England 121 for 3 (Trott 52*) beat South Africa 119 (Petersen 51, Anderson 5-23) by seven wicketsSouth Africa's batsmen veered from the sublime to the ridiculous in the space of three days, as England demonstrated the staggering extent of their inconsistency in one-day cricket by following one of their heaviest thumpings with arguably their most dominant display of the year.
Led by James Anderson, who overcame a knee complaint to produce the first five-wicket haul of his one-day career, England routed South Africa for 119, their lowest-ever total in a home ODI, before knocking off the required runs in 31.2 overs and for the loss of three wickets. In so doing, they claimed a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, and ensured at least a share of the spoils with the final match coming up in Durban next Friday.
Even by England's recent rollercoaster standards, this was quite a turnaround in fortunes. At Newlands on Friday, they had lost a vital toss in perfect batting conditions at Newlands, and looked on helplessly as South Africa rampaged to 354 for 6, the highest total in 43 matches between the countries.
At St George's Park this morning, however, their lack of balance in the absence of Jacques Kallis was ruthlessly exposed. Graeme Smith was very content to bat first after winning the toss once again, but Andrew Strauss admitted he had been tempted to bowl anyway, on a grassy pitch and under some appreciable cloud-cover. Sure enough, his seam bowlers, led by Anderson, made full use of the conditions.
As is so often the case, the early scalp of Smith was to prove critical to the momentum of both sides. After serving up a first-ball wide, Stuart Broad found a fuller length with his second legitimate delivery, and trapped Smith lbw for 2 as he fell across his stumps. Though Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers were subsequently served up a range of short balls to get their respective innings up and running, the need to pitch the ball up was soon drummed into the bowlers, with devastating effect.
Amla came into this game with a brace of half-centuries to his name, but he couldn't build on that record, as Anderson kept the ball right up to the bat, and Graeme Swann was perfectly positioned to intercept a wristy flick to short midwicket. Four overs later, JP Duminy gifted Anderson his second scalp, as he misjudged the pace of a slower-ball bouncer, and looped a gloved pull into the grateful hands of Matt Prior behind the stumps.
De Villiers, South Africa's form batsman following his scintillating 121 at Newlands, betrayed his team's uncertainty with a sketchy innings that might have ended on 9 from 19 balls when he drove loosely at Broad but bisected the two men lurking in the covers. Instead, he was nailed lbw in Tim Bresnan's first over of the match, a full-length delivery that Hawkeye suggested would have taken out leg stump.
Jonathan Trott anchored England's run-chase at Port Elizabeth, South Africa v England, 4th ODI, Port Elizabeth, November 29, 2009
Jonathan Trott's second half-century guided England home © Getty Images
Luke Wright, one of England's best bowlers of the series to date, loosened the shackles a fraction as Alviro Petersen and Mark Boucher clubbed him for two fours each in consecutive overs, en route to a 23-run stand for the fifth wicket that seemed to have steadied South Africa's jitters. But then, back came Anderson for another spell, and after a run of 15 consecutive dot-balls had been broken by a single to fine-leg, he struck with the fifth ball of his new spell, a beautiful full-length outswinger that took the edge of Boucher's off stump.
Ryan McLaren, struggling for form and smarting after a first-ball duck in the run-glut at Newlands, then deepened South Africa's gloom by taking on a hint of width from Anderson, and smearing a sharp chance straight to Paul Collingwood at backward point. Strauss, in the mood for wickets, sensibly allowed Anderson to complete his quota of overs, and he was rewarded with the scalp of Johan Botha, who flinched at a beautiful lifter outside off, and grazed an edge through to Prior.
Anderson's spell duly came to an end after 27 overs - 10-2-23-5 - and with South Africa reeling at 85 for 7, all that remained was the mopping-up of the tail. Petersen, who has cemented his place in South Africa's middle-order with scores of 64 and 51 not out in his previous two innings, demonstrated a cool head for a crisis with his third half-century in a row. But he couldn't bat at both ends at once, and Collingwood, whose bowling has been a revelation on this tour so far, duly claimed the 100th wicket of his career as Strauss pulled off a blinder at backward-point, before nailing Morne Morkel lbw from round the wicket four overs later - a marginal decision that Hawkeye nevertheless suggested was correct.
A mowed four through cow corner carried Petersen past fifty, but with just the dubious talents of Charl Langeveldt alongside him, he was obliged to chance his arm, and with one ball remaining of the 37th over, he advanced down the pitch to Broad and took on the long-on boundary. But Wright at mid-on timed his leap to perfection and plucked a stunning full-stretch chance with the fingertips of his right hand. It was an effort that summed up England's day.
The only way South Africa were going to get back into the contest was by claiming quick wickets, but Strauss and Jonathan Trott repelled them with a 74-run stand for the first wicket, with Trott in particular displaying some excellent timing as he anchored the chase with an unhurried half-century. England's response wasn't entirely plain-sailing, however, and in an interesting precursor to the Test series, Morkel troubled Strauss with some kicking bounce outside off from round the wicket. He could even have got his man for 12, but a huge appeal for caught-behind was turned down by umpire Jerling.
It was eventually left to the spinner Botha to make the breakthrough, as he cramped Strauss for room on the cut and pinned him lbw for 32, and Botha made it two in two overs when Kevin Pietersen ended a frantic mini-innings with a clip to midwicket, only moments after being badly dropped by Morkel at fine leg. Collingwood, for once, failed to make an impression as McLaren had him caught behind for 2, but Eoin Morgan joined Trott to guide England to the finish in an unbroken 38-run stand.
7 overs England 31 for 0 (Trott 20*, Strauss 8*) need another 89 runs to beat South Africa 119 (Petersen 51, Anderson 5-23) England's bowlers, led by the admirable James Anderson, bounced back in impressive style following their mauling at Newlands on Friday, routing the reinvigorated South Africans for 119 in 36.5 overs of the fourth ODI at Port Elizabeth. Anderson, whose participation had been in doubt due to a knee injury, produced the first five-wicket haul of his ODI career as England gave themselves a golden opportunity to reclaim the lead in the five-match series, with just the final ODI in Durban to follow next Friday. By the interval, they were cruising on 31 for 0 after seven overs.
After encountering perfect batting conditions at Newlands, in which his batsmen had rampaged to 354 for 6, Graeme Smith was very content to bat first after winning the toss once again. Andrew Strauss, however, admitted he had been tempted to bowl anyway, on a grassy pitch and under some appreciable cloud-cover. Sure enough, his seam bowlers, led by Anderson, made full use of the conditions.
As is so often the case, the early scalp of Smith was to prove critical to the momentum of both sides. After serving up a first-ball wide, Stuart Broad found a fuller length with his second legitimate delivery, and trapped Smith lbw for 2 as he fell across his stumps. Though Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers were subsequently served up a range of short balls to get their respective innings up and running, the need to pitch the ball up was soon drummed into the bowlers, with devastating effect.
Amla came into this game with a brace of half-centuries to his name, but he couldn't build on that record, as Anderson kept the ball right up to the bat, and Graeme Swann was perfectly positioned to intercept a wristy flick to short midwicket. Four overs later, JP Duminy gifted Anderson his second scalp, as he misjudged the pace of a slower-ball bouncer, and looped a gloved pull into the grateful hands of Matt Prior behind the stumps.
De Villiers, South Africa's form batsman following his scintillating 121 at Newlands, betrayed his team's uncertainty with a sketchy innings that might have ended on 9 from 19 balls when he drove loosely at Broad but bisected the two men lurking in the covers. Instead, he was nailed lbw in Tim Bresnan's first over of the match, a full-length delivery that Hawkeye suggested would have taken out leg stump.
Luke Wright, one of England's best bowlers of the series to date, loosened the shackles a fraction as Alviro Petersen and Mark Boucher clubbed him for two fours each in consecutive overs, en route to a 23-run stand for the fifth wicket that seemed to have steadied South Africa's jitters. But then, back came Anderson for another spell, and after a run of 15 consecutive dot-balls had been broken by a single to fine-leg, he struck with the fifth ball of his new spell, a beautiful full-length outswinger that took the edge of Boucher's off stump.
Ryan McLaren, struggling for form and smarting after a first-ball duck in the run-glut at Newlands, then deepened South Africa's gloom by taking on a hint of width from Anderson, and smearing a sharp chance straight to Paul Collingwood at backward point, and as Strauss sensibly decided to let his star bowler complete his quota of overs, he was rewarded with the scalp of Johan Botha, who flinched at a beautiful lifter outside off, and gazed an edge through to Prior.
