Weekend Dhamaka with South Africans taking on England at Chennai.
Strauss won the toss for England & decided to bat first. The decision backfired in the very first over, as Graeme Smith got Peterson to open the attack with spin. The 3rd delivery consumed the English Captain & in form Andrew Strauss for a duck as he holed out to AB at deep midwicket, & then in the last delivery of the over, Peiterson snicked the ball to Kallis standing at slip. Double blow for England as the score read, 3 for 2. In the 5th over again it was Peterson, as he claimed Ian Bell, caught & bowled, with score tottering at 15 for 3. Next in Bopara & Trott struggled as runs were hard to come by, but they grimly held the wicket. However, in the 30th over, just after he had reached his fifty, Trott fell, caught & bowled to Tahir, with score at 114 for 4. Bopara continued to fight & eventually got to his well deserved fifty, but the fall of wickets continued. At the end of 40 overs, it was 149 for 6, when batting power play was taken. However, it did not improve anything for the English batters, as wickets tumbled, with Tahir claiming two in the 44th over. Swann did hit some lusty blows towards the end, & finally the innings came to an end at 171, in the 46th over.
Barring Trott, Bopara & Swann, no one looked comfortable in the middle, as England slumped against a very disciplined attack.
For the Proteas, Imran Tahir claimed 4 wickets, as Peterson got 3, Morkel 2 & Steyn got 1, as Captain Smith used as many as 7 bowlers.
In reply, the Proteas started cautiously, & for the 1st wicket, added 63 runs, before Smith was caught behind off Swann for 22. Amla was the next to go, bowled by Broad for a well made 42, as the score was 75 for 2 in the 18th over. Kallis's poor form continued as he scratched for his 15, before getting out with score at 82. AB de Villiers & du Plessis joined in the middle to resurrect the innings, & the South African camp looked headed comfortably to victory, but there was more drama in the game. In the 32nd over, AB was bowled by Anderson, & then du Plessis was smartly run out, & Duminy was bowled by Anderson again....all this in the spate of 11 deliveries, without a run added. The score was 124 for 6. Peterson too was caught behind soon after, reducing the score to 127 for 7 in 37 overs. The chokers tag was coming to haunt the Proteas again.....pressure getting to the batting line up, & suddenly looking extremely brittle. Dale Styen in with van Wyk batted with resolute & added 33 runs to revive the innings. But Wyk bowled by Bresnan in the 47th over, tilted the match back & then in then in the next over, Stuart Broad cleaned the Proteas resistance getting both Steyn & Morkel, as South Africa were left stranded at 165. In the end England victorious by 6 runs. Phew, what a match.
Disappointing to see South Africa crumble under pressure yet again. At one stage they were well on top with 124 for 3 in 31 overs, but they choked yet again to lose the game like this. Understandably, the pitch was not very conducive to batting, but then you are expected to take that in stride. for England it was a do or die match, & they came winners, mostly due to a much improved bowling performance.
Man of the Match : Surprisingly Ravi Bopara for his match top score of 60 runs. I would have felt that Stuart Broad should have earned this award for bowling England to victory with his very crucial 4 for 15 in just 6.4 overs.
Strauss won the toss for England & decided to bat first. The decision backfired in the very first over, as Graeme Smith got Peterson to open the attack with spin. The 3rd delivery consumed the English Captain & in form Andrew Strauss for a duck as he holed out to AB at deep midwicket, & then in the last delivery of the over, Peiterson snicked the ball to Kallis standing at slip. Double blow for England as the score read, 3 for 2. In the 5th over again it was Peterson, as he claimed Ian Bell, caught & bowled, with score tottering at 15 for 3. Next in Bopara & Trott struggled as runs were hard to come by, but they grimly held the wicket. However, in the 30th over, just after he had reached his fifty, Trott fell, caught & bowled to Tahir, with score at 114 for 4. Bopara continued to fight & eventually got to his well deserved fifty, but the fall of wickets continued. At the end of 40 overs, it was 149 for 6, when batting power play was taken. However, it did not improve anything for the English batters, as wickets tumbled, with Tahir claiming two in the 44th over. Swann did hit some lusty blows towards the end, & finally the innings came to an end at 171, in the 46th over.
Barring Trott, Bopara & Swann, no one looked comfortable in the middle, as England slumped against a very disciplined attack.
For the Proteas, Imran Tahir claimed 4 wickets, as Peterson got 3, Morkel 2 & Steyn got 1, as Captain Smith used as many as 7 bowlers.
In reply, the Proteas started cautiously, & for the 1st wicket, added 63 runs, before Smith was caught behind off Swann for 22. Amla was the next to go, bowled by Broad for a well made 42, as the score was 75 for 2 in the 18th over. Kallis's poor form continued as he scratched for his 15, before getting out with score at 82. AB de Villiers & du Plessis joined in the middle to resurrect the innings, & the South African camp looked headed comfortably to victory, but there was more drama in the game. In the 32nd over, AB was bowled by Anderson, & then du Plessis was smartly run out, & Duminy was bowled by Anderson again....all this in the spate of 11 deliveries, without a run added. The score was 124 for 6. Peterson too was caught behind soon after, reducing the score to 127 for 7 in 37 overs. The chokers tag was coming to haunt the Proteas again.....pressure getting to the batting line up, & suddenly looking extremely brittle. Dale Styen in with van Wyk batted with resolute & added 33 runs to revive the innings. But Wyk bowled by Bresnan in the 47th over, tilted the match back & then in then in the next over, Stuart Broad cleaned the Proteas resistance getting both Steyn & Morkel, as South Africa were left stranded at 165. In the end England victorious by 6 runs. Phew, what a match.
Disappointing to see South Africa crumble under pressure yet again. At one stage they were well on top with 124 for 3 in 31 overs, but they choked yet again to lose the game like this. Understandably, the pitch was not very conducive to batting, but then you are expected to take that in stride. for England it was a do or die match, & they came winners, mostly due to a much improved bowling performance.
Man of the Match : Surprisingly Ravi Bopara for his match top score of 60 runs. I would have felt that Stuart Broad should have earned this award for bowling England to victory with his very crucial 4 for 15 in just 6.4 overs.
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