India's tour of South Africa 2006

prakash_dudes · Dec 27, 2006

2nd Test: Day 1
India VS South Africa 2006

Sachin Tendulkar celebrates after taking the catch to dismiss Graeme Smith off Zaheer Khan on the opening day of the second Test between South Africa and India at the Sahara Stadium in Durban, on Tuesday.

Smith, who scored five, top edged a pull shot and fell to a well-judged catch by Tendulkar, who ran back from first slip.

Electing to bat first, South Africa were reduced to 257 for 8 before bad light brought an early end to the proceedings.

Zaheer Khan appeals successfully for the wicket of Hashim Amla.

Amla, on 1, tried to flick an inswinging delivery but missed it completely and was trapped plumb leg before wicket.

S Sreesanth got the wicket of AB de Villiers to reduce South Africa to 28 for 3.

De Villiers was caught behind by Tendulkar at first slip for nine.

Herschelle Gibbs, dropped down the order after twin failures in the previous Test, steadied South Africa after the early fall of wickets.

Gibbs played a breezy innings of 63, including 13 boundaries, before he was caught behind off Sreesanth.

He added 94 runs for the fourth wicket with Ashwell Prince to help South Africa recover to 165 for four at tea.

prakash_dudes · Dec 27, 2006

2nd Test: Day 1
India VS South Africa 2006

Mark Boucher's stumps are sent crashing by Sreesanth.

Boucher scored 53, adding 100 runs for the fifth wicket with Prince.

Prince Holds Firm as India take Day 1 Honours

Ashwell Prince and Herschelle Gibbs rallied South Africa on the opening day of the second Test against India in Durban on Tuesday after Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to bat.

The duo offered stubborn resistance as South Africa fought back after being reduced to 28 for 3 to end the day on a healthy 257 for 8, when bad light brought an early end to the proceedings.

Prince was unbeaten on 98 while Gibbs scored a fighting 63.

S Sreesanth did the bulk of the damage, capturing three wickets for 74 runs.
Fellow-paceman Zaheer bagged two wickets for 61 runs and Anil Kumble struck twice in an over late in the day to finish with 2 for 48.

Morning session
A recurring nightmare for Indian cricket fans has been the team's uncanny ability to follow a great performance with a perfectly ordinary one; that feature of our cricket perhaps explains the pessimistic emails that have been flooding my mailbox over the Christmas weekend.

For once, the exception is proving the rule, as India's seamers picked up the gauntlet thrown by Graeme Smith and, at lunch, reduced the home side to 28/3 before Herschelle Gibbs (25/41) and Ashwell Prince (17/39) mounted a fightback with a 39-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

South Africa's problems began as early as the third over - and predictably, it began with Graeme Smith. His play on the day, and the mode of his dismissal, was typical of a batsman struggling for form and confidence.
As early as his first over, Smith was squared up by a trademark Zaheer Khan delivery, that landed on off and middle and straightened to square the batsman up. Khan produced a repeat in his second over, then having shaken the batsman, produced his first short ball of the innings.

Smith went for the hook, but was woefully late to change from defensive to aggressive intent; the result was a top edge that spiraled over the slip cordon. It seemed safe enough, except for Sachin Tendulkar spinning around and racing back towards the third man region, his head twisted around to keep the ball in sight as it descended over his shoulder, making a great catch out of what, when the shot was played, looked like a streaky one (5/13; SA 8/1).

Khan struck again in his fourth over; this time, the dismissal owed to the perfect delivery a left arm seamer could produce to a right-handed batsman. The ball landed on length on middle stump, held its line and then shaped in late. Hashim Amla, surprised by the late movement, fell over a bit in defense, missed the line and was nailed in front (1/9; 13/2).
While Khan was hitting the straps from ball one, Sreesanth at the other end appeared to have some difficulty controlling the initial movement. Rahul Dravid rotated the seamer out of the attack after a first spell of 4-1-16-0, then brought him on at the other end after Zaheer had completed an exceptional first spell of 6-3-5-2.

The move worked; the bowler began getting the seam back to that bolt upright position that had everyone talking in Jo'burg and with his third ball of the comeback over, nailed AB de Villiers.

The ball was bowled from very close to the stumps; the line homed in on off and seamed away very late, to find the edge on the tentative drive for Tendulkar at first slip to take his second catch of the morning (9/38; SA 28/3).
De Villiers, doing duty at the top of the order as replacement for the prodigal Herschelle Gibbs, showed every intent to stick it out there; there was, however, little conviction in his batting, and for most of his stay, his departure seemed merely a matter of time.

At the other end, VRV Singh seized his chance to prove a point or three. He had made the lineup only because Munaf Patel hasn't recovered enough for the management to gamble on; from the first ball he bowled, Singh showed that he deserved consideration in his own right.

He was especially effective against Gibbs, lining him up and beating him repeatedly outside off; to add insult to injury, on as many as three occasions he had Gibbs surprised by nasty lifters off length, that the batsman fended at and was lucky to see fall in safe ground.

Interestingly, Singh changed his style, cutting out the back of length stuff he had relied heavily on in Jo'burg, and bowling a very full length, on off or in the channel. Allied with his pace and the late movement he was able to extract, Singh immediately looked threatening; the only silver lining for the batsmen being that the bowler didn't bring anything back in off the seam, relying exclusively on the ball going away from the right hander.