Anderson's spell duly came to an end after 27 overs - 10-2-23-5 - and with South Africa reeling at 85 for 7, all that remained was the mopping-up of the tail. Collingwood, whose bowling has been a revelation on this tour so far, duly claimed the 100th wicket of his career, courtesy of a Collingwood-esque catch from Strauss, as Wayne Parnell heaved a cut to his left at backward point.
Petersen, who has cemented his place in South Africa's middle-order with scores of 64 and 51 not out in his previous two innings, demonstrated a cool head for a crisis with his third half-century in a row. But he couldn't bat at both ends at once, and though Morne Morkel drove Collingwood handsomely down the ground for four, he was nailed lbw from round the wicket in the same over - a marginal decision that Hawkeye nevertheless suggested was correct.
A mowed four through cow corner carried Petersen past fifty, but with just the dubious talents of Charl Langeveldt alongside him, he was obliged to chance his arm, and with one ball remaining of the 37th over, he advanced down the pitch to Broad and took on the long-on boundary. But Wright at mid-on timed his leap to perfection and plucked a stunning full-stretch chance with the fingertips of his right hand. It summed up England's day, as South Africa were rolled over for their lowest-ever total in a home ODI.
The only way South Africa were going to get back into the contest was by claiming quick wickets in the seven overs available to them before the scheduled interval, but Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott picked off 31 runs without alarm, with Trott in particular displaying some excellent timing as he reached 20 not out with four fours.
Muttiah Muralitharan, the Sri Lankan spinner, has said he may quit international cricket before the 2011 World Cup in the subcontinent.
Murali, on his fourth tour to India, his final overseas tour, is struggling to come to terms with the placid Indian pitches and a strong batting line-up which has treated him harshly in the series so far. In the second Test, in Kanpur, he went for over 100 runs for the second time in two Tests in the series, and so far his five wickets have cost him 396 runs, at an average of 79.20.
"I am 37 years old and I can't bowl as much as those days because I get tired after 15-16 overs. But I will try and play a little bit of one-day cricket - that's only 10 overs to bowl. If I find everything is not going well I might retire from both forms of the game before the World Cup," Murali said. "Everything depends on how much my body can take. In Test cricket it's a little bit harder because I have always been a threat to other sides [but] at the moment it's not looking like that because others are playing me well. I think I made the right decision to retire from Test cricket at the end of the West Indies series next year.
"Two to three years ago it was not like this. Now you have niggles here and there and my groin is not the same as it used to be. We got the worst bowling conditions in the last two Tests. We didn't have the bowlers, that was one of the factors. But that's the way cricket goes, everything won't work in your favour."
Sri Lanka are struggling in the series because Murali has not been able to give them the breakthroughs he usually does. "I've played only eight Tests this year: two against Bangladesh, two against Pakistan, and two against New Zealand when I really did well bowling in the second innings of the second Test with a groin injury," he said. "Whenever the side wanted a breakthrough I got it for them in the New Zealand series. I don't know why it's not happening here.
"You have to give credit to India also for playing well. Whatever we were expecting didn't happen. Even the spinners didn't do well in any Test because everyone was not up to the mark and the wicket was not assisting them."
Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test in India, but Murali said that he won't be too disappointed if he had to return home without a Test victory in India. "Every cricketer has to go through disappointments. Everything you want to happen in life won't happen; something will be missing. Looking back I can say what an amazing career I have gone through but if we can't win in India that's it. Life has to go on."
Already the leading wicket-taker in Tests, he needs 12 more wickets in a possible three Tests to reach 800, but he said he was not targetting personal milestones. "I am not really focussing on finishing off my career taking 800 Test wickets. My focus is on winning matches. I don't believe in numbers. Eight hundred is just a number everyone will forget once you retire. It's a number to have in your mind. It is good if I get it but if I don't, still I will be happy and go out knowing I had a great career."
Tea West Indies 228 (Dowlin 62, Ramdin 54) and 4 for 106 (Barath 73*, Hilfenhaus 3-20) trail Australia 8 for 480 dec by 146 runs
Ricky Ponting's decision to enforce the follow-on paid off immediately, but Adrian Barath showed some hope for West Indies' future with an unbeaten 73 on debut to push his side to 4 for 106 at tea. After the tourists were dismissed for 228, Ponting made the opposition bat again for only the third time in his captaincy career and they were in huge trouble at 3 for 39 following Ben Hilfenhaus' impressive new-ball spell.
Needing 252 to force a second Australian innings, West Indies started badly when Chris Gayle went lbw to Ben Hilfenhaus in similar circumstances to his dismissal on the second day, with his call for a review not changing the decisions. Travis Dowlin was in good touch after 62 in the first innings, but he fell when playing-on and Shivnarine Chanderpaul felt compelled to pull and top edged to Simon Katich behind square leg. The wickets gave Hilfenhaus 3 for 20 from seven overs and raised the prospect of a three-day game.
Barath, 19, was taking on the unlikely task of saving the game and stood up to his big-name opponents with a spirited innings that included 13 fours in 97 balls. In the first innings he scored 15 and followed up with a display that gained in confidence the longer it went on. He can drive purposely through cover and powerfully off the back foot on the off side, while he was also happy to show a full blade when defending.
In one over he punched Mitchell Johnson for four through point, picked up a boundary to mid-off and then blocked another in the middle of his wide bat. There were flashes as well as maturity and he brought up his half-century with a cut over gully off Peter Siddle and raised his bat with satisfaction.
There was little else for West Indies to cheer. Dwayne Bravo (23) pulled the part-timer Michael Hussey to Ben Hilfenhaus at deep backward square to give the bowler his second Test wicket. It was an awful shot at a bad time - the last over before tea - and left his side in more trouble, with them requiring another 146 to avoid an innings loss.
Johnson and Nathan Hauritz picked up three wickets each as West Indies were dismissed the first time at lunch. Hauritz, who collected 3 for 17 off six, stepped in for his opening wicket of the match in his first over of the morning when Jerome Taylor (8) was caught at short leg. Next ball Michael Clarke raced to his left for a great one-handed catch at first slip to remove Kemar Roach and end the over.
Dowlin faced the hat-trick ball with six men around the bat and danced down the pitch to loft him to midwicket for two, but was soon taken at deep midwicket following a heave to Shane Watson. West Indies resumed the third day at 5 for 134 and Dowlin, who was 40, did his best to delay the hosts, but his partners fell away as they lost 4 for 16 to end the innings.
Denesh Ramdin ensured a bright opening by targeting Johnson with a series of crisp boundaries that pushed him to a half-century. His 54 from 55 balls left West Indies at 6 for 174 and Dowlin was joined by Sulieman Benn in another handy stand as they held up the Australians for 38 runs. They will need much more over the remainder of the second innings to stretch the hosts
New Zealand 429 (Vettori 99, Taylor 94, McCullum 78, Asif 4-108) and 153 (Taylor 59, Asif 4-43, Gul 3-41, Aamer 2-29) beat Pakistan 332 (Umar Akmal 129, Kamran Akmal 82, Bond 5-107) and 218 (Umar Akmal 75, Bond 3-46, O'Brien 3-63) by 32 runs
Umar Akmal was seven years old when Shane Bond made his first-class debut. Twelve years later they met - Bond returning to Test cricket after a two-year exile, and Umar making his debut - and tried their darnedest to take their respective sides to a win in one of the Tests of the year. In the end, the 34-year-old ended the 19-year-old's dream, to set up New Zealand's first win in more than a year.
With Pakistan chasing 251, Umar came in to bat at 24 for 3, and totally belied a man making his debut. Having already scored a counterattacking century in the first innings, he stood between Pakistan and defeat for close to two sessions before Bond came up with one last desperate piece of brilliance.
Is Umar Akmal really on debut? The way he stood between Pakistan and defeat, batting like a seasoned pro used to resurrecting top-order collapses on the last day of a match, it didn't seem so. After Pakistan's technically inept top order and some sensational catching brought us to the business part of the last innings - chasing 251 - fairly early at 24 for 3, Umar and Mohammad Yousuf batted serenely to pull Pakistan out of trouble.
