Aussies top Proteas in run feast
Brad Morgan
26 March 2007
South Africa and Australia met in Saint Kitts on Saturday in the most anticipated match of the 2007 Cricket World Cup so far. While the Aussies came away with an 83-run win, the outcome was far closer than it appears on paper.
Proteas captain Graeme Smith won the toss and elected to field first, maybe reasoning that the small Warner Park ground would be an ideal venue to chase a target on, rather trying to set one.
Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden opened the innings for Australia and got their side away to a flyer. Such was their dominance with the bat that Gilchrist's 42 at a run a ball was ultimately the slowest scoring rate achieved by an Australian batsman in the team's huge total of 377 for 6.
Brutal
His opening partner Matthew Hayden was brutal, going after South Africa's normally miserly Shaun Pollock with relish. Pollock's first two overs produced two fours for Hayden and one for Gilchrist, but in
the third Hayden exploded, launching a four, followed by successive sixes off the third and fourth deliveries.
By the time he had completed three overs, Pollock, who had gone for 33 runs, had conceded more runs than he normally gives up in 10 overs.
When Gilchrist departed in the fifteenth over, caught by Gibbs off a slower ball bowled by Langeveldt, Australia was already on 106.
Ricky Ponting joined Hayden out in the middle and set about playing himself in. The burly opener, meanwhile, continued his vicious assault on the South African bowling, racing to a century off only 66 balls, which was the fastest ton in the history of the World Cup.
He was dismissed shortly afterwards for 101, with Gibbs snapping up another catch, this time off the bowling of Kallis.
Temporary reprieve
Unfortunately for the Proteas, Hayden's departure granted only a temporary reprieve from the lashing the bowlers were receiving as Michael Clarke
joined his captain out in the middle.
With the two new men at the crease, the run rate dropped a little from overs 20 to 30, but by that time Ponting and Clarke were well and truly set for a huge onslaught and they took the game to the SA bowlers, going for big shots, and more often than not, on the small ground, they were rewarded.
Ponting made it to 91 before holing out to AB de Villiers on the long on boundary off the bowling of Ntini. Like Gilchrist, his runs came at a run a ball. Together with Clarke, he had added 161 for the third wicket off only 21 overs and four balls.
That brought Andrew Symonds to the crease, but it was Clarke who was taking the game to the South Africans.
Run out
He moved to within sight of what would have been a well-deserved century before a mix-up in communication saw Pollock throwing in to Langeveldt for a run out. Clarke's 92 took just 75 balls and included seven four and four sixes.
Mike
Hussey joined Symonds in the middle, but his stay was a short one as he perished trying to up the run rate, caught by Jacques Kallis off Andrew Hall.
Symonds was the last man out, bowled by Hall off the final ball of the innings for 18, while Shane Watson finished unbeaten with 14.
South Africa's bowling figures were a shambles. Pollock conceded 83 runs without taking a wicket, Makhaya Ntini picked up 1 for 68 in nine overs, Langeveldt finished with 1 for 82, and Kallis claimed 1 for 66 in nine.
Andrew Hall was the pick of the bowlers, taking 2 for 60 in his 10 overs.
Not intimidated
It looked like a tall order for South Africa to chase down the Aussie total, but they'd done it the last time the teams had met and from the start, it was clear the Proteas were not at all intimidated by the 7.58 runs per over required for victory.
De Villiers made that point very clear when in the first over of the innings, bowled by Nathan
Bracken, he smashed the left-arm paceman for a four and a six.
Incredibly, the SA opening pair raced to 100 faster than the Australians had managed it as De Villiers, in sublime form, played an array of stunning strokes all around the ground. Smith, meanwhile, was aggressive, but where his aggression previously had been shown in shots played across the line, he was driving straight and hitting the ball beautifully.
Past 150 the pair moved and thoughts of the amazing run chase at The Wanderers where South Africa, needing 435 for victory, successfully hauled in the Aussies' massive total, were in the minds of the thoroughly entertained and lively crowd.