Batting down the order, Gibbs began playing with an odd mixture of discretion and flash. Despite being beaten repeatedly by Singh, Sreesanth and Zaheer, Gibbs gritted it out; he even shrugged off the odd edge that, as in Singh's first over, had squirted through the infield to find the fence.

In the 17th over, he uncorked his first positive shot, gliding onto the front foot to cover for swing and blasting Sreesanth through the covers. But then, the prodigal Gibbs resurfaced, with a flash outside off later in the same over that saw the ball squirt off the edge and dangerously close to third slip.

At the other end, Ashwell Prince stuck it out, playing with a pronounced front foot movement and playing the ball as late as he possibly could; the shot of the morning had to be his square drive past point off Sreesanth in the 19th over, a shot played against a ball that was on length and seaming away late.

The two batsmen began playing with greater freedom once the initial shine had worn off, and the quantum of swing had correspondingly reduced. Gibbs in particular was quick to seize the initiative, finally getting a measure of revenge on Singh by first flicking, then cover driving, Singh for fours in successive deliveries in the 20th over, after seeing an edge fall just short of a diving Wasim Jaffar at gully at the start of that over.

Kumble replaced Sreesanth in the 21st over and straightaway hit restrictive lines. At the other end, Zaheer Khan came back for Singh, and was desperately unlucky to see umpire Mark Benson turn down a clear shout for LBW against Prince (16/32, and SA 63/3, at the time).

Overall, Graeme Smith's decision to bat first on winning the toss mirrored Dravid's similar move in the first Test. It was clearly a move aimed at seizing the initiative, and forcing the Indians to battle the pressure of batting last.
The loss of three wickets early took the fizz out of that decision, though. At lunch, South Africa was in fightback mode; it will take great application from Gibbs, Prince, Andrew Hall, Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock to bat the home side to a position of strength from here.

That said, conditions for batting will likely be at its very best in the second session; it will, too, be a very good test for the Indian bowlers who, thus far, have had it pretty much their own way.

Post-Lunch session
In conditions that did not offer much by way of swing and seam to the bowlers, India began the second session in a dangerous lethargy.

The signals began from the start, when Rahul Dravid opted to pair Zaheer Khan with Sourav Ganguly, rather than attack at both ends. Even more strangely, the field was just two slips and a gully even for Zaheer, despite the bowler bending the ball both ways and striking an impeccable length and line from the outset.

The rotation of bowlers remained inexplicable for most of the first hour, with VRV Singh taking over from Ganguly (3-1-11-0), while Sreesanth signed autographs on the boundary line. Singh had in fact bowled well in the morning session, but with the older ball doing little, was reduced to straight up and down stuff after lunch.

For South Africa, Herschelle Gibbs woke from his series-long slumber, to play in a fashion approximating to his talent. Walking away after every ball to talk to himself, studiously avoiding anything - almost anything; this, after all, is Gibbs we are talking of - outside his off stump, the demoted opener fought his way back to form and once the feet got moving, opened out with some scintillating strokes, through the covers off the front foot and through the midwicket region off his pads.
At the other end Ashwell Prince, who appears to lead a charmed life as far as LBWs are concerned (both Zaheer and Sreesanth were unlucky to have good appeals turned down inside the first hour after lunch), sat on the splice, content to keep his end up and let Gibbs do all the hard yards.

Seven fours, five of them to Gibbs, in the first eight overs after lunch; Gibbs himself stroking his way to 50 (72 balls); South Africa cruising past the 100-run mark to relieved cheers from the spectators - the momentum clearly appeared to be shifting.
When the wicket finally came, it was out of the blue - and it almost never happened. Sreesanth, coming into the attack as the fourth bowler to be tried after lunch, banged one in short; Gibbs, who had been showing signs of the fidgets after crossing the 50 mark, launched into a hook, the ball gained extra height and the batsman top edged for Dhoni to dive a long way across and hold.

Strangely, the umpire (Benson, again) didn't move a muscle, despite the clear deviation of the ball off the bat and the prolonged appeal that followed. Gibbs, much to the evident relief of the Indians, however decided against himself and walked off. His 63 off 88 (SA 122/4) balls, and 94 run partnership with Prince for the fourth wicket, scripted the fight back South Africa needed.
The wicket brought India back into the game; Kumble bowled with three round the bat while Sreesanth, with the ball not seaming around enough to look for edges, began bowling the very full, very straight line looking to pin the batsmen in front. Together, the two bowlers pegged back the SA momentum; the first five overs after Gibbs' departure produced just eight runs.
Singh then came back to bowl a hostile - and essentially unlucky - spell. In the 44th over of the innings, a peach of a delivery, landing on length and line of off before seaming away late, found Prince's edge, only to drop agonizingly short of Tendulkar at first slip (or did it come to hand? The replays were inconclusive; the fielder's agonized reaction seemed to suggest disappointment.)

An over later, Singh first tested Prince out with a good short ball, clipped Boucher on the back of the helmet with another, then produced a ball full on middle that straightened off the seam. Boucher attempted to flick, missed, and was hit on the pad in front of middle and leg - only, the umpire thought not, and the batsman survived (Boucher 16/36; SA 148/4 at the time). Typically for this game, the batsman then rubbed it in, taking two fours off Singh's next over.

