Tour Match: South Africa 'A' v Australians at Potchefstroom, 17-19 Feb 2002 CricInfo Live Report

Tour Match: South Africa 'A' v Australians at Potchefstroom, 17-19 Feb 2002
Peter Robinson

Australians 1st innings: Day 3 - Declare, Day 3 - Tea,
South Africa 'A' 1st innings: Day 3 - Lunch,
Live Reports from previous days

PRINCE KEEPS AUSTRALIA AT BAY IN POTCHEFSTROOM
Ashwell Prince played virtually a lone hand to keep Australia at bay as the South African ‘A’ side reached 179 for eight at tea on the final day of their three-day match at Potchefstroom on Tuesday.

Prince went to tea not out on 92 after holding the innings together almost single-handed. The only real support for Prince came from Gulam Bodi who quite obviously had made up his mind that the best way to play Shane Warne was to try to hit the leg-spinner out of the ground as often as possible.

Bodi made 33 off just 26 deliveries, with most of his runs coming off Warne. Against the quicker bowlers, however, Bodi less adventurous and less successful.

Bodi had come in at the fall of Andrew Hall’s wicket for 18. Hall had kept Prince company as the score mounted to 114 when the fifth wicket fell. He tried to sweep Warne and the ball came off pad and the back of his bat before looping to Mark Waugh standing at slip.

Prince had kept going all the while, but he played second fiddle as Bodi went after Warne, twice hitting him out of the ground. Eventually, though, Bodi found himself down at the other end facing Brett Lee and a mistimed pull off a short ball was easily caught at midwicket by Jason Gillespie.

Lee greeted Thami Tsolekile with a short one that struck and SA ‘A’ wicketkeeper on the back of his helmet and then bowled him next ball with a slower yorker. The home team were 162 for seven after the fall of these two wickets.

Claude Henderson made 7 as Prince found himself becalmed on 86 before Glenn McGrath came back into the attack to have Henderson caught at first slip by Justin Langer at 175 for eight.

By now Australia had set containing fields for Prince and although he broke loose to pull Damien Martyn for four, there was a very real threat that he might run out of partners before reaching three figures.

Charl Langeveldt, though, kept up his end until the tea break to go in at the interval unbeaten on 2.

MCGRATH SCYTHES THROUGH SA 'A' TOP ORDER
Glenn McGrath ripped the top off South Africa’s next tier of batting as Australia reduced the South African ‘A’ side to 90 for four on the final morning of the three-day tour game at Potchefstroom on Tuesday.

After the Australians had declared their first innings closed at 366 for eight, McGrath nipped out Test hopefuls Graeme Smith, Jacques Rudolph and Daryll Cullinan cheaply with an immaculate display of line and length bowling on a helpful pitch.

Smith, Rudolph and Cullinan have all been under consideration for the South African Test side and, indeed, Smith will act as 12th man for the first Test which starts at the Wanderers on Friday, but between them they managed only 18 runs as McGrath cut a swathe through the batting.

Only Ashwell Prince, with a fighting 55 not out, kept the ‘A’ afloat on a humid morning.

McGrath struck in his first over when he had Smith caught at third slip by Ricky Ponting for a duck. He took his second wicket after changing ends to bowl Rudolph for 14 with a delivery that caught the batsman flatfooted in his crease to trim the bails.

Rudolph was dismissed at 35 for two to bring Cullinan out to bat. Cullinan’s rivalry with Shane Ware is well-documented, but the South African did not stay long enough to face the leg-spinner, pushing tentatively forward to McGrath to provide Adam Gilchrist a catch off an outside edge.

The ‘A’ captain, Dale Benkenstein, also failed to trouble the scorers, chopping a wide long hop from Warne to Matthew Hayden at backward point at 69 for four before Prince, who played several handsome drives through the morning, and Andrew Hall (11 not out) took the home team into lunch without further loss.

WAUGH DECLARES AFTER REACHING CENTURY
Steve Waugh scored his 67th first-class century and immediately declared Australia’s first innings closed at 366 for eight on the last morning of the three-day game against South Africa ‘A’ at Potchefstroom on Monday.

Waugh, 91 not out overnight, reached three figures by cutting left-arm wrist spinner Gulam Bodi for four in the third over of the morning before bringing the innings to a close with his score on 102. Jason Gillespie was the other not out batsmen on 5.

The declaration left the SA ‘A’ batsmen with 107 overs to face during the remainder of the match and they made the worst possible start to their replay.

Graeme Smith, named on Monday as 12th man to the South African first Test side, fell in the first over of the innings for a duck, playing away from his body to edge Glenn McGrath to Ricky Ponting at third slip.