Date-stamped : 09 Aug94 - 02:30 England vs South Africa, 2nd test. Played at Headingley, 4-8 August 1994. ====> Day 1, 4 Jul 94 England won the toss and batted first. Stumps day 1: England 268/4 (Stewart 24*, Crawley 12*) England had a good opening day to this test as they rattled up 268 runs for the loss of only 4 wickets by the close. They took advantage of a less than accurate South African attack on a slow- ish pitch which wasn't assisting the bowlers too much. As expect- ed, South Africa named an unchanged side for the test while Eng- land brought in Thorpe and Tufnell in place of Salisbury and White. The first session of play was characterised by some loose bowling by Donald who conceeded 18 runs in 3 overs before being removed from the attack. Graham Gooch was the first batsman to go. He played a solid innings of 23 but was enticed into driving at a De Villiers away swinger and got caught at 2nd slip by McMillan. This was about the only loose shot that Gooch played in his innings and it cost him his wicket. Hick arrived at the crease and, together with Atherton, took the score to 70/1 at lunch. Hick shared in a 50 run partnership with Atherton before once again losing his wicket when he seemed to be well set. He was out to the De Villiers/McMillan combination again, this time McMillan taking a superb catch diving high to his right. Once Graham Thorpe arrived at the wicket the England innings changed tempo completely. Thorpe was aggressive from the start and any- thing loose was hit hard, usually for 4 runs. His left-handedness also seemed to disrupt the rhythym of the South African bowlers somewhat which is exactly what the England selectors must have been hoping for. Fanie De Villiers in particular struggled to find his line against the left/right-hand combination and was hit for 19 runs in 2 overs before bad light and rain stopped play with the England score at 128/2. Play was resumed after a break of about 30 minutes and Thorpe continued his fine innings. Atherton at the other end was playing the perfect supporting role. He kept his end ticking over and left all the attacking play to Thorpe who reached his 50 off 56 balls. The score at the tea interval was 175/2. The runs continued after tea as Atherton and Thorpe passed their century partnership and pushed on towards 150. The stand eventu- ally realised 142 runs as Thorpe was out to a fairly soft dismis- sal. He drove lazily at a wide ball from McMillan and spooned a fairly routine catch to Rhodes at point. Thorpe's 74 runs came in 156 minutes off 112 balls and included 13 fours. An excellent in- nings which makes me wonder why he wasn't in the team for the first test as well! As so often happens after a big stand, the next wicket fell fairly quickly. Atherton was out for 99, just one run short of what should have been a well deserved century. He played just the sort of innings England needed from one of their openers. By batting for over 5 hours he al- lowed England to form the partnerships which were almost non- existent in the Leed's test. Atherton batted for 5 hours 20 minutes, faced 224 balls and hit 9 fours and one six. Crawley and Stewart saw Eng- land through to the close without too much trouble. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 2, 5 Jul 94 Stumps day 2: England 477/9 decl SAf 31/1 (G Kirsten 7*, Richardson 13*) England had another excellent day as they reached 477 in their first innings and then picked up the wicket of Andrew Hudson in the 35 minutes before the close of play. Resuming on their overnight score of 268/4 England batted steadily for most of the day. They scored 82/1 in the first session, 75/2 in the second, and a further 52/2 in the 75 minutes after tea before declaring the innings closed at 477/9. The main run scorers for England today were Alec Stewart who added another 65 runs to his overnight score of 24, and Steven Rhodes with 65 not out. The new ball was taken soon after the start of play but South Africa couldn't make the breakthrough they wanted. The first hour of play produced over 50 runs, most of them from Stewart with Crawley playing a supporting role. Allan Donald, who was struggling with a bruised toe, was used sparingly and it was Hansie Cronje who, to a certain extent, managed to contain England before lunch. The dismissal of Crawley in the over before lunch seemed to come out of the blue. The South African bowlers appeared to be just going through the motions when Crawley moved across his stumps and tried to work a ball from Matthews to the leg side. He missed and was out lbw after sharing a stand of 115 with Stewart. Lunch was taken with the score at 350/5. England added a further 75 runs after tea but lost Stewart and DeFreitas in the process. Stewart was good value for his 89 and, like Atherton, was unlucky not get a century. He played outside the line of a ball which came in and hit the top of middle and off. Phillip DeFreitas had no chance against an Allan Donald yorker which shattered his off stump. England pushed on for another 75 minutes after tea before declaring on 477/9 when Fraser lost his wicket. Steven Rhodes recorded his best test score of 65*. South Africa batted for 35 minutes before the close off play and lost the vital wicket of Andrew Hudson. Hudson hasn't been in good form in this series and recorded his third single digit score in three innings (this probably means that he will get a big score in his next innings - he has never gone more than three innings at test level without scoring a half century or better). He was well caught at third slip by Atherton off the bowling of a fired up Darren Gough. Richardson came in as nightwatchman and South Africa finished the day at 31/1. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 3, 6 Aug 94 Stumps day 3: Eng 477/9 decl SAf 318/7 (McMillan 57*, Matthews 0*) The day can be divided into two distinct phases. England totally dominated the session before lunch while after lunch South Africa clawed their way back from disaster and avoided the follow-on. The morning session was full of drama. Phillip Defreitas hadn't taken a wicket in the series but took two wickets in two balls in the very first over of the day. The third ball of the morning saw Gary Kirsten open the face of his bat and almost guide the ball to wicketkeeper Rhodes. Cronje came in next but was bowled first ball by one that went through between bat and pad. So South Africa were suddenly 31/3 and still a long way from the follow-on total of 278 runs. Wessels came in at number 5 but lived a charmed life. He twice edged balls to 3rd slip, the first one was a very sharp chance but the second one was a fairly simple catch which was spilled by Atherton. The pitch was now starting to show increasing signs of variable bounce and was making life difficult for the batsmen. Some balls would keep low, others would lift sharply from a good length. Midway through the morning session we saw the third umpire and television replay being called upon for the first time in the series. There was an appeal for a runout against Ricahrdson but unfortunately the tv replay wasn't conclusive and the benefit of the doubt had to go to the batsman. Wessels and Richardson seemed to be guiding South Africa safely through to lunch when, with the score on 91, Richardson was bowled by an absolutely unplayable ball. The ball pitched just short of a length but shot through at ankle height and hit the bottom of the stumps. Geoff Boycott was commentating at the time and called it a forward short leg off the bowling of Fraser. England were jubilant. They had half the South African side out for just 105 runs and South Africa were still 372 runs behind the England first innings score. Lunch was taken with the score on 122/5. The two afternoon sessions belonged to South Africa and Peter Kirsten in particular. He played a marvelous innings under enormous pressure on a difficult wicket. When he arrived at the crease South Africa were 91/4. When he was eventually out for 104 he had seen South Africa through to 314/7. He shared in stands of 94 with Jonty Rhodes and 115 with Brian Mcmillan and helped South Africa pass the follow- on target with 4 wickets in hand. The post-lunch recovery started with Kirsten and Rhodes. Rhodes always seems to bat best under pressure and today was no exception. Two memorable shots in his innings were two pull shots through midwicket in successive overs off DeFreitas. One went for four, the other went for six. He was unlucky to lose his wicket shortly before tea when he was given out caught behind off a ball from Gough which deflected off his elbow. McMillan joined Kirsten and the two of them saw South Africa through to tea at 205/6. South Africa continued their fight back after tea. Kirsten's superb innings continued as he passed his previous test best score of 79 and edged closer to his first test century. Brian McMillan meanwhile, was playing as good an innings as I've ever seen him play. He was batting confidently and wasn't afraid to hit the occasional bad ball very hard. He pulled DeFreitas over square-leg for six and shortly after drove Tufnell back over his head for another six. At the other end Peter Kirsten edged closer to his century and on 99 he drove a ball through the covers to bring up his maiden test hundred. This at the age of 39! Unfortunately for him, he lost his wicket on 104 in the second last over of the day. He had batted for 294 minutes, faced 226 balls and hit 13 fours. A great innings played in a pressure situation. At the close of play on the 3rd day South Africa are still 159 runs behind the England first innings total but have only three wickets standing and still have a lot of work to do before the test is safe. A pleasing aspect of the South African batting was their run rate which they kept above 3 per over throughout the day. All to often in the past they have tended to bat too slowly and hence put undue pressure on themselves. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 4, 7 Aug 94 Stumps day 4: England 477/9 decl, SA 447 England 144/2 (Hick 48*, Thorpe 51*) A very productive morning session with the bat by South Africa reduced the England lead to just 30 runs. Man of the moment was Craig Matthews who attacked the wayward England bowling in a manner worthy of a top order batsman. He was particularly good on the off side, driving and cutting anything loose to the boundary. The partnership between McMillan and Matthews was worth 77 runs with Matthews getting just over 50 of them. McMillan was out after adding 21 runs to his overnight score. He was bowled through his legs by a ball from Tufnell which pitched in the bowler's footmarks on the legside, turned sharply and hit the stumps. De Villiers didn't last long. He hit one six in his innings of 13 before being stumped after he gave Tufnell the charge. Lunch was taken with the score at 442/9. South Africa had scored 124 runs in the two hour morning session for the loss of two wickets. Frustratingly for England, Donald and Matthews put on 37 runs for the last wicket. Donald, batting with a runner, was out in the third over after lunch for his highest test score of 27. Craig Matthews also scored a test best with his 62*. For England DeFreitas took 4/89. So England started their second innings with just a 30 run lead. When South Africa were 105/5 on the morning of the third day England must have had high hopes of making South Africa follow on. Instead, the last 5 wickets added 342 for South Africa and the England lead was reduced to almost nothing. Gooch and Atherton opened the innings again. Gooch batted with a runner because of a pulled muscle sustained during the morning session. Allan Donald and Peter Kirsten didn't take the field for South Africa. Donald has an injured toe and won't bowl again in the match, Kirsten has a problem with a leg muscle. England started fairly briskly thanks to McMillan who sprayed the ball around a bit. Once Matthews came on, however, the run rate slowed as he combined with De Villiers to bowl an accurate line and length. With the score on 39 Atherton drove into the covers but couldn't keep the ball down. Substitute fielder, Darryl Cullinan, caught the ball centimetres above the grass after diving forward full length. Gooch went in the over leading up to tea, caught behind off the bowling off Matthews. With a score of 57/2 and an effective lead of 87 runs at tea England needed to bat cautiously in the last session but at the same time accumulate runs. This they managed as Thorpe and Hick batted right through to the close of play with England's score at 144/2. Thorpe recorded his second half century of the match while Hick was on 48* when stumps were drawn. The outcome of the match now revolves around Michael Atherton. With an effective lead of 174 runs and one day remaining he will have to time his declaration well while at the same time give his bowlers enough time to possibly bowl South Africa out cheaply. As it is, it seems as if the mediocre England bowling in the morning session of the 4th day will enable South Africa to force a draw out of this game. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za) ====> Day 5, 8 Aug 94 Match Drawn. Man of the match: Peter Kirsten. A match which promised so much for the first three days ended in a draw when play was called off 30 minutes before the close on the fifth day. England started the day cautiously but slowly increased their run rate until eventually they were throwing the bat at everything. The men who got the runs for England were Graeme Hick, who scored his second test century, Graham Thorpe and Alec Stewart. Hick's innings was full of powerful shots as he advanced from 50 to 100 in just 59 balls. It was an innings more suited to a one-day match but nevertheless, it is a good sign for England that he managed to convert a good start into a century. Thorpe added a 73 to his first innings 72 while Stewart scored 36 at almost a run a ball. England declared at 267 when Crawley lost his wicket two minutes before the scheduled lunch interval. Set the task of scoring 298 runs in 60 overs, South Africa never took up the challenge and crawled along to 116/3 before play was called off. Hudson's poor form continued as he added a 12 to his previous scores of 6, 3 and 9 in the series. Gary Kirsten batted well and it is only a matter of time before he gets a test century. He looked well set in this innings but was on the wrong end of a bad caught behind decision. TV replays showed considerable daylight between bat and ball as the ball passed him. Wessels was bowled by a ball which pitched in the rough about 50cm outside his offstump and ended up hitting middle and leg! Looking back on the match there appear to be two periods which decided the outcome of the match. The first was the session after lunch on the third day when South Africa were 5 wickets down and still 150 runs from avoiding the follow-on. England needed to wrap up the innings quickly but weren't able to do so. The second period was the morning session on the fourth day. South Africa were still 159 runs behind England with only three wickets in hand but took advantage of some sloppy bowling to score 124 runs in the session. This reduced the England lead to only 30 runs and meant that they wouldn't have the time needed to bowl South Africa out in the second innings. So, South Africa still lead the series 1-0 with the last test starting at the Oval in 10 days time. Contributed by Frank.Sokolic (sokolic@*.und.ac.za)