At tea, South Africa had progressed to 165/4 (67/3 at lunch) in 51 overs; Boucher was batting 27/55, and Prince 47/112.
Two sessions, meanwhile, are good enough for a fair read of this wicket. Granting the weather stays as sunny as it was today, this Durban wicket is not even in the same zip code as the one on which India was famously hustled out for 100 and 66, as far as pace and bounce go.

Sure, the South Africans with their extra height and greater pace will still be a handful; the Kookaburra ball will still do things early on, for about the first twenty overs or so. With the bat, India will need to dig deep to survive that early spell.
But on balance, the team batting first needs a good 350, minimum, to justify the decision and put the opposition under pressure. India needs a couple of wickets to break the game open - and, not to be snide, but judging by the decisions given or not given, they better be of the `bowled' variety.

Post-Tea session
In Johannesburg, the fielding had provided the extra edge the bowlers needed, to scythe through the South African batting.

Here, during the early part of the final session of day one, that edge was missing. It was not like catches went down (you could at best count two real half chances in the day - one to Jaffer, the other to Tendulkar). It was, more, an absence of the buzz that the Indians had in the field in the first Test, coupled with a dilution of the aggressive edge.

After team, Zaheer Khan bowled his heart out - and should have had Boucher twice in successive overs, except that India as in the second session opted to have just two slips in place, even early in the spell.
The left arm seamer found the edge in his 14th over (the 56th of the innings), then outdid himself in the next. A well directed bouncer caught Boucher on the hop; that was followed up by the perfect sucker ball - full in length, off stump in line, leaving the bat late. Boucher bit; his push got the edge, and yet again it flashed through that vacant space behind the bat, down to the fence for four.
It was that kind of day. When Ashwell Prince tried to hook Kumble (?!), the ball ballooned, then fell perfectly between the square leg fielder running back, andfine leg running forward. It appeared that at either end, the Indians were just that fraction away from getting the job done - and meanwhile, the runs kept mounting.
For the second wicket in succession, the home team stitched together a partnership, with Boucher playing aggressor while Prince continued to sit on the splice. The left hander had brought up his 50 (116 balls, 7 fours) in the first over after tea; he continued to bat with calm sense, stroking hard only when he was absolutely sure of the ball, patting back the rest, and hanging on to his end with commendable determination.

Boucher at the other end bustled around in his crease, pushing, prodding, and occasionally clubbing the bad ball, his hyperactivity at the crease prodding bowlers into error - and Sreesanth into a temper that resulted in the umpires having a bit of a chat with him and captain Rahul Dravid.

The Boucher-Prince partnership of exactly 100 runs, in a tick under 29 overs, built on the foundation laid by the Gibbs-Prince association; as SA went past the 200 mark, it appeared to regain the initiative and Graeme Smith, in the pavilion, was seen smiling again.

Not, though, for long. Boucher got to his 53 (89 deliveries), with an edged four to third man off the right arm seamer; two deliveries later, Sreesanth responded with a near-perfect yorker that squared Boucher up and went through his attempted flick to pluck out middle stump (53/91 balls; SA 222/5).
Pollock started out calm, but then looked to open out. VRV Singh was greeted with a ferocious cut and a fierce hook in swift succession. Aggression - and the madly waving South African flags -- got the better of him; the third ball of that over was slapped from outside off, straight to Sehwag at point (11/23; SA 256/6).
It was, in the circumstances, a blunder - South Africa had India on the ropes at that point, and Pollock, with a bit more circumspection, was just the sort of batsman who could have helped the home team ram it in.
That error was magnified in the very next over. Kumble produced one of his patented top spinners, that hastened off the pitch and nailed Andrew Hall bang in front (0/4; SA 257/7). Suddenly, a very promising innings was back on the rails and, as in the first Test, it owed to some scarcely credible shot selection by the Proteas batsmen.

Andre Nel came out, and lasted one ball before another quick flipper from Kumble hurried through his defenses and onto off stump (0/2; 257/8). South Africa at that point had lost three wickets for one run, and was hurting again.

Ashwell Prince soldiered on; he required treatment for what seemed an elbow niggle, and kept shaking his arm after every ball played. But pain or no, he wasn't giving up; when the umpires offered light to the batsmen, he was battling on with 98 runs to his name off 181 deliveries, and debutant Morkel for company.

Day one, overall, belonged to India; 8 wickets back in the hut for just 257 was good going after being sent in to bowl on what is clearly a 350-plus pitch. It could have been even better, but for a few patches in play when the team seemed to go off the boil, and lose its collective focus.

The ask now will be for the bowlers to finish off the job early in the morning on day two; freeing up the batsmen, without the pressure of a mountain to climb, to try and bat South Africa out of the game.

prakash_dudes · Dec 28, 2006

2nd Test: Day 2
India VS South Africa 2006

South Africa's Ashwell Prince celebrates after scoring his century during day two of the second Test against India in Durban, on Wednesday.
Prince reached his century in the third over of the day when he drove S Sreesanth through the covers for a boundary.
Prince was finally dismissed for 121, hitting 16 boundaries during his 212-ball knock.

