And to think 2 years ago there were BIG questions over MJ Clarke, with quite a few suggesting that perhaps Simon Katich should be the next Aussie captain instead
I've always been a big Clarke fan, but it's worth mentioning that he's averaging 65 as captain - 6 100s in 16 Tests, most of them BIG 100s. Really dominant batting - I couldn't be happier
Now that I've talked him up...I really would have preferred to see Australia declare last night, somwhere around when they passed 400, which would have given them about 10 overs at SA last night to try and make something happen. Declaring at lunch today with a lead of 200 will give SA ZERO incentive to score runs. It's easier to get a team out when they have some incentive to score runs.
The other consideration though is: what will damage SA most for the rest of the series? Will batting them completely out the match, getting 600 vs the world's best pace trio be the best way to demoralise them? Perhaps, yes. If Aus do declare at lunch, SA will go out to bat very deflated knowing the match is lost and they've performed poorly in the last 2 days. Maybe that's what Clarke/Arthur are looking for: forgo a small chance at a win so they can really rub it into SA for a bit longer. Of course SA could still collapse badly in the last 2 sessions - they are a batsman short after all.