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Allround England Beats Sinking South Africa
1st Test
A fine allround effort by England accounted for South Africa by 134 runs in the first Test of a 5-match series. Losing the toss, the visitors were asked to bat first and struggled in the early session, losing 3 wickets and seeing Thorpe (24) dropped off Pollock when on 10. Resuming from lunch at 62/3, regular wickets continued to fall as only a patient Mark Butcher (99 not out) stood his ground.
The Surrey lefthander was dropped off consecutive Steyn deliveries (by Gibbs, the Hall) on 42, then later off the same bowler (by Pollock) on 98, but he fought on in the difficult conditions and ultimately anchored the eventual total of 239 all out. Only Geraint Jones (39) provided reasonable support after the dismissal of Thorpe, trapped in front by a Hall (3/54) slower delivery. Pollock (4/43) led the South African charge.
England lost the final wicket early on day two, as showers shortened play possible on the first day.
Coming off a spirited bowling effort, South Africa prepared to face the music of a British tune. A spiteful Harmison delivery was gloved by Smith, but Geraint Jones failed to hang on and instead a boundary resulted. The chance would prove costly as Smith added a further 67 runs to his tally and scored a pleasant 72 off 128 balls (though dropped twice more - Flintoff then Thorpe). The two Jacques - Rudolph (57) and Kallis (49) - made solid contributions, but Flintoff set about the middle and lower order with sharp and aggressive bowling to limit the hosts to 259 all out. "Freddie" claimed a fine 5/35.
Facing a deficit of 20 runs on a still lively pitch, England set about to put in a more concerted effort. This time Trescothick (37) and Strauss (64) bettered their first innings stand of 19 to 67 and solid partnerships proved the theme from there on to the eventual total of 362. Butcher (47), Thorpe (39) and Flintoff (49) made good middle order contributions, but it was Ashley Giles' unbeaten 57 that made the biggest difference. Young prospect Dale Steyn took 5/80 for South Africa.
With 31 overs scheduled remaining in the final session on day four, South Africa started their chase of 343 runs to win. Graeme Smith was positive immediately, and he slashed the second delivery from Harmison for 4. He would add just 6 more though, playing across the line to a full delivery from the same bowler and adjudged LBW. A couple of delays for bad light eeked 10 overs from South Africa's task as the English bowlers continued to pound away. Rudolph was dropped on 8 by Geraint Jones, off Flintoff, and he accompanied Gibbs to stumps - 73/1.
Well-poised to at least play a competitive last day, South Africa faced an early setback as Gibbs dragged Harmison back onto his stumps for 36. The score 76/2 quickly became 80/3 and Rudolph was LBW to Hoggard for 27. Dippenaar was caught at gully two balls after without scoring and suddenly every started to come undone - 80/4. Hoggard dropped a skied hook of AB de Villiers and then Kallis was missed down the legside off Hoggard.
Just 5 balls after, Kallis was caught at third slip for 16. From then in, Hall (27) and Pollock (18) displayed some fight, but South Africa was well on her way to defeat. Still, young de Villiers stood up and played a courageous hand of 58 off 85 balls, before he was sixth out, caught at cover off Giles. At the end Flintoff and Hoggard ensured a slump from 206/6 to 208 all out, and Boje, Ntini and Steyn all registered ducks.
The Man of the Match award was granted to Andy Flintoff for his commendable allround effort.
1st Test played at Johannesburg.
England 1st Innings 239 all out
Butcher 99*, Jones G.O. 39, Pollock 4-43, Hall 3-54
South Africa 1st Innings 259 all out
Smith 72, Rudolph 57, Flintoff 5-35, Giles 2-38
England 2nd Innings 362 all out
Strauss 64, Giles 57*, Steyn 5-80, Pollock 3-80
South Africa 2nd Innings 208 all out
de Villiers 58, Gibbs 36, Hoggard 5-56, Flintoff 2-17
England won by 134 runs.
1st Test
A fine allround effort by England accounted for South Africa by 134 runs in the first Test of a 5-match series. Losing the toss, the visitors were asked to bat first and struggled in the early session, losing 3 wickets and seeing Thorpe (24) dropped off Pollock when on 10. Resuming from lunch at 62/3, regular wickets continued to fall as only a patient Mark Butcher (99 not out) stood his ground.
The Surrey lefthander was dropped off consecutive Steyn deliveries (by Gibbs, the Hall) on 42, then later off the same bowler (by Pollock) on 98, but he fought on in the difficult conditions and ultimately anchored the eventual total of 239 all out. Only Geraint Jones (39) provided reasonable support after the dismissal of Thorpe, trapped in front by a Hall (3/54) slower delivery. Pollock (4/43) led the South African charge.
England lost the final wicket early on day two, as showers shortened play possible on the first day.