Morne Morkel played a vital innings of 39 as India struggled to bowl out South Africa in the morning session.
Morkel, who scored a polished unbeaten 31, and Makhaya Ntini shared another 32 runs in a useful partnership for the last wicket.
Ntini made 16 before he was trapped leg before wicket by Kumble as South Africa were bowled out 328.

Andre Nel celebrates after getting the wicket of Virender Sehwag in the first over of the Indian innings.
Sehwag edged a drive to second slip, where AB de Villiers took a spectacular diving catch, off the first ball he faced.

Nel successfully appeals for the wicket of Rahul Dravid.
Dravid, who scored 11, was dismissed leg before wicket as India were reduced to 35 for 2 in the 10th over.

prakash_dudes · Dec 28, 2006

2nd Test: Day 2
India VS South Africa 2006

Sachin Tendulkar announced himself with a cracking square cut, followed by a trademark drive on the up through point, off Morkel.

He survived a dropped catch on 21 to stand firm for India as they looked to recover after the early loss of wickets.

Graeme Smith looks dejected after he dropped a catch off Tendulkar.
Medium pacer Andrew Hall found the outside edge, but Smith at first slip dropped an easy catch.
Tendulkar was unbeaten on 46 as India reached 103 for three in reply to South Africa's 328 before bad light stopped play early.

South Africa on top on day two

South Africa had the best of exchanges on a day that saw the last two wickets add a precious 71 runs to take its first innings total to 328 on day two of the second Test against India in Durban on Wednesday.
Their bowlers then struck, taking out Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffar to leave India in a position of some strife at 61/3.

Sachin Tendulkar, the beneficiary of a spilt sitter by none other than Graeme Smith, and VVS Laxman then settled down to a rescue effort; when play ended prematurely due to bad light, India was 103/3, with Tendulkar 46/89, and Laxman on a more circumspect 10/49.

At close, the game remains interesting poised. South Africa was 28/3 in its first innings before the recovery; India, in comparison, is in a slightly better position, but needs someone to do an Ashwell Prince and bat through.
Laxman appeared to have settled into that role, while Tendulkar appeared more ready to attack anything loose. Much will depend on the platform this pair can provide when play resumes tomorrow; a stable base will allow the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to build India's total towards, even across, the South African mark.
(Full report follows)

Morning session:
Whatever you do out there on the field, someone with access to a laptop can always argue that the reverse should have been done.

Like me, here. It was a bit surprising, frankly, to see Sreesanth get the first over of the morning, against two left-hand batsmen in Ashwell Prince and Morne Morkel.

The seamer did start with a maiden, but then went for nine and 11 in his next two overs, before yielding the ball to Zaheer Khan -- the bowler who, with his natural delivery leaving the bat, should have been up first anyway.

By then, though, the damage was done; Prince had creamed a four off the first ball of Sreesanth's second over, through extra cover, to bring up his century, and get that hurdle out of the way. At the other end, Morkel had dispatched a couple of loose deliveries to the boundary, and was beginning to feel good about himself.

In a sense, it was the Proteas equivalent of the VRV Singh blitz in the first innings at Jo'burg - in terms of runs, seemingly insignificant; in terms of momentum shifts, potentially huge, in that it halted India in its tracks just when the fielding side was looking to finish the South African innings off quick.

Prince, meanwhile, brought up his century off 188 deliveries, with 14 fours, in the manner described above -- and celebrated like a frisky puppy while his dressing room stood to applaud a job grittily done by a batsman derided, not so long ago, as a 'quota' selection.

His wagon wheel is interesting: more than half his runs came square of the wicket, with 22 on the on and 34 on the off; there were also 27 runs off his pads behind the wicket; a scoring arc that cumulatively spoke of a batsman willing to wait, to play the ball as late as he possibly could, and to focus on hitting his target areas when he could, while defending to the rest.

After his dour display of yesterday, Prince unveiled another side of his batting this morning with a series of fluid strokes, especially once he had gone past his century. His wicket, like that of Gibbs yesterday, came against the run of play -- and as fortune would have it, Sreesanth did the damage, with a ball that didn't deserve reward.

Bowling with the second new ball, the right arm seamer sprayed one on the short side, wide and angling away; Prince went after it, driving well away from his body and managing only to get the toe of the bat on it.

VVS Laxman, at second slip, was crouched low for the catch; he had to adjust in an instant and take it high overhead as it came at him at warp speed. Looked simple enough, but the adjustment involved made it one of the better catches Laxman has snared in a series punctuated by some outstanding catching (Prince 121/212 balls; SA 290/8; partnership 39 runs in 58 deliveries).

Morkel was a bit of a revelation; the tall left arm quick looks nicely organized at the batting crease, with neat footwork, a positive stride out to the quicks, a stylishly high right elbow on the drives, and surprisingly soft hands when playing Kumble.
South Africa inched past the 300 mark; Sreesanth's frustrations came to a head when Makhaya Ntini's elaborate leave outside off found the ball touch the bat on the way through only for Asad Rauf, this time, to miss the contact and turn down the appeal for a catch behind.

The umpiring in this game, thus far, has been pathetic -- LBWs are always open to debate, but when one umpire refuses to give as clear an edge as you ever saw (mercifully, Gibbs walked on that one) and the other fails to spot ball thump into bat, you begin to wonder.

