Peter Robinson
|
1st Test: South Africa v India at Bloemfontein, 3-7 Nov 2001 Peter Robinson |
|
|
South Africa 1st innings:
|
The left-hander, who had scored just 110 runs in 11 Test innings since January, had shared in a 121-run partnership for the seventh wicket with Mark Boucher to lift South Africa from 377 for six to 498 for seven and into a position of control.
As ever, Klusener’s innings was far from pretty, relying on strength as much as timing, but he was effective in denying the Indian bowlers a straightforward path back into the match.
Boucher had been bogged down in the hour after lunch, but seemed to be refreshed by the midafternoon drinks break, almost immediately hitting Virender Sehwag for six over midwicket when play resumed.
The South African wicketkeeper’s confidence clearly grew after this shot and his disappointment at getting out for 47 was obvious after he nudged Javagal Srinath waist high to Rahul Dravid at first slip.
Nicky Boje got off the mark with a leg glance for four off Anil Kumble which raised the South African 500 in the 129th over, but he added only a further two before he was given out for 6, caught at the wicket off Asish Nehra with South Africa 517 for eight.
Klusener was 89 at this stage with only Makhaya Ntini and Nantie Hayward and South African captain Shaun Pollock likely to be spared the bother of having to declare. Klusener, however, was unable to reach three figures before tea despite taking four off the last ball of the session from Nehra.
The South Africans had taken a 101-run lead at the halfway stage of the match, but still needed to push on if they were to make full use of this advantage.
Since making 97 in the second Test against Sri Lanka in Cape Town at the New Year, Klusener had gone seven Tests and 11 innings in making just 110 runs at an average of 12.2. He needed some sort of score to justify his place in the Test side and he responded after South Africa had slipped from 359 for three to 377 for six in the hour before lunch.
Klusener, 29 not out at the interval, signalled his intentions in the over after lunch when he took two boundaries of Javagal Srinath to raise the 50 partnership off just 50 balls for the seventh wicket with Mark Boucher.
Boucher was almost completely becalmed during the early part of the afternoon, scoring only two singles in 52 minutes before he pulled Anil Kumble for four.
But with Klusener moving to his 50 off just 41 balls with a cover driven four off Zaheer Khan, the South African score continued to mount and when Boucher edged Srinath through the slips for four off the ball before drinks the partnership had grown to 103 in 96 minutes. Boucher, at this stage, had 32 not out.
The home team had seemed like to take a comfortable first innings lead after surviving for most of the first hour without losing a wicket, but after Jacques Kallis had been dismissed off the last ball before mid-morning drinks – making it 1 241 minutes since his previous dismissal in the fifth Test against the West Indies in Jamaica back in April – Srinath made further inroads.
The fourth South African wicket had fallen at 359 before the home side moved to within two runs of India’s first innings total of 379 when Srinath struck. With the third ball of his fourth over of the day he produced a perfect leg cutter that took the top of Boeta Dippenaar’