Midway into the second session, Chris Martin dismissed Yousuf with an unplayable delivery to restore the balance in the match. In his first over of the match, Grant Elliott missed an easy return catch from an edgy Shoaib Malik, then 6, to let Pakistan sneak ahead again. After a brief run glut, Iain O'Brien produced a jaffa for Malik to restore balance.
Pakistan were way behind when Umar and Yousuf came together in the 11th over. Yousuf drove Martin for boundaries to the right and left of mid-off, and hooked him for a six, all in one over. Yousuf looked much more comfortable than he did in the first innings, bringing the weight forward but also playing late. There were no plays and misses outside off, and Bond too had started to tire, finishing a long spell with figures of 8-3-11-2.
Umar's innings was no runaway blitz; this was a man who seemed to have grown years in age over the last two days. In the first innings, he didn't have time to contemplate the consequences. This time around, Vettori gave him all the time in the world to think. Evidently smarting from the spectacular counterattack in the first innings, Vettori looked to play on the kid's patience and temperament. There was a deep point in place soon as he walked out. The support seamers bowled length and didn't go looking desperately for wickets. When Vettori brought himself on just before lunch, he bowled with five men on the boundary, just giving away a free single. Umar didn't looked fazed by this ploy to dry up the boundaries. By lunch, quietly but surely, he moved to 15 off 62 balls.
Bond came back post lunch for another dig. For the first time Umar was challenged to go for the pull, the shot that scarred all the three seamers in the first innings. This time he weighed in the situation, and started ducking into them. Bond couldn't find the pace of the first innings, and Umar just waited for him to finish his spell, by which time both batsmen had sauntered into their 40s.
Then Martin bowled a ripper out of nowhere. From back of a length, this one kicked up and jagged in towards Yousuf, who did everything right - took the head out of the way, dropped the wrists, but the ball tailed in and kissed the glove. An uneasy partnership followed. Malik scratched around for six runs, but by then Umar had become the ninth batsmen to score a century and a fifty in his debut Test. Vettori looked innocuous too, bowling with same defensive fields and waiting for a mistake.
Elliott then came within one clean grab of being a truly inspirational bowling change. After the drop, though, it seemed a floodgate opened. Malik drove handsomely and guided purposefully through the third-man area. Vettori came back and started bowling over the wicket to Umar. Forty-three runs came in the next 8.5 overs before O'Brien produced a lifter that followed Malik in and took an edge.
Early in the day, taking wickets wasn't hard work at all. Umar Gul took out the last two New Zealanders for just six runs. He set O'Brien up with three back-to-back bouncers - one of which hit him on the helmet - and then delivered the full, knockout delivery. Grant Elliott looked to farm strike, but when he went for a pull to the last ball of a Gul over, he gloved it down the leg side.
Khurram Manzoor pushed at a Bond delivery just outside off, his front foot still in the air at the time of contact. Farhat hung his bat out to a fairly straight delivery from Martin. Fawad Alam looked to turn a ball off his hips, and got a leading edge to silly mid-on.
AB de Villiers went a long way towards correcting his poor one-day record against England with a blistering 85-ball 121 as South Africa marched to a massive 354 for 6 at Newlands, their highest total against the tourists and equal-highest at the venue. In a wonderful display of clean and controlled striking de Villiers made the most of his recent promotion to No. 3, building on the 107-run opening provided by Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla.
At no stage did de Villiers take his foot off the gas, but his innings really exploded into life when South Africa took their batting Powerplay in the 43rd over. He greeted Stuart Broad with an audacious ramp-turned-scoop over the keeper's head then swept him fiercely through midwicket in an over that cost 15. His breathtaking hundred - the fourth of his career - came in the next over off 75 balls with another boundary pummelled through midwicket and erased an anomaly in his career where his previous best against England was 42.
de Villiers' effort was as pure as you could wish to see. When he invented he did so with the basis of a superb technique that meant he was always in the ideal position. When past his hundred he shimmied around his crease against Broad, but was still in the perfect position to flay him through the covers, then went down on one knee to sweep him over fine leg. When he finally skied to cover, a number of England players acknowledged the innings as he left the field.
History shows that chasing under lights on this ground is notoriously difficult, so arguably the most important part of the day was when Smith won the toss and South Africa didn't miss out. From early on it felt a given that they would reach a huge total, but de Villiers' onslaught - in which 57 came from the batting Powerplay - pushed the eventual mark from difficult to daunting.
On a picture-perfect day with a clear blue sky it soon became obvious there was little on offer for the pace bowlers. Broad, in his first serious bowl since the opening match of the tour, during which he landed awkwardly on his shoulder, bowled on both sides of the wicket and often too short. Amla pounced on the early gifts to kick-start his innings, although he did have one uncomfortable moment when a short ball from Broad struck his elbow and left him needing a couple of minutes of treatment.
Having assessed the conditions, and the lack of help for the quicks, Andrew Strauss opted not to use the bowling Powerplay straight away and introduced Graeme Swann alongside Paul Collingwood to take pace off the ball. The plan worked well as overs 11 to 15 didn't produce a boundary with Swann landing the ball well after his lay-off. Smith broke the shackles with a straight drive off Collingwood and brought up a run-a-ball fifty in the next over.
With the scoring-rate under some modicum of control Strauss called the Powerplay after the drinks break in the 18th over. Wright replaced Swann and provided the breakthrough when Smith gave himself room to carve through the off side but only succeeded in dragging into his stumps. The South African captain was furious, well aware a huge score was in the offing, but he had at least set a solid platform for his team.
Amla wouldn't be playing if Jacques Kallis hadn't been ruled out with his rib fracture but he continued to make full use of his opportunities in the top order. His 59-ball half-century followed the 57 he made at Centurion and he upped his tempo with consecutive boundaries to fine leg off Wright.
de Villiers backed up the opening stand with a positive start as he took advantage of the fielding restrictions with a flick over midwicket and two rasping cut shots. Anderson was recalled to the attack but his first over back went for 12 as South Africa once again began moving through the gears. Amla was content to play the anchor role as de Villiers rushed to a 39-ball half century and had a hundred for the taking when he bottom-edged a pull to Matt Prior.
Momentarily England held the run-rate in check when Wright had JP Duminy taken at deep square-leg, but South Africa were just biding their time. De Villiers and Alviro Petersen consolidated for a few overs until the mayhem started. The fourth-wicket stand was 95 in 10 overs then Mark Boucher ensured the innings ended with a flourish as the final 10 overs brought 109 runs.
Extraordinarily, given the total, Boucher launched the first six of the innings in the 48th over with a straight drive off Wright. Petersen reached an almost-ignored fifty from 39 balls - matching de Villiers' rate - during the final over as South Africa moved past 350. South Africa have won 24 out of 27 ODIs on this ground and it will take a monumental chase to prevent them adding to that record.
South Africa won the toss and decided to bat against England
South Africa won a potentially crucial toss at Newlands and Graeme Smith had no hesitation in batting first. History says it is tough chasing under lights so England will have to buck the trend if they want to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, but have been boosted by being able to field their strongest one-day side with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann both returning after injury lay-offs.
Broad, who injured his right shoulder in the opening tour match, returns in place of the inconsistent Sajid Mahmood while Swann passed a late fitness test on his side and slots back in for Adil Rashid to give England a full complement of first-choice options.
The home side have also made two changes to their bowling attack amid concerns over the lack of a cutting edge. Morne Morkel, the tall quick bowler, is recalled in place of his brother, Albie, and Wayne Parnell, the talented left-arm seamer, has recovered from an ankle injury and comes in for Charl Langeveldt. Parnell impressed during the ICC World Twenty20 and also the Champions Trophy with his ability to take wickets are all stages of the innings and this South African attack certainly looks stronger than the unit on display at Centurion Park.
Conditions, as usual in Cape Town, are stunning with a clear blue sky making for ideal batting conditions during the afternoon. However, that can change quickly when the evening closes in and the lights come on. One of the more dramatic examples came in the 2003 World Cup when James Anderson scythed through Pakistan with devastating swing.
South Africa 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Hashim Amla, 3 AB de Villiers, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Alvrio Petersen, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Ryan McLaren, 8 Wayne Parnell, 9 Roelof van der Merwe, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Dale Steyn
England 1 Jonathan Trott, 2 Andrew Strauss (capt), 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Paul Collingwood, 5 Eoin Morgan, 6 Matt Prior (wk), 7 Luke Wright, 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 James Anderson
India will be without the services of opening batsman Gautam Gambhir, who will be attending his sister's wedding, for the third Test against Sri Lanka in Mumbai. Gambhir has been in prime form in this series with centuries in each of the two Tests.