Ntini, like earlier beneficiaries of umpiring largesse, took full advantage; holding his end up and occasionally flaying the ball to the fence, he held his end up in a last wicket partnership that added to India's frustrations - and, more vitally, to the scoreboard.

Then again, blaming the umpires alone for the state of affairs would be to take away from India's own pusillanimity - it was strange and, as a ball from Zaheer that took the shoulder of Ntini's bat and raced through the gap indicated, silly to keep just two slips in place for number 11, against a bowler who was still getting the ball to talk.

Kumble finally ended the innings in trademark fashion, with the quick flipper nailing Ntini on the pad in front of the stumps to have SA 328 all out (Ntini 16; Morkel unbeaten on a well compiled 31/52).

South Africa added 71 runs in 18.3 overs this morning -- a late order finish that halted India in its tracks and swung the momentum back in favor of the home team after the mini collapse late on the first evening.
The total confronting them as India begins its first innings is way more than India could have expected, or wanted to chase. Against that, the silver lining is that conditions have never been better for batting, on this tour, than they are here, now.

(India innings)

The first ball of the Indian innings, from Andre Nel, took Wasim Jaffer's glove, eluded a diving Mark Boucher, and raced down to the fine leg fence - make of that what you will, by way of portent or symbolism.

The last ball of the same over was outside off and on length, lifting and moving late; Virender Sehwag, facing for the first time in this innings, went for the drive on the up, got the by now regulation edge, and was superbly held at second slip by a tumbling de Villiers, who clung on as the ball was going past him at the rate of knots (0/1; India 5/1).
The one time vice captain looks increasingly lost and lonely out there; as logical a candidate for a Pathan-style recall as any. The pity of his early dismissal is that this is precisely the sort of conditions that would have suited his style of play right down to the ground, if only he had the cricketing nous to eschew anything flash till he had sussed out the pitch and the bowling, and taken time to settle in.

Dravid's sometimes odd choice of bowler has been commented on; Graeme Smith in his turn went one better, giving the new ball to Makhaya Ntini, ahead of the incisive Shaun Pollock. Ntini in the first Test was considerably below par; Pollock on the contrary was inspirational whenever he got ball in hand.

Wasim Jaffer, for once, shed the hesitant air he has brought to the crease with him in recent outings; after that streaky start, he greeted Ntini with an immaculate straight drive, then flicked Nel off his pads to the midwicket fence. More impressive, though, were the leaves around off - early, assured, and with sufficient feet movement to cover the stumps. Noticeably, the batsman was quick to tuck the bat well out of harm's way as soon as his mind was made up to leave; in earlier outings, there was a hesitant pause on top of the crease, bat hung out, that was primarily responsible for his troubles in that area.
At the other end, the South Africans launched into their pet ploy against Rahul Dravid - swinging wide of the crease, angling the ball in very full and on off, looking to get the batsman nailed in front thanks to his Ponting-like tendency to fall over a bit, early in his innings, while playing in front of his pads.

Morkel, who got to bowl the last over before lunch - again, ahead of Pollock -- looked sharp enough despite an ambling, almost underwhelming run-up, but Jaffar watched him through with a fair degree of comfort, to take India in to lunch on 24/1 after seven overs of play.

Session two, as in the South African innings yesterday, should be perfect for the batting side - hot enough to tire the bowlers out, and a pitch flat enough to take the fear of unknown demons out of the mind. The million dollar ask, though, is whether India can capitalize on those conditions, to bat itself back into pole position.

Post lunch session:

South Africa -- and umpire Mark Benson -- needed just 14 deliveries after lunch to strike.
It was, in a sense, the perfect partnership. Andre Nel stuck like a limpet to the game plan of swinging wide of the stumps, then spearing the ball in on fullish length around off, looking for the LBW and preying, as mentioned in the pre-lunch dispatch, on Dravid's tendency to fall forward when playing in front of and around his pads.

The second delivery of Nel's second over after the break finally found the pad; umpire Benson found his moment, never mind that the strike was high on the knee roll, the ball was still climbing, and was clearly sailing over the stumps (11/23; India 35/2).
While Wasim Jaffar continued to bat on in the same vein as during the pre-lunch period, Sachin Tendulkar walked out, and announced himself with a cracking square cut, followed by a trademark drive on the up through point, off Morkel.

At the other end, an interesting battle built up between a nicely fired-up Nel, and Tendulkar. A short of length ball just outside off tested the batsman in the channel; extra pace found the edge even as Tendulkar tried to let it go.

This time, the batsman got lucky; the edge didn't have enough on it to find the keeper. The next ball was again in the channel but fuller; Tendulkar strode out, went down on one knee and played dreamily through covers.

Graeme Smith meanwhile decided that four overs for 26 runs from the debutant Morkel was a luxury he couldn't afford; Pollock finally got the ball, and settled into his role of inquisitor, probing away with microscopic adjustments of line and length around the off-stump.

This was the most fascinating period of play -- a bowler working like a chess grandmaster; two batsmen clearly aware of the dangers, and willing to grit it out, focusing on blunting the bowler rather than trying to dominate him.

