Comfortable win for Proteas

South Africa were never in trouble, as they beat Worcestershire by 69 runs.

On winning the toss, Graeme Smith had no hesitation in batting, and he led from the front with a solid 65, as all the batsmen got a start.

The Worcestershire bowling, featuring 2 South Africans in the disgraced Nantie Hayward and the promising Justin Kemp, was poor on the day, as debutant Shaftab Khalid proved the most economical, and he conceded 45 from his 10 over stint.

Kabir Ali, having been somewhat bizarrely released by England the previous day, took the new ball, and struck to remove Jacques Kallis for 66 and Mark Boucher for a rapid-fire 20, but the batting was very solid, and with Jacobus Rudolph unbeaten on 48 and a 6-ball cameo of 13 from Martin van Jaarsveld, a score of 261-4 was amassed.

With 2 of the top 4 falling for ducks, and a typically tight spell from Shaun Pollock, Worcestershire were always behind the rate, and although Kemp gave the selectors a gentle reminder of what he could do, with 77 from 87 balls, Alan Dawson tore into the tail to pick up 4-26 in 8 overs as Worcestershire ended up all out for 192 with 5 overs to spare.

A pretty run of the mill match, and a pretty predictable result.

SOUTH AFRICANS 261-4 (Kallis 66, Smith 65, Rudolph 48*)
WORCESTERSHIRE 192a/o (Kemp 77, Dawson 4-26)

Man of the Match: Shaun Pollock (8-2-18-1)

Posted by Marc