Gambhir's spot is likely to be taken by M Vijay, the Tamil Nadu opener. Vijay made his debut against Australia in Nagpur last year, when Gambhir was banned for a Test for an altercation with Shane Watson. The rest of the squad, which was initially picked for the first two Tests, has been retained with no additional replacements. The final Test of the series begins at the Brabourne Stadium on December 2.
India squad for third Test: MS Dhoni (capt), Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Virender Sehwag, Amit Mishra, Yuvraj Singh, Ishant Sharma, M Vijay, S Badrinath.
India 642 (Gambhir 167, Dravid 144, Sehwag 131, Herath 5-121) beat Sri Lanka 229 (Sreesanth 5-75) and 269 (Samaraweera 78*) by an innings and 144 runs
India achieved their biggest victory against Sri Lanka and in the process clinched their 100th Test win on the fourth day of the second Test in Kanpur. India's previous best against their neighbors was a victory by an innings and 119 runs in 1994 and they bettered that with ease today. Thilan Samaraweera resisted the inevitable with an assured fifty but it was always just a matter of time before India wrapped up the game.
The only question at the start of the day was how long Sri Lanka would delay defeat. They batted positively, adding 149 runs in the first session, but India kept taking wickets at regular intervals. Samaraweera was involved in two fighting partnerships with Prasanna Jayawardene and Ajantha Mendis, which not only proved that the pitch wasn't bad for batting but also showed the top order in poor light.
India's only concern was Zaheer Khan's no-ball problems (12 in this game and 21 in the series) but he started the day by dismissing Angelo Mathews in his first over. Mathews had hit three consecutive fours, which included a pull, and Zaheer placed a man at deep square-leg and tested Mathews with more bouncers. The first was fended off in an ungainly manner and the next was top-edged to backward point where Rahul Dravid took a lunging catch.
Samaraweera proceeded to stitch together a 61-run partnership with Prasanna who, much like in the first innings, flattered to deceive. He was looking good with his cuts and sweeps but was cleaned up by an off break from round the stumps from Harbhajan Singh. It drifted away and broke back in but Prasanna left a big bat-pad gap and was bowled. Muttiah Muralitharan indulged himself with a typical hit-and-giggle knock filled with slog sweeps but fell, going for yet another big hit.
Samaraweera, who then added 73 runs with a determined Ajantha Mendis to frustrate India, was rarely troubled during his stay, the highlight of which was a whippy on-drive to a delivery on off and middle stump from Sreesanth. He rarely looked hurried, tackled the spinners and seamers and unfurled several pleasing on drives. The series now moves to Mumbai for the third Test that starts on December 2.
Tea New Zealand 429 and 115 for 6 (Taylor 59, Asif 2-23, Aamer 2-24) lead Pakistan 332 (Umar 129, Kamran Akmal 82, Bond 5-107, Martin 3-63) by 212 runs
Rousing spells from Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif evoked New Zealand's famous second-innings collapses against Pakistan, and the visitors held the momentum going into the final four sessions of the Test. Aamer bowled two superb spells of swing bowling, the conventional variety leaving New Zealand at 0 for 2, and the reverse leaving the middle order befuddled even if it didn't get him a wicket. Asif took 2 for 2 in his spell before tea, which very nearly could have been three. When rain forced an early break New Zealand led by 212 with four wickets in hand.
Pakistan improved in previously slack areas: fielding and reviews. Khurram Manzoor hit the only stump he could see from square leg and ran out Ross Taylor, the only man who looked like he could score runs. Asif successfully challenged an lbw decision to dismiss Tim McIntosh, and nearly got another against Grant Elliott overturned in unique circumstances. New Zealand were 113 for 5 when a reversing delivery caught Elliott in front, but Asif couldn't get the decision from Billy Doctrove. The replays revealed a marginal no-ball, a minute part of his heel landing behind the line and then sliding onto it. If this was unique, Peter Fulton - low on form and confidence - did the bizarre. Suspecting an inside edge when given lbw off Umar Gul, he walked back unimpressed, holding his bat upside-down, but was only reminded of the existence of reviews by his team-mates when he was about to cross the rope.
Fulton was the fourth man out, with the score on 91, minutes after Taylor's attempt at arresting the all-too-familiar slide was ended in a misunderstanding. Yes, no, yes, no, and he was run out for 59 out of the 87 runs scored in the day. He was edgy, uncomfortable, and fortunate at times but still battled and scored quickly. Playing and missing against Aamer, getting hit twice on the body, edging to short of slip twice, Taylor even resorted to slogging Gul out of the ground. But just when he looked comfortable in the middle, having crossed 50 in just 69 balls, the run-out happened.
That doesn't take away, though, from the quality of bowling on display. Martin Guptill, on a warmer, stiller day, kept McIntosh - on a king pair - away from Aamer and took strike. But because it was warmer, Aamer got the ball to swing for the first time in the match. Four balls into the innings, New Zealand were 0 for 1 for the second time, the ball swinging in enough to take the inside edge onto the stumps. Daniel Flynn continued his horror Test - eight runs and a crucial dropped catch in the first innings - when he played across the line to a straight delivery, and was caught dead in front.
After the wickets of Taylor and Fulton, Aamer came back for a spell of reverse-swing that evoked Wasim Akram. From round the wicket he angled the ball into Elliott, and got it to move away repeatedly. Not just by fluke. McIntosh, who avoided the pair but didn't care much about scoring, survived twice shouldering arms to deliveries that jagged back in. After a spell of 4-2-2-0 from Aamer, Asif took over and did that extra bit to get the wickets.
The McIntosh one pitched just within the stumps and straightened a touch, and the confidence and awareness showed in the review. Moments after the other review fiasco, he ended Brendon McCullum's painstaking stay with a beauty, pitching one just short of a length, just outside off, and getting it to move away a touch. Rain, then, was a relief for New Zealand who had scored just eight runs in their last 13 overs. It was down to Daniel Vettori to dig New Zealand out of that hole. Again.
Lunch Australia 7 for 403 (Katich 92, North 69*, Hussey 66, Ponting 55) v West Indies
Marcus North's careful half-century moved Australia to 7 for 403 at lunch on the second day as West Indies stayed in the game with a couple of wickets. Without Jerome Taylor, the attack leader, the visitors managed to pick up Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson but could not get rid of North, who was unbeaten on 69 from 140 balls.
Australia resumed on 5 for 322 and North was watchful as he tried to push his team towards a significant total. Happy to nudge, leave and defend, he perked up with a crunching straight drive off Kemar Roach for four in the same over he was struck on the arm by a nasty short ball. It was hard work for both sides - North added 27 in the session - as the hosts built their advantage in warm and sunny conditions.
Brad Haddin, who re-started on 9, felt he had found his groove with a breath-taking straight six off Dwayne Bravo that followed a cut four, but he gave Ravi Rampaul his first Test wicket on 38 with an edge to Denesh Ramdin. The dismissal ended an 84-run stand with North and gave West Indies hope of a quick finish to the innings.
Mitchell Johnson (7) called for a review after he was given out by Ian Gould caught behind to Sulieman Benn. It was clear Johnson had brushed his pad but the replays were not conclusive about an edge, so under the new guidelines the original decision stood and he left with Australia 7 for 386. Nathan Hauritz, who was missed at second slip off Rampaul on 5 when Chris Gayle was off the field, was 12 at lunch.
West Indies were already starting from behind with Taylor unable to bowl due to a left hip problem. He suffered the injury on the opening day and joins Ramnaresh Sarwan on the squad's injury list.
Tea Australia 3 for 210 (Katich 92, Ponting 55) v West Indies
Simon Katich fell eight runs short of a century but Australia remained in good health as they reached 3 for 210 at tea on the opening day of the first Test. West Indies fought back in the second session to remove Katich and Ricky Ponting before Michael Hussey, who was often unconvincing, stepped to 47 at the break.
Katich made sure the loss of Shane Watson before the team had scored was forgotten quickly as he and Ponting put on 126 for the second wicket. Everything was happening so easily that the field was spreading and the shoulders of the tourists were beginning to sag, but the couple of breakthroughs at least stopped Chris Gayle, the jet-lagged captain, from dozing off at first slip.