A classic example of Pollock at work came in the 23rd over, Pollock's (5th - and 4th maiden, as it turned out). The first was a straight delivery on length on off-stump. The second was just short of off-stump; it seamed away late foxing Tendulkar, who anticipating a straight ball shaped to drive on the up. The third ball landed outside off, but this time cut back in; Tendulkar judged to a nicety and let it go through. The fourth was fuller, on off and middle looking for the LBW; that was followed by a good bouncer at the body that the batsman went under. The over ended with the regulation line, in the channel outside off, inviting flirtation.
The thing with Pollock is that his steadiness not only bottles one end up, it also helps the bowler at the other end tighten his own game. The beneficiary on this occasion was Ntini, who returned with a sharper, more incisive spell than his pre-lunch effort.
Pollock, for instance, took the ball in the 15th over, and opened with two successive maidens. The score after 14 overs was 54/2; after 23 overs, India had progressed to just 61, adding 7 runs in the 9-over phase.
Even in a Test arena where the pace of run-scoring is not of paramount importance, especially this early in the innings, that kind of thing can create its own peculiar pressures. It did, here, and Wasim Jaffar fell victim.
In the 24th over - the one after the Pollock-Tendulkar tease - Ntini pitched one up, bringing the ball in a shade from wide of the stumps, and making it bend away after pitching.

Jaffar, overtly careful with such deliveries till that point, attempted to carve this one through the covers, was beaten by the away movement off the deck, and edged for de Villiers, at second slip, to take his second good catch of the innings (26/73 with five fours; India 61/3).

It was a dogged knock; outside of the five fours, Jaffar managed just four singles and a brace; the rest was about watchful play, with bat and pad aligned in very straight lines.

Thus far, the breaks had gone South Africa's way; in the 27th over, it went the other way with a vengeance. Andrew Hall, in his first over as replacement for a tiring Pollock (6-4-6-0), angled a short of length delivery in from wide of the crease. Tendulkar spotted the sort of width that, early in his knock, he had been creaming on the up and went for the shot.
This time, however, he misjudged both pace and distance from off; his push was at full extension, and found the outer edge, the ball flying through at a nice catching height to first slip. Graeme Smith, who has snaffled some blinders in that position, got into position, and held the pose while the ball popped into, then out, of his cupped palms (Tendulkar 21; India 70/3 at that point).

The only way you can explain that catch going down is by attributing it to the sort of thing that happens when a player is low on form and confidence; Smith, clearly, is as low as it is possible to get.

That was enough of a scare for Tendulkar to tighten his game; at the other end, VVS Laxman took his time to settle in. Both batsmen were aided by the fact that Pollock and Ntini, who had combined impressively during that period of maximum pressure, were out of the attack; of their replacements, Hall didn't have pace, and Morkel, who topped the 140-mark with almost every ball, didn't have the experience, to maintain the pressure at anything like the same levels.
At tea, India had progressed to 93/3 (Tendulkar 37, Laxman 8) after two hours of dour, battling cricket. The session clearly belonged to South Africa, and if you are keeping score, it was the second straight session on the day that the home team enjoyed the advantage in.

India's best game is to focus on playing through the final session without further loss; in Test match terms, it is early days yet, so runs scored at pace can for now take a back seat to consolidation.
SA has the easier job at the moment - one more wicket, and the pressure can really mount on the batting side.

Post tea session:

Andre Nel and Shuan Pollock teamed up after tea, and South Africa's quest for a wicket acquired a desperate edge when Tendulkar took fours off both bowlers in their early overs.
Suddenly, the fielding side cut loose with what seemed like a full-throated Greek chorus, fronted by Boucher with Graeme Smith in particularly good voice on the back up vocals.

If the intent was to gee up the bowlers, it worked on Nel -- who promptly joined in. The pity, from a South African point of view, was that in this particular spell, there was more venom in his chatter than in his bowling. Pollock at the other end was tight as usual, but both Indian not out batsmen were playing well within themselves, seemingly intent on ensuring that the veteran bowler didn't do any damage.

Laxman in particular was content to defend; Tendulkar on the other hand mixed defense with a readiness to punish anything loose; he would have likely had more than the nine runs (2 fours) he added to his tea score but for some spectacular stops at gully, and at point by Gibbs.

After 5.4 overs, the umpires decided the light was bad enough to offer it to the batsmen, who promptly walked. Smith and cohorts seemed unhappy - far more so than they were last evening, when Ashwell Prince took a similar offer.
In the event, play was stopped at 103/3 after 38.4 overs; there are 31.2 overs to be bowled yet on the day, but indications are the players will not come back out before tomorrow morning.

love_gundu22 · Dec 28, 2006

Ind-SA: Bad light ends play early

Ind-SA: Bad light ends play early

Wednesday, December 27, 2006 (Durban):

Replying to South Africa’s first innings total of 328, India were 103 for three when bad light forced an early close to the second day’s play in the second Test at Kingsmead, Durban on Wednesday.

Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were on 46 and 10, respectively when umpires Mark Benson and Asad Rauf offered them the light and the two batsmen accepted it immediately.

The umpires waited for almost close to an hour before deciding to call off the day’s proceedings. Play had ended early due to bad light on the first day on Tuesday as well.

