bat behind dark glasses, so they couldn't see if he was engaging with them or not. He was a quirky customer.
"I was always relaxed at the crease. One of the keys to batting is the ability to switch on and off. Jack, though, was at full tempo all the time, prodding, poking and snarling."
"I was always relaxed at the crease. One of the keys to batting is the ability to switch on and off. Jack, though, was at full tempo all the time, prodding, poking and snarling. 'Don't give it away, remember Barbados' he kept saying. He'd played in a similar game in the Caribbean and had batted for a long to time to save the match before they then lost a flurry of wickets after tea. The problem was, I wasn't on that tour, so had no idea what he was talking about."
With the instant gratification demanded by the modern game, and aggressive batting and Twenty20 to the fore, Atherton's innings is still remembered fondly by English fans. A recent poll by cricket website, Cricinfo, on the back of South Africa's rearguard effort in India, proved the warmth of feeling still attributed to the 185 not out in 643 minutes to save the game.
"It shows that even now people quite enjoy a backs-to-the-wall battle," Atherton says. "I suppose it's the classically English fighting spirit, never-say-die attitude." He's also quick to remind people that when he returned to Johannesburg for the first Test of the following series in 1999, he faced three balls and was dismissed for a pair.
It was Duncan Fletcher's first game in charge and England quickly found themselves 2-4. "It was a chaotic changing room," Atherton recalls. "The start of game it was almost pitch black with thunder clouds, the lights were on and the wicket was green and wet. It was probably the most testing start to a Test match I can remember."
"We did well to get to 122, to be honest. As an opening batsman you recognise that occasionally you will receive a delivery you cannot do anything about and in that game I got two pretty unplayable balls.
"The first was a big, hooping in-swinger from Donald that knocked my middle pole out and in the second innings one just flew off a length from Pollock and flicked my glove. I could have batted a thousand times and not got any runs with those two balls.
"Half the battle in having a long career at the top of the order is accepting that just occasionally the bowler will get you out with a good ball and there's not much you can do. It's how you go about the next game that's key and I scored 108 at Port Elizabeth."
At the Wanderers it was another Donald and Pollock masterclass, taking 11 and eight wickets respectively, and it was only when Paul Adams caught and bowled Andrew Flintoff for the 18th English wicket to fall that anyone else got in on the act.
The fast bowler's playground was reprised in the 2010 match between the sides when Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn again tore apart the English batting with 14 wickets combined as they ran out winners by an innings and 42 runs to tie the series.
"It was the first time Jonathan Trott, a highly successful England player, looked unsure of himself," Atherton says. "He was put under the microscope and unsettled at the crease. It was a measure of how quickly they were bowling, because Trott was a very solid player."
It's not only the South African attack that has enjoyed success here. The 2005 match witnessed Matthew Hoggard achieve his best international haul with five in the first innings and seven in the second as England won by 77 runs to clinch their only series victory in South Africa since apartheid.
"It's a ground where the ball can swing," Atherton says. "In 1995 Dominic Cork took nine wickets and Hoggard was a similar bowler, running in close to the stumps and moving the ball away."