While the pitch offered the bowlers some help in the morning, Katich was able to switch between defence and attack as easily as the wind changes and the increase in tempo was always a shock. He started cautiously before breaking free with a hook and a handful of firm cuts and then wound down again. The next time he changed pace he launched into action against Ravi Rampaul, driving through cover for four and pulling him for six in consecutive balls. Then came another lull.
He was accelerating again, hitting strongly through cover, shortly before his dismissal and had a reprieve on 81 when Sulieman Benn missed a take above his head. Bravo was the unlucky bowler but didn't have to wait for long for his reward, with Katich frustrated to glance to Denesh Ramdin just before tea. There were 13 fours and a six in Katich's 92 and he left the field with his side in reasonable shape.
Hussey entered after Ponting's dismissal and was uncomfortable in the early stages, playing and missing and squirting thick edges between the slips and gully for a couple of boundaries. His mood changed when Chris Gayle woke from his first-slip slumber and came on for an over. Hussey lined up a cut that went for four and it was easily his best shot until a cover drive came two balls later.
Ponting was troubled a couple of times by deliveries coming back into him but was able to ease to a half-century, which came with a six over fine-leg in the over before lunch. After the break Ponting was again worried by a ball darting in and Kemar Roach was unlucky to miss out on a leg-before decision. Next ball Ponting tried to defend but edged behind for 55 to leave the hosts at 2 for 126.
Roach, Bravo and Jerome Taylor all caused batches of trouble and still have work to do to dismiss the hosts for a reasonable total. Their day started badly when Ramnaresh Sarwan, the No. 3, was ruled out with a back injury, but they lifted in the third over when Watson was lbw not offering a shot to Taylor
Pakistan 160 for 5 (Umark Akmal 55*, Bond 3-38, Martin 2-42) trail New Zealand 429 (Vettori 99, Taylor 94, McCullum 78, Asif 4-108) by 269 runs
We've been expecting you, Mr Bond. And it's been worth the wait. Finally back in New Zealand whites, finally hurling that red thing in anger on a flat slowish pitch, Shane Bond - with pure pace - rattled the Pakistan middle order during a seven-over spell of 3 for 25. It took him the first spell to graduate from the early 140 kmh to close to 150, but during that time Chris Martin took out the openers, and Iain O'Brien - bowling into a stiff wind - troubled the batsmen enough to not let them feel at home. Equally excitably, Umar Akmal launched a counterattack from 85 for 5, impressing all with his dazzling stroke play and clear head, taking Pakistan to within 70 of the follow-on mark.
Unlike their Pakistan counterparts, New Zealand's new-ball bowlers could get neither seam movement nor swing. They were helped, though, by the ordinary techniques of the top three batsmen. Martin, who had earlier got his 26th duck, was at the right place at the right time with the ball: first when Khurram Manzoor - his guard outside leg stump - went to cut him, ended up playing away from the body, and chopped it on. And then when Imran Farhat moved across his stumps and played down the wrong line. With three dropped catches and a failure at the top, the Test couldn't have gone worse for Farhat, but he wasted one of the two reviews too.
Mohammad Yousuf edged over and short of slips before lunch, looking uncomfortable, but a sterner examination was to follow after the break. His third over into the session, Bond gave him a bouncer at 151 kmph that just evaded the edge, followed by a yorker at 149 and a legcutter just outside off, again just avoiding the edge. It seemed it would take something more special to dismiss Yousuf and Bond pulled that out too: diving low in front of him, during his follow through, to take a return catch. Two balls later, he gave Fawad Alam the perfect lifter, not wide of off, high enough to have him jumping, and too fast for the batsman to pull his glove out of the way. Sheer bloody joy.
Another lifter came in the next over. Shoaib Malik, semi-backing away, didn't have enough room and guided it onto his stumps: 74 for 2 had become 85 for 5. In the interim, though, Umar had cut his first ball in Tests, from Bond, for four. Then came the shot of the day. Umar would have been forgiven had he played a forward-defensive to this ball from Daniel Vettori, but he rocked back and pulled it over wide long-on, so clean that it almost carried for a six.
Before Bond finished his spell, he induced an edge from Umar, but it went low and fast to the left of Daniel Flynn at gully. Another sharp Bond bouncer got a top edge that fell short of the slip cordon. Those were the only blotches on Umar's innings. His elder brother, Kamran, duly took the back seat as Umar cut, drove, pulled, slog-swept, and punched his way to 50 off 57 balls, and consequently forced more defensive fields.
Vettori, who gave O'Brien a deserved breather after 11 consecutive and tight overs for 28 runs, surprisingly proved to be the weak link during that counterattack. Boundaries were hit in three of his first five overs, and the partnership was on its way. By tea the two had added 75 in 17.2 overs.
Earlier New Zealand chose not to declare overnight and a 24-run ninth-wicket stand between Bond and O'Brien kept Pakistan in the field for longer than they would have wanted to. And a doosra from Saeed Ajmal gave Martin his sixth duck in six innings against Pakistan. But he would have more to cheer about later in the day.
Zaheer Khan made an early breakthrough as India gained the edge on the second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Kanpur.
India's batsmen enjoyed another fruitful day with Rahul Dravid (144) claiming his 28th Test century, while VVS Laxman (63) and Yuvraj Singh (67) both hit half-centuries.
Sri Lanka however, fought back with left-arm spinner Rangana Herath claiming five wickets - his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests - as India, 417 for two overnight, were bowled out for 642 in the final session.
Fast bowler Zaheer gave the home side a superb start with the ball, removing the dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan for a first-ball duck, but Sri Lanka recovered to reach 66 for one at stumps with Tharanga Paranavitana and Kumar Sangakkara both on 30.
Dilshan attempted to flick the first ball from Zaheer to fine leg, but the leading edge ballooned to Pragyan Ojha - who was winning his first Test cap - at mid-on.
But Sangakkara and Paranavitana battled hard against a strong attack from India as they finished the day with nine wickets intact.
India had begun the morning cautiously with Dravid and overnight partner Sachin Tendulkar (40) carefully negotiating the bowlers in the first hour.
Dravid, resuming from 85 at the start of the day, was lucky to survive an inside-edge which flew perilously close to leg stump and away for a boundary, his first scoring shot of the day.
It was the only false stroke from Dravid as the 36-year-old went from strength to strength and reached his century with a straight drive past fast bowler Chanaka Welegedara.
The middle-order batsman, who went past Allan Border's mark of 11,174 runs in Test cricket, fell just before lunch when left-arm spinner Herath palmed a shot from Laxman onto the stumps at the non-striker's end and caught Dravid backing up too far.
Tendulkar had already departed inside the first hour in the morning, a victim of Ajantha Mendis.
Mendis should have had Tendulkar's scalp earlier than he eventually did but watched disappointed as Dilshan grassed a catch at mid-wicket as the batsman attempted a lazy on-drive.
Tendulkar then hammered Mendis for a six but was snaffled at he attempted to hit one too many over the top, failing to clear Thilan Samaraweera at deep mid-off.
Laxman, who had added 47 for the fourth wicket with Dravid, was then joined by Yuvraj and the two hammered Sri Lanka's bowlers around the park as they built another fruitful partnership.
Laxman, who was briskly off the mark, reached his 41st Test half-century with a single off Muttiah Muralitharan and went on to add 102 for the fifth wicket with Yuvraj.
He fell while attempting to force the pace, stepping out to hit Herath over the top, but only picking out Dilshan at mid-off.
From 613 for four, India's innings then unravelled with Herath taking centre stage.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh were bowled through the gate, both falling just before the tea interval.
Herath then returned from the break to snare Zaheer, caught at slip by Mahela Jayawardene, and Sreesanth, trapped in front, in one over to wrap up India's innings.
In between those dismissals, Yuvraj, who had reached his eighth half-century in Tests, was skittled by Mendis, the batsman attempting a pull only to be caught by Sangakkara at midwicket.
Herath finished with figures of five for 121 from 33 overs.
Rahul Dravid compiled a serene, yet commanding, 144 to lead India to a position of immense strength by lunch on the second day of the second Test in Kanpur. During his 28th century, Dravid overtook Allan Border's record of 11,174 Test runs to become the fourth-highest run-scorer in Tests.
