Point of debate: South Africa should have gone for it

First, let me disclose: I am American. I know the common complaint about American fans who blindly denounce the draw, who insist that ties have no place in sports – that there simply must be a winner and a loser. These are not unfair criticisms (and, in fact, many Americans are quick to forget that the rules of American football allow for draws, and that they even do occur with some regularity in the NFL). When Jason Sudeikis' Ted Lasso character says, "If you tried to end a game in a tie in the United States, heck, that might be listed in Revelations as the cause for the apocalypse," he's pretty accurately satirising an American attitude that believes our way, is the only way. I promise, I am not here to denounce the draw as a concept. I do not intend to argue, as many Americans when first learning about cricket will, that a sport played for five days only to end in a draw is fundamentally silly. I am here, instead, to question just one particular draw. ---------- South Africa's fourth-innings 450 against India yesterday will certainly be remembered for a very long time. It was the third-highest fourth-innings total in Test cricket history. Second-highest in modern times, just a run short of New Zealand's 451 against England in 2002. AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis' 205-run fifth-wicket stand will go down as one of the great defiant partnerships. What it will not be remembered as, however, is the highest successful chase of all time, and it seemed for a minute there like it very well would be. Which feels, for now at least, like a shame. Anand Vasu, summarising the match for us today, is not wrong when he describes it as, "one of the most dramatic Test matches of all time in which neither team deserved to lose." And Graeme Smith is not wrong either when he says, "I think we as a team have to support the decision Dale and Vernon made in the middle. The strength of this team is that there are good decision makers. Each guy is mature." It's Smith's job to stand behind his squad. And certainly neither team deserved a loss from their efforts. But one side might indeed have deserved a victory, and for the Proteas, that victory – a victory which would have put them alone atop history's record of greatest chases – was there to be reached for. ---------- It speaks to the uniqueness of this Test's final innings that it's almost impossible to find a modern parallel. Of the fourth-innings totals of 400 runs or more , none had resulted in a draw since 1979 until yesterday. Were it not for England's 1939 outlier – in which their fourth-innings 654 was enough to draw South Africa at 696 – it would be the highest total to snatch a draw ever. The only perhaps recent comparable outcome might be Sri Lanka's 2009 draw with Pakistan. Chasing a target of 492, the Sri Lankans battled Pakistan into a stalemate by reaching 391 for four. That is the kind of draw that does service to Test cricket. Staring at a mountain of a chase and almost certain defeat, and batting your opponent into a stalemate. ---------- When future generations look back at this Test, they may simply wonder why, with just 16 runs needed from 19 balls, Dale Steyn waved Vernon Philander back as he began to run for a single on the 16th-to-last ball. Why Steyn mostly evaded Mohammed Shami's deliveries of the 134th over. They might wonder why Philander and Steyn stayed put when Philander pushed Zaheer Khan's delivery, the 10th-to-last of the match, to extra cover, deep enough for at least a single. They might look at Steyn's six on the final ball – as listless a six as you'll ever see – and wonder what could possibly have been if he'd just tried a similar shot a few balls before. ---------- Again, Graeme Smith isn't wrong when he says, "Morne (Morkel) is struggling to stand really. And Immy (Imran Tahir) would probably say himself that you are not too sure what you are going to get from him. "They’ve made great decisions over a period of time which have won cricket games for South Africa. I think that’s how we have got to number one, by trusting each other and trusting each others’ decision-making." South Africa are trying to win a series, against a formidable opponent. Throwing caution to the wind and playing for history yesterday and falling short would have made that impossible. But in as historic a game as Test cricket, isn't there something to be said for achieving the historic? In producing a singularly historical moment? If the Proteas draw or lose the next Test to India, won't they always wonder what they might have left on the wicket at Wanderers yesterday? Even if they win, will anyone remember it as they would have remembered the day they chased 458?