The day truly belonged to South Africa’s Ashwell Prince who brought up his fifth Test hundred. The Proteas tail also wagged and put on 71 runs in the morning session, while India’s openers failed to deliver a good start yet again.

Sehwag’s travails continue

Virender Sehwag’s travails continued as he was out first ball from Andre Nel. Sehwag flashed at a delivery outside the off stump and the edge carried straight to AB de Villiers at second slip. At lunch, India were 24 for one.

Nel came back after the break to remove Indian skipper Rahul Dravid, lbw for 11, though television replays indicated that it was a dubious decision. Wasim Jaffer’s (26 off 73 balls) long vigil at the crease came to an end with a Makhaya Ntini delivery, De Villiers picking up the catch at second slip.

The Proteas could have added a fourth wicket but Graeme Smith dropped Sachin Tendulkar on 21. The team score then was 69 for three. The Master Blaster has not scored a half century since hitting his 35th Test ton, which was 13 innings ago.

Prince powers Proteas

Earlier in the morning, Ashwell Prince powered the hosts to 328. Resuming on the overnight score of 257 for eight, the hosts added 71 runs in the morning session with Prince bringing up his fifth Test hundred.

Prince, who was unbeaten on 98 at stumps on day one, reached the three-figure mark with a cracking drive to the fence. He made 121 off 212 balls with 16 boundaries before being caught by VVS Laxman at second slip off a S Sreesanth delivery.

Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini added 32 runs for the last wicket. Ntini was the last man out, lbw to Anil Kumble. Morkel remained unbeaten on 31.

The Teams:

India: Rahul Dravid (Captain), Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, VRV Singh.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (Captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Andrew Hall, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Morne Morkel.
:tea:

prakash_dudes · Jan 6, 2007

RE-starting this thread...........

3rd Test: Day 5 IndiaVs South Africa

January 06, 2007

Rain, India Unable to Stop South Africa

For a while there -- for quite a while, in fact, during which period first lunch, then tea, was taken -- it seemed as if the rain gods would gift India a draw, and an opportunity to level the series.

Had it happened, it would have been a travesty: India, presented with 'home' conditions for the series decider, had made shot itself in the foot twice in course of the match (the first time, when it frittered away the best start of the series and ended up with a first innings score that was at least 100 runs less than it should have got; the second, during that bizarre period of play on the afternoon of the fourth day when Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar threw cricketing commonsense to the winds), and did not deserve a face saving win.

South Africa, on the other hand, did. The home side played the key sessions well; when presented with an opportunity on the fourth afternoon, it bowled and fielded to perfection to squeeze the breath out of India and then batted positively to set up the winning opportunity.

The fifth morning brought more of the same: the Proteas sent out home boy Shaun Pollock, to replace Hashim Amla who had fallen to the last ball bowled on the fourth evening.

Pollock's job was clearly to ride his current rich vein of form and try and knock off the runs. The all-rounder did his job to perfection, going hard at everything, pulling, cutting, driving and in sum, turning the heat on the Indian bowlers to such an extent that Dravid was forced to dilute the aggressive field setting.

Graeme Smith was the prime beneficiary. The captain was nowhere near the sort of touch he had displayed in the first innings, and late yesterday evening; he took to batting within himself, rolling the strike over and letting Pollock do the hard yards. And when, in the 27th over, Kumble went around the wicket and made one explode off the deck, getting Smith to fend at it, there was no short square leg fielder in place to hold.

The third wicket partnership produced 50 runs in 9.5 overs -- and down came the rain, literally out of the blue. The first four days of this Test had been bright and sunny, there was no warning that the weather would play spoilsport; yet it did, to the point where first lunch was taken early, then tea.

South Africa contributed to its own problems with the sort of bad management that, had it happened here in India, would have had us yelling for the BCCI's blood. There was water on the covers, but the super sopper that could mop it up had no gas in it. And when gas was finally found, it turned out the machine was non-functional. The result: the ground staff was reduced to carefully carrying the covers to the edge of the ground, draining the water, then bringing them back on ever so often -- all the while consuming precious time.
After three hours and ten minutes of weather watching, play finally resumed at 15.05 local time with a maximum of 49 overs possible (more than enough for the home side to get the 100 runs it still needed at that stage) -- and in keeping with the weather, we saw high drama. Pollock had pulled Zaheer Khan for a four, then rocked back and cut Kumble to the fence. It seemed at the time that South Africa would finish the game off in a heck of a hurry.

In the 32nd over, Khan banged one down at Smith, outside his off, and jagged it back in. Smith played the length and looked to cut; the in-cut cramped him and off the high top edge, the ball flew to the left of Dinesh Karthick, who dived to pull off a great catch (55/84; 127/3).

The very next ball was fired down the leg side; Jacques Kallis had a healthy flick at it, got the edge for Karthick to produce another diving take -- and Asad Rauf ruled in favor of the batsman, ignoring some frenzied appealing.

Despite being denied (and, ironically, spoken to by the umpire), the Indians finally began buzzing in the field; their dives were more than cosmetic, and the volume of chatter reached ear-shattering proportions.