The stand-out factor in Dravid's batting during this series has been his intent. He's been decisive, in defense and attack, and has been aggressively looking to score. Today he charged down the track, played gorgeous inside-out cover drives by stretching forward on that front foot, punched skillfully off the back foot, but what stood out was a delectable late cut against Ajantha Mendis. The ball was skidding towards off stump, Dravid checked his forward press, waited for the ball to arrive before opening the blade and gliding it past backward point. There was no violence, just pure timing, and the stroke captured the spirit of his innings. For major part of his career, Dravid has often been overshadowed by the stroke-makers around him expressing themselves. Not today.
Dravid seemed impossible to dismiss today, and when his end came, it was bizarre and against the run of play. VVS Laxman hit one hard back at the bowler Rangana Herath, who spilled the catch, and the ball fell on the stumps with Dravid out of the crease at the non-striker's end.
Dravid left after leading India's charge today and, in a reversal of their usual roles, was the dominant batsman in a 94-run partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar didn't hit a single boundary till his 87th delivery, when he pranced down the track to lift Mendis over long-off. a few balls later, however, he was dismissed trying to repeat the shot but couldn't clear mid-off. Credit must be given to Mendis for he had dragged back the length this time around.
For their part, it was a slightly better performance from Sri Lanka. Muttiah Muralitharan, who improved during the last session yesterday, was even better today. His flight was always there but today the loop and the dip gained potency. It might be too little and too late for the visitors, though, and India would have been lifted by the couple of balls from Murali that spun and bounced appreciably. Perhaps the pitch was showing some signs of life. Maybe it was just an oddity. Only time will tell.
Ross Taylor and Martil Guptill dug deep into their reserves of patience and judgement, and a bit of luck, to thwart the menacing Pakistan seamers, but Guptill once again fell to the pull just when it seemed the batsmen could start dominating the ball. It was a pitch made to order for seam bowlers, and all three of Pakistan quicks made life miserable for batsmen in the first session, reducing New Zealand to 27 for 2 before the 117-run partnership.
Mohammad Aamer, who struck first ball of the match with a yorker, came back and broke the threatening partnership. He combined well with Mohammad Asif, playing his first Test in more than two years, and Umar Gul. They bowled near-perfect lengths in the first session, bowling just short of a length and outside off, and letting the seam do the rest.
Aamer must have grown up - not sure if it is the appropriate term for the 17-year-old - watching Pakistan bowlers demolish New Zealand in New Zealand with swinging yorkers, and he did the same. It swung late into Tim McIntosh who got hit on his boot. The ball then went onto the bat, and through to the stumps.
Guptill looked to counterattack and use the short straight boundaries. It worked, as Pakistan looked for swing early on and bowled too full. New Zealand raced to 22 in four overs, Guptill to 18 off 17. Driving down the ground, and guiding through third man were the preferred shots. All three Mohammads combined superbly then: Yousuf put in a fourth slip to block the third-man gap, and Asif and Aamer pulled back the lengths a touch, having realised there was no swing to be had. It worked immediately: Asif caught Daniel Flynn on the crease, and the inside edge made it 27 for 2.
Then followed a testing period during which both Taylor and Gaultill played out of their skins. Taylor kept getting beaten outside off with Asif getting it to seam either way. Thrice he took his eyes off Aamer's deliveries, and took body blows. When Umar Gul bowled seven consecutive maidens, he hardly scored; his score read 2 off 29 and 6 off 44 at two different stages of the innings.
Guptill too had to get used to not getting anything to drive, and with the third-man gap plugged, scoring became an afterthought. Gul drew Guptill forward on the defence, and then suddenly mixed in the shorter ones. One such short delivery that seamed away a touch got the edge, but Imran Farhat dropped it at first slip. Five runs later, it was Gul who was doing the dropping: at the fine-leg boundary, a top-edge off Aamer, and Guptill had survived twice on 26.
After those two lives, both Taylor and Guptill opened up, and simultaneously Pakistan relaxed a bit too. Taylor punched well of the back foot, and Guptill got the driving length too. Post lunch, Yousuf didn't get the seamers to work in tandem. Saeed Ajmal bowled 13 straight overs in the second session. Given that there wasn't much wind, the move seemed a bit inexplicable. While Ajmal went at around two an over, he did make the batsmen feel comfortable, when compared with the examination that the seamers had put them through.
Guptill reached his first Test half-century, and Taylor - despite that uncharacteristic start - overtook Guptill at the 50-mark. Unlike Guptill, Taylor managed to play forcing shots off the back foot too, and during one period of acceleration that included a slog-swept six, he went from 19 off 74 to 51 off 97. Things would have been rosier for New Zealand had Aamer not struck in the first over of his third spell. He first hit Taylor in the back of the head, and then got Guptill to top-edge another.
Toss India chose to bat v Sri Lanka
On a pitch that is likely to break up over the next couple of days, MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat in the second Test in Kanpur.
Though there was some grass cover on the pitch at Green Park, it was the obvious decision to make as the surface had a few cracks that the experts reckoned would widen and break up. The spinners are expected to come into play but the seamers too can be among the wickets on this surface with variable bounce.
India have made two changes: Sreesanth, whose last Test was here in 2008, replaced Ishant Sharma and Pragyan Ojha came in for Amit Mishra, who took just one wicket in the Ahmedabad Test. Sri Lanka have gone in for three spinners as they have brought in Ajantha Mendis for the injured Dammika Prasad.
India: 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Gautam Gambhir, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Pragyan Ojha, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Sreesanth.
Sri Lanka: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Mahela Jayawardene, 4 Kumar Sangakkara (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Angelo Mathews, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Ajantha Mendis, 9 Rangana Herath, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Chanaka Welegedara.
South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs has been confirmed as Jacques Kallis' replacement for the remainder of the ODI series against England. Kallis fractured his rib during last month's Champions Twenty20 League in India and is also doubtful for the opening Test in Centurion on December 16. Kallis played the second Twenty20 international in Centurion and scored 7, but did not bowl.
Gibbs will join the squad in Cape Town on Wednesday, ahead of the third ODI which starts two days later. He last played for South Africa during the Champions Trophy in September but failed to make the squad for the limited-overs games against Zimbabwe and England. He also had a forgettable outing in the Champions League in India, scoring just 43 runs in four games for the Cape Cobras. He scored 42 of those in the semi-final against Trinidad and Tobago, but prior to that he had recorded two first-ball ducks.
However, he was in good form for the Cobras in the MTN 40-over competition at home, scoring 163 runs in four games. He was given a lifeline by the selectors when he was picked for the A squad to play England in Potchefstroom last week, where he scored 24. With Kallis on the sidelines, Gibbs will have a second chance at regaining his spot.
England 251 for 3 (Collingwood 105*, Trott 87) beat South Africa 250 for 9 (Petersen 64, Amla 57) by seven wickets
Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott had plenty to celebrate as England's one-day series finally got underway at the second attempt in Centurion, and the pair duly set about doing so in style. England's most experienced one-day cricketer joined forces with one of the country's newest recruits to produce a brace of allround performances that smothered South Africa's ambitions on a sluggish rain-affected track, and guided their side to an improbably comprehensive seven-wicket victory with four overs to spare.
In the end it was a cakewalk - as comprehensive in its own way as South Africa's 84-run pummelling on this same ground in the second Twenty20 last week. Chasing a meagre target of 251 (which was only nine runs more than England had been set in that game in 30 fewer overs) Collingwood and Trott came together in the 12th over with England teetering a touch on 45 for 2, but thereafter they scarcely blinked. A third-wicket stand of 162 in 30 overs put the result beyond doubt long before Trott ended their alliance by flicking Charl Langveldt to deep midwicket for 87.
It was a disappointing end for Trott (and he showed his frustration by bashing his pad with his bat as he left the pitch) but, like Kevin Pietersen five years ago, his first 50-over match against his former countrymen was a triumph nonetheless. He opened the innings in place of Joe Denly and Alastair Cook, who was ruled out before the start with a back strain, and anchored the chase with an unflustered 119-ball innings. Mickey Arthur's vocal criticism of his selection was clearly not without purpose - South Africa's coach recognised him as a threat, but there was nothing that he or his bowlers could do to rattle Trott's resolve.
The main man of England's day, however, was their newly confirmed record-holder. Collingwood has now played in 171 ODIs - one more than England's stalwart of yesteryear, Alec Stewart - and rarely can he have featured so prominently in so many facets of a contest. His day began with a stunning two-handed pounce in the gully to intercept an AB de Villiers cut, and it was crowned with a drive through mid-on to bring up his fifth ODI century. But in between whiles, it was Collingwood's canny spell of medium-pace - 6-0-24-2 - that really stymied South Africa's momentum, and transformed a challenging target of 280-plus into an eminently obtainable one.