Code:
England 1st Innings
M.E. Trescothick b Pollock 17 33 3 0
A.J. Strauss b Pollock 7 18 1 0
M.A. Butcher not out 99 260 11 0
M.P. Vaughan ct Pollock b Steyn 1 5 0 0
G.P. Thorpe lbw b Hall 24 51 0 0
A. Flintoff ct & b Hall 10 14 1 0
G.O. Jones b Hall 39 95 3 0
A.F. Giles ct Rudolph b Ntini 4 18 0 0
S.P. Jones ct Gibbs b Ntini 0 1 0 0
M.J. Hoggard lbw b Pollock 13 36 2 0
S.J. Harmison lbw b Pollock 0 1 0 0
Extras (byes 1 leg byes 9 no balls 10 wides 5) 25
Total (10 Wkts 87.0 Overs) 239
Fall of Wkts 19 28 30 78 93 186 205 205 239 239
Ntini 20 3 54 2 5 3
Pollock 22 7 43 4 3 1
Steyn 14 2 40 1 1 1
Hall 16 2 54 3 0 0
Kallis 15 2 38 0 1 0
Code:
South Africa 1st Innings
G.C. Smith ct & b Giles 72 128 6 0
H.H. Gibbs ct Trescothick b Harmison 17 25 3 0
J.A. Rudolph lbw b Giles 57 187 4 0
J.H. Kallis not out 49 181 4 0
H.H. Dippenaar ct Butcher b Hoggard 21 44 0 0
A.B. de Villiers ct Jones G.O. b Flintoff 20 39 1 0
A.J. Hall ct Butcher b Flintoff 0 2 0 0
S.M. Pollock ct Vaughan b Jones S.P. 1 2 0 0
N. Boje ct Thorpe b Flintoff 1 17 0 0
M. Ntini lbw b Flintoff 0 2 0 0
D.W. Steyn ct Jones G.O. b Flintoff 0 1 0 0
Extras (byes 3 leg byes 11 no balls 5 wides 2) 21
Total (10 Wkts 103.5 Overs) 259
Fall of Wkts 27 146 167 215 252 252 253 259 259 259
Harmison 17 4 64 1 1 0
Hoggard 25 4 65 1 0 0
Flintoff 21.5 5 35 5 1 1
Jones S.P. 16 2 43 1 3 1
Giles 24 10 38 2 0 0
Code:
England 2nd Innings
M.E. Trescothick ct Smith b Steyn 37 78 5 0
A.J. Strauss ct Dippenaar b Hall 64 159 6 0
M.A. Butcher b Hall 47 90 7 0
M.P. Vaughan ct Gibbs b Pollock 16 58 1 0
G.P. Thorpe ct Rudolph b Pollock 39 73 5 0
A. Flintoff ct & b Steyn 49 102 6 0
G.O. Jones ct de Villiers b Steyn 7 23 0 0
A.F. Giles not out 57 105 7 0
S.P. Jones ct Ntini b Steyn 2 8 0 0
M.J. Hoggard ct & b Pollock 3 13 0 0
S.J. Harmison b Steyn 6 6 1 0
Extras (byes 5 leg byes 16 no balls 13 wides 1) 35
Total (10 Wkts 117.0 Overs) 362
Fall of Wkts 67 158 166 202 230 253 337 343 349 362
Ntini 24 1 74 0 8 0
Pollock 34 10 80 3 2 1
Steyn 21 2 80 5 0 0
Hall 22 3 70 2 3 0
Kallis 16 4 37 0 0 0Well-poised to at least play a competitive last day, South Africa faced an early setback as Gibbs dragged Harmison back onto his stumps for 36. The score 76/2 quickly became 80/3 and Rudolph was LBW to Hoggard for 27. Dippenaar was caught at gully two balls after without scoring and suddenly every started to come undone - 80/4. Hoggard dropped a skied hook of AB de Villiers and then Kallis was missed down the legside off Hoggard.
Just 5 balls after, Kallis was caught at third slip for 16. From then in, Hall (27) and Pollock (18) displayed some fight, but South Africa was well on her way to defeat. Still, young de Villiers stood up and played a courageous hand of 58 off 85 balls, before he was sixth out, caught at cover off Giles. At the end Flintoff and Hoggard ensured a slump from 206/6 to 208 all out, and Boje, Ntini and Steyn all registered ducks.
Code:
South Africa 2nd Innings
G.C. Smith lbw b Harmison 10 17 1 0
H.H. Gibbs b Harmison 36 73 3 0
J.A. Rudolph lbw b Hoggard 27 63 4 0
J.H. Kallis ct Strauss b Hoggard 16 39 2 0
H.H. Dippenaar ct Giles b Hoggard 0 2 0 0
A.B. de Villiers ct Thorpe b Giles 58 84 10 0
A.J. Hall ct Jones G.O. b Flintoff 27 68 2 0
S.M. Pollock not out 18 32 2 0
N. Boje b Flintoff 0 2 0 0
M. Ntini ct & b Hoggard 0 6 0 0
D.W. Steyn ct Jones G.O. b Hoggard 0 3 0 0
Extras (byes 4 leg byes 7 no balls 4 wides 1) 16
Total (10 Wkts 64.1 Overs) 208
Fall of Wkts 23 76 80 86 112 171 206 206 207 208
Harmison 16 1 66 2 2 0
Hoggard 23.1 4 56 5 0 1
Flintoff 7 1 17 2 1 0
Jones S.P. 4 0 15 0 1 0
Giles 14 4 43 1 0 01st Test played at Johannesburg.
England 1st Innings 239 all out
Butcher 99*, Jones G.O. 39, Pollock 4-43, Hall 3-54
South Africa 1st Innings 259 all out
Smith 72, Rudolph 57, Flintoff 5-35, Giles 2-38
England 2nd Innings 362 all out
Strauss 64, Giles 57*, Steyn 5-80, Pollock 3-80
South Africa 2nd Innings 208 all out
de Villiers 58, Gibbs 36, Hoggard 5-56, Flintoff 2-17
England won by 134 runs.