Kumble gave Kallis a hard time with a mixture of leg breaks, flippers and a googly that fooled the batsman and went heart-stoppingly close to the top of the stumps; the pressure began to build and it was Pollock, batting beautifully till that point, who finally succumbed. Zaheer Khan teased him around off with shortish deliveries that angled across and then straightened; by way of variety, he let one run away straight off the seam on the fuller length. Pollock was suckered into swishing at it, but managed only to find the edge, and picked out the lone slip, Laxman, posted a bit wide for just that (37/56; SA 132/4; 79 more needed). Pollock had put South Africa in pole position with his batting before the rain interruption; clearly, the break, the loss of his captain, the narrow escapes Kallis was having at the other end, all combined to put him under pressure.

With the ball reversing, Zaheer hit his straps and bowled possibly his best spell of the match; time and again, he hit the high 130s and had Kallis, in particular, groping and clueless around off. At the other end, Kumble slowed himself down, taking his time between deliveries and varying the angles constantly to the bemusement of both batsmen. Runs were mostly through singles -- risky ones at that.

Ashwell Prince, facing hand grenades thrown by Kumble into the rough outside off, took 21 deliveries to nudge a single and get off the mark. From then on, the two dug deep, and added 30 runs in 12.3 overs; it wasn't pretty how they did it, but when the two teams went off for a tea break, they had reduced the ask to 49 runs in 27 overs, with six wickets in hand.

When Kallis began post tea play by stepping back into his crease and banging Kumble back past the bowler for four, it signalled that the Proteas were ready to administer the last rites. The Indians gave Virender Sehwag a shot at the other end, for an over, then went back to Sreesanth -- who continued to run in with a lot of heart, and even induced two sniks from Kallis in successive overs, both wasted because Dravid had chosen to stagger his slips, posting a first and third and leaving the second vacant.

Somehow, though, the zip and bustling intent the team had shown before tea appeared to have been left behind in the dressing room; there was, in the way they went about their task, a sense that the team had collectively given the game up as a lost cause.
With a dozen runs to get, Tendulkar got a bowl -- and ripped leg breaks at Kallis, off breaks at Prince, then beat Kallis with a Murli-style offbreak the batsman played for the other one; the two exchanged grins at the contest within a contest. Tendulkar then turned his attention to Prince, turned him in knots, laughingly taunted him -- and made the rest of us wonder why he was never tried till then.

With two runs for South Africa to force the win, Kallis tried to finish it off, went for the pull off a Zaheer Khan short delivery, and managed only to scoop it up for Dravid to hold at midwicket, by way of a final tease (32/90; SA 209/5).

Yesterday, two of India's premier batsmen had pottered around for a little over 15 overs and, in doing so, surrendered the initiative -- a particularly bitter thought when you consider that when South Africa finally sealed the win by five wickets to take the series 2-1, there were only 12 overs left in play (and remember, Kallis was in fact out first ball). A handful of runs, a headful of commonsense, some heart -- the difference, really, between sensational success and the biting sting of defeat.

Sufficient unto the day; the post mortems can come after a day or two, to step back and gain perspective. For now, the sobering realization, that India had through the course of this Test several opportunities, with bat and ball, to seal a historic series win, and failed due to their own lack of self-belief, suffices as a sign off.

And, by way of salt in the wound, the team lost its opportunity, and the series, against a team that was uniquely vulnerable: South Africa's Test record for 2006 reads 11 played, 3 won, 7 lost and 1 drawn; not only did it lose all three of its away Tests, it wasn't too hot at home either, losing four and winning three.

An opposition that had lost the fire, a wicket just like the one mommy makes back home, the advantage of winning the toss and batting first or, more to the point, ensuring that the opposition would need to bat last on a breaking pitch, an opening partnership of 153 -- what more does a side, need to win?

SA Win Series Against India 2-1

January 06 2007

Pollock - Man Of The Series.

South Africa won the third and final Test by five wickets against India on Saturday to clinch the series 2-1.

Ashwell Prince steered the South Africans to victory on a gloomy day in Cape Town but was ably supported by Jacques Kallis.
Just under four hours of play was lost to inclement weather but besides taking two wickets and putting the home side under pressure, the rain was unable to arrest an Indian slide to defeat.

Prince hit the winning runs following Kallis' departure and was undefeated on 38 off 103 deliveries.

Herschelle Gibbs faced just two balls and was not out without scoring at the other end.
Kallis scored 32 off 90 deliveries and was out two runs short of the winning total trying to pull Zaheer Khan to the boundary for victory - he was caught by Rahul Dravid at square leg.

Zaheer was the pick of the Indian bowlers and put India back into the game after the rain break.

He had also snared the wickets of both Graeme Smith and Shaun Pollock on Saturday and ended with innings figures of four for 62.

Anil Kumble took the only other wicket - that of Hashim Amla - in the South African second innings.

Kallis and Prince came together with South Africa still needing 79 runs to win and despite some nervy moments and some intense pressure from the Indian fielders were able to hold out for victory.

South Africa lost the first game in Johannesburg but won in Durban and Cape Town to deny India even a share of the spoils - a feat that continues to elude them on South African soil.

Source: NA

India's tour of South Africa 2006

prakash_dudes

Prakash Pohwani

prakash_dudes

Prakash Pohwani

prakash_dudes

Prakash Pohwani

prakash_dudes

Prakash Pohwani

love_gundu22

Praveen Gurwani

prakash_dudes

Prakash Pohwani