To all intents and purposes, the match was won and lost in those habitually becalmed overs in the middle of South Africa's innings. Hashim Amla - opening in place of Jacques Kallis, who has been ruled out of the series with a rib fracture - had chugged along to a serene half-century, and JP Duminy had just belted the legspinner Adil Rashid out of the attack in a premeditated assault, when Andrew Strauss opted for a double bowling-change. Collingwood's cutters were a predictable choice on this surface; Trott's medium-pacers, on the other hand, were not.
But between them they had the desired effect. Amla was instantly unsettled by the lack of pace, and having survived a tough caught-and-bowled chance from Collingwood's fifth delivery, he immediately popped a looping chance to Strauss at short cover. In their next ten overs, South Africa were limited to just one shot in anger - a bullish smack for six as Alviro Petersen advanced down the wicket - and had Strauss's butterfingers not accounted for three dropped catches of varying difficulty, Collingwood would have racked up his 100th ODI wicket, and Trott his very first.
Tactically, however, Strauss could hardly be faulted. He correctly gambled on bowling first at the toss, despite vivid memories of what Smith and the absent Loots Bosman had done to his team last week, and he was instrumental in the early extraction of Smith for 12, as he persisted with a slip to Tim Bresnan, and was rewarded with a well-channelled delivery and a simple edge into his midriff.
And Strauss's decision to turn to Trott, whose career-best 7 for 39 came in the Championship six long years ago, was a masterstroke. Aided no doubt by the fear of falling to a man about whom so much has been said on this trip, South Africa's batsmen allowed him to rumble through seven overs for 21, with just a solitary boundary coming from his final over.
When England's turn came to bat, the lessons of South Africa's were clearly visible. Trott and Strauss shared in a 28-run stand for the first wicket which came to an end when Strauss attempted to work Langeveldt into the leg-side but instead lobbed a leading edge to de Villiers at point. But it was Pietersen's dismissal that was the most instructive. In a typical attempt to raise the tempo, he aimed a slog at Albie Morkel and lost his leg stump for 4 from seven balls, whereupon Trott and Collingwood refused to allow themselves to be hurried - literally in Trott's case, as he was handed an official warning for time-wasting between deliveries.
Needing a wicket, Graeme Smith recalled Dale Steyn to the attack in a bid to force the breakthrough, but Collingwood latched onto the extra pace to bring up England's hundred with back-to-back boundaries. A minor bout of cramp then nearly did for Trott, as he was forced to scamper when called through for an ambitious second run, but South Africa's resolve was effectively broken in the 27th over, when Langeveldt overstepped, and Collingwood deposited the resulting free hit into the stands for six.
There was just time before the end for Eoin Morgan to reprise his formidable finishing skills with a classy 27 not out from 18 balls, but happily for all Englishmen in the ground, he wasn't able to deny Collingwood a richly deserved milestone, which was brought up six balls before the end. England's improbable record against South Africa has now been extended to six wins in seven completed games.
50 overs South Africa 250 for 9 (Petersen 64, Amla 57) v England
Hashim Amla and Alviro Petersen lifted their side with a brace of half-centuries but South Africa's anticipated batting onslaught failed to materialise as England's varied seam attack restricted them to a manageable total of 250 for 9 in their 50 overs in the second ODI at Centurion. Even a hit-and-miss fielding performance with five clear-cut chances - three alone to the captain, Andrew Strauss - could not undermine the determination England showed in the field, with Strauss himself excelling as a strategist, in particular with his canny use of the medium-pacers, Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott.
Seven days ago on this very ground, South Africa managed 241 for 6 in 30 fewer overs, but a week of torrential rain had added a coating of glue to the surface, and made it hard for any player to obtain full value for their aggression. The most fluent batsman on display was the opener, Amla, who would not have even been playing had Jacques Kallis not been ruled out of the series with a fractured rib. As it was, South Africa were very grateful for his calm demeanour and calculated strokeplay, as he picked off six fours, all of them through the off side, in a 72-ball 57.
Strauss won the toss and rightly bowled first, as Graeme Smith, who made 88 from 44 balls in last Sunday's fixture, this time struggled to master the conditions. He picked off two fours from successive deliveries as James Anderson strayed onto his pads, but then, after a consultation between Strauss and England's other new-ball bowler Tim Bresnan, a slip was installed, an off-stump line was settled upon, and a cramped Smith edged a good-length delivery straight to the fielder.
That brought AB de Villiers to the crease, a man with a burgeoning reputation in one-day cricket, even though he has yet to make an ODI half-century against England in four years of trying. He didn't hang around long enough to change that particular statistic, as Collingwood marked his England-record 171st cap with one of the finest catches of his recent career. Anderson offered up a hint of width, de Villiers climbed into it with a scything cut, and Collingwood at backward point pounced with both hands as he dived to his left.
Duminy began his innings with trademark panache, welcoming the new bowler Sajid Mahmood with a pair of punched drives down the ground. He added another four two overs later when Mahmood served up too much width and was crashed through point for his sins, but on 23, he should have got his man. A fuller length delivery was driven on the up to short cover, but the usually reliable Strauss shelled the chance as he flew straight at him.
Briefly, it looked as though the error would prove costly, as Duminy climbed into a pre-meditated assault against the legspinner, Adil Rashid, who had been thumped for 25 runs in his solitary Twenty20 over last Sunday, and was this time milked for 27 in three, including a reverse-sweep for four and a slog-sweep over midwicket from consecutive deliveries. But with Luke Wright at the other end settling into an impressive and containing spell, Duminy feathered a nick through to Matt Prior, and departed for 41 from 47 balls.
Wright's reduced pace was a sign of successes to come for England, for into the attack came the medium-paced pairing of Collingwood and - less predictably - Trott. It proved to be the ideal combination for the conditions, as Amla was instantly unsettled by the lack of pace with which to work. He survived a tough caught-and-bowled chance from Collingwood's fifth delivery, but one ball later, he popped a looping chance to Strauss at short cover, who this time held on.
The pattern continued as South Africa were limited to just one shot in anger in their next ten overs, a bullish smack for six as Petersen advanced down the wicket to Collingwood. In the 33rd over, Anderson returned to the attack to keep the batsmen on the hop, and the sudden change-up in pace proved too much for Ryan McLaren, who swished flat-footedly to be caught behind for 5, only three balls after surviving a finger-tipped caught-and-bowled opportunity.
Albie Morkel can usually be relied upon to tonk a few boundaries, and sure enough, having inched along to 6 from 11 balls, he laid into a rare long-hop from Collingwood, and sent the ball spinning towards the grassy banks at midwicket. Eoin Morgan, however, intercepted the blow with a brilliantly timed run and leap, and at 165 for 6, Petersen and Mark Boucher - coming in unusually low at No. 8 - had quite a rebuilding project ahead of them.
Trott once took 7 for 39 for Warwickshire against Kent back in 2003, but six years on from that performance he was denied his maiden international wicket when Strauss shelled his second chance of the match, a scudding drive from Petersen that eluded his grasp as he fell to ground. Strauss had fewer excuses three overs later, however, when Petersen, now on 47, stabbed a sitter into his bread-basket, and straight out again. The bowler, this time, was Collingwood, who would have been celebrating his 100th ODI wicket.
It was eventually left to Bresnan to extract Petersen with his fourth ball of the batting Powerplay, an impressive off-stump bail-trimmer that ended an excellent innings of 64 from 65 balls. Roelof van der Merwe clipped Anderson to midwicket, and Dale Steyn hoisted Mahmood to wide mid-on, but Boucher kept the runs ticking until the end with a typically inventive 30 not out.
Thilan Thushara, the Sri Lankan fast bowler, has been ruled out of the ongoing three-Test series in India because of a shoulder injury. He will be replaced by Dilhara Fernando, who is expected to join the team on November 18.
"Thilan Thushara will return to Sri Lanka due to a shoulder injury, and he will not be match fit for approximately two to four weeks," Sri Lankan Cricket said in a statement. "Dilhara Fernando will replace him."
Thushara hurt his shoulder after crashing into Kaushal Silva during training on Sunday and the injury did not heal in time for him to play the first Test in Ahmedabad. The decision to replace Thushara with Chanaka Welegedara was taken five minutes before the toss.