Aussie breakthrough
Then, with the score on 160, De Villiers flicked a ball off his hip to square leg. Watson raced around and parried it while De Villiers raced back for a second run. Watson's throw, though, from square on, bounced once and hit the wickets, leaving the opening batsman
short of the crease. For a moment, Watson was stunned, and then the Australians rushed to celebrate a much needed breakthrough.
De Villiers' excellent innings produced 92 runs from only 70 balls, with 14 fours and two sixes.
Kallis replaced him in the middle and set about playing himself in, but then a second disaster hit the South African side. Smith began struggling badly with cramp and De Villiers was called back to run for the captain.
Setback
It kept getting worse for the skipper, however, and he was forced to leave the field with his score on 72. That brought Herschelle Gibbs to the crease. Suddenly two new batsmen were out in the middle and South Africa needed to restore the momentum to their innings that had seen them moving along at a faster rate than the Aussies had compiled.
Kallis, though, was scratching around a bit while, at the same time, the Australian bowlers were making good adjustments to counteract South
Africa's boundary hitting.
Gibbs launched Hogg for a big six, but the very next ball, attempting to repeat the shot, he was deceived by a great googly and stumped by Gilchrist for 17.
Ashwell Prince came in, but he last only three balls before being caught by Hayden off the bowling of Glenn McGrath.
Falling behind
That brought Mark Boucher, so often the hero batting down the order, to the crease. He hit a four and a six in an innings of 22 off 26 deliveries before Shaun Tait bowled him as South Africa found themselves falling behind the required run rate.
Justin Kemp managed only a single off six balls before Tait claimed his second wicket, trapping Kemp in front.
That dismissal saw the return of Smith, but, in attempting to lift the run rate once more, he was out after adding only two runs to his total, caught by Gilchrist off Hogg for 74, with nine fours and two sixes.
At 267 for 6 in the forty-second over, the game
was fast getting away from South Africa.
Third victim
Ten runs later it got worse as Kallis became Hogg's third victim when he was caught by Clarke.
In the context of the match, his 48 off 63 balls was too slow. However, given the quick departures of De Villiers and Smith, criticism of the pace of his innings is maybe a little harsh. Yes, South Africa needed to keep the momentum of their innings going when the skipper retired hurt, but not at the expense of losing another wicket cheaply.
Shaun Pollock fell only two runs later, with the score on 279, bowled by Watson for seven.
Charl Langeveldt failed to score as Nathan Bracken knocked back his stumps to reduce SA to 280 for 9.
Fourteen more runs were added before Bracken bowled Ntini for seven to bring the South African innings to an end with the total on 294. Andrew Hall finished unbeaten on eight.
Misfortune
In the end, Australia won
by a sizeable margin of 83 runs, but had it not been for Watson's lucky direct hit from the boundary that saw the end of De Villiers, who was cruising along and had an answer to everything Australia threw at him, and the unfortunate timing of the cramps that struck Smith, South Africa would certainly have come a lot closer to challenging the Australian total.
With those two batsmen departing in such quick succession, the Proteas lost momentum at a crucial time in their innings, and that is where the game got away from them.
Coach Mickey Arthur will be concerned about his side's bowling. Granted the Warner Park ground is small, but Smith and company needed to come up with a plan to stop Australia's explosive hitting and they didn’t.
In the final analysis, Australia hit 40 fours and 11 sixes, while South Africa finished with 32 fours and six big ones.
Super Eights
Despite the defeat for the Proteas, both teams advanced to the Super
Eights, although Australia will be the happier of the two sides, taking two points through with them for having beaten South Africa.
Next up, the Proteas face Sri Lanka on Wednesday. A victory will ensure they retain the world number one ranking on 1 April. That is worth $175 000, as if success at the World Cup isn't incentive enough.
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