The expected duration of Thushara's recovery will rule him out of the one-dayers and Twenty20 internationals that follow the Test series. Fernando's call-up meant that he would fly to India earlier than planned for he was part of the limited-overs squads. Nuwan Kulasekera is the other reserve fast bowler currently in the Test squad.
Sri Lanka's opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan has fractured his nose after colliding with one of his team-mates while playing football following the first Test against India in Ahmedabad on Friday. Brendon Kuruppu, Sri Lanka's team manager, confirmed the news upon arrival in Kanpur, the venue for the second Test starting Tuesday. Dilshan had to be rushed to hospital where an X-ray revealed the damage.
However, Dilshan may yet be available for the second Test. "The injury was put right by the surgeon before we left for Kanpur and Dilshan is out of danger," Kuruppu said. "He is not in any kind of great discomfort. He will resume practice with the rest of the team tomorrow (Sunday)."
This is Dilshan's second injury on this tour. Prior to the first Test, he sprained his ankle during practice, but recovered in time to score a century.
South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis will miss the entire one-day international series against England because of a fractured rib.
It is thought Kallis suffered the injury during the Champions League in India last month, but it was only after a scan this morning that the true extent of the problem was uncovered.
South Africa intend to call an as yet unnamed replacement batsman into their squad, once they move on to Cape Town for the third and fourth fixtures of five.
They had already privately accepted Kallis was not likely to be regularly bowling his full 10-over entitlement in a series set to get under way at Centurion tomorrow - following yesterday's washout at The Wanderers.
"It is with deep regret that we have to announce Jacques Kallis is out of the one-day series," said coach Mickey Arthur.
"He just wasn't getting better from that injury.
"We had him re-scanned this morning and found there is a fracture in the cartilage of the rib - which clearly affects his performances for the next four weeks.
"Obviously, it's very disappointing."
South Africa hope key player Kallis will be fit again in time for the start of the Test series against England next month - although Arthur admits the first match at Centurion may be a "grey area".
In the more immediate future, Hashim Amla will replace Kallis tomorrow at the top of the order - alongside captain Graeme Smith.
"We have groomed Hashim Amla to open the batting in one-day cricket - and he will be a more than adequate replacement," Arthur predicted.
Should the need arise, South Africa will pick Kallis as a batsman only for the Test series - but the nature of his injury means that would be an unwise policy in the ODIs too.
"The priority for us is the Test matches, and we need to get him fit and ready for them," the coach explained.
"The balance he brings to our Test side is huge, so he wasn't going to do a hell of a lot of bowling in the one-dayers anyway.
"We would play Jacques as a batter only in Tests if need be. He is among the top five batters in world cricket, so we could certainly do that.
"We wouldn't push him to bowl in the first Test if we thought it would impede in matches two, three and four.
"The injury is affecting his batting at the moment - and what he needs now is four weeks off to get mended.
"If he batted then the movements of batting and running between the wickets and stretching would all affect his recovery - so that is why we're pulling him out of this series."
South Africa appear optimistic if not entirely confident of Kallis' readiness for the start of the Test series.
"He will have an injection to speed the recovery up, but the first Test might be a grey area," said Arthur.
"For the second onwards, there are no issues."
Arthur is equivocal about whether Kallis' absence may be a boost for opponents themselves beset by a collection of 'niggling' injuries.
"England may be lifted, but I don't think any side takes glee in seeing the opposition's best players getting injured," he said.
"I know we don't get any at seeing England's growing injury list.
"You want to be testing yourself against the best players all the time - and you want the best players out on the field."
As for the longer-term future of 34-year-old Kallis, a world-class player with much mileage on the clock after 131 Test and 295 ODI caps, South Africa's management appear well aware of the toll taken by such a workload.
"We need to have a look at Jacques' scheduling and we need to manage him through now," added Arthur.
"We are going to have to manage his workload. We were trying to minimise the burden on him going into the one-dayers to make sure he was bowling fit for the Test series."
At least the hosts know now exactly what has been troubling one of their main men.
"It's a certain injury now, and we've pinpointed it," Arthur reported.
"The other day, he was yelping around in training and we were saying 'come on Jacques - stop being a wuss' and 'man up!' But the poor guy had a fractured rib."
India 426 (Dravid 177, Dhoni 110, Welegedara 4-87) and 341 for 4 (Gambhir 114, Tendulkar 100*) drew with Sri Lanka 760 for 7 decl. (Jayawardene 275, Prasanna 154*, Dilshan 112)
Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, and a dead Ahmedabad pitch (21 wickets and seven centuries in five days) put paid to Sri Lanka's dream of a first Test win in India. Gambhir played out 110 deliveries for 40 runs, and Tendulkar 211 for 100 runs; both of them looked entirely at home in the role of saving a Test, not letting dot balls affect their minds.
By the time the final session of the match arrived, the only question left unanswered was whether Tendulkar would get to his 88th international century. Kumar Sangakkara didn't seem pleased with being kept on the field in the mandatory overs while Tendulkar moved towards the ton. The bowlers started bowling way outside off stump, and Tendulkar retorted in his own inimitable manner. He walked across to a delivery so wide it would have been called in an ODI, and flicked it to the square-leg boundary to get into the 90s. He had to work similarly hard for the rest of the runs too. As soon as he got there, the captains agreed to call off the match with six overs still to go.
Sri Lanka started the day 144 ahead, and needed eight Indian wickets to force a result, but met a docile pitch and determined batting. The only break in concentration came in the second session when Gambhir stepped out to launch Rangana Herath out of the ground, and ended up losing his wicket. That was not before he had reached his seventh century: four of them, including his last three, have come in the second innings, two of them in match-saving scenarios. He now averages 59.55 in the second innings, against 54.22 overall.
Sri Lanka were not helped by the hamstring injury to Dammika Prasad, who didn't bowl in the first session, and Muttiah Muralitharan's ineffectiveness: he didn't take a wicket in 38 second-innings overs. Previously Murali had gone wicketless in the second innings of a match only six times; the most he had bowled in such scenarios was 17 overs. Their problems on the unhelpful pitch were summed up by how Amit Mishra, nightwatchman from yesterday, got to his personal best score and frustrated them for 26 deliveries on the fifth morning.
Gambhir, at the other end, was in his Napier-like mode from earlier this year, when he batted 643 minutes for 137 runs to save the Test. Even today, he was not interested in scoring, or in other words he didn't let being stuck at one end bother him much. Angelo Mathews bowled well in Prasad's absence, hitting good lengths consistently, getting some of them to stay low and getting the odd one to seam away off the rare crack on the pitch. But Gambhir took most of the strike to him, playing 30 consecutive balls from Mathews for no run in the first hour, certain in his judgement outside off, and coming forward to straighter deliveries to negate the odd shooter.
Against spinners, Gambhir preferred to stay back, or jump out of the track and get close enough to the delivery. He did pull out the big hits in the 90s, as he is used to doing because he prefers to get the 90s done with quickly. He took 61 deliveries to move from overnight 74 to 90, but then hit three boundaries in six balls to reach his century quickly. And then scored two runs in 25 deliveries. The approach in the 90s was similar to that in Napier, when he stepped out and lofted Daniel Vettori and Jeetan Patel for fours in consecutive overs.
Post lunch, when Gambhir played his only rash shot, he left the saunter towards safety in Tendulkar's hands. Tendulkar had started off fluently, driving Murali against the spin for two boundaries, and punching Mathews for one, and once he got comfortable in the middle he too opted to play for time. Between them Gambhir and Tendulkar played out 24 overs. The latter had reached 32 off 75 deliveries, and slowed down even more after that.
Sri Lanka tried one of the last rolls of the dice, taking the new ball and getting Prasad to bowl despite the injury. But neither Prasad nor Chanaka Welegedara could find enough from the pitch to disturb Tendulkar or VVS Laxman. For a while Tendulkar shut shop completely, scoring three runs in 26 deliveries. By that time he had reached 30,000 international runs, and it seemed torturous to make the fast bowlers keep bowling on this pitch.
The spinners came back on, the match started moving towards a slow draw again. By tea Tendulkar had crossed 50, India had erased the deficit, and Tendulkar and Laxman had played out another 24 overs. Post the interval, both Tendulkar and Laxman batted with more intent, in the knowledge that the game had been saved. Sri Lankan bowlers tried various angles of attack, but there was little left to play for, and both the batsmen duly reached personal milestones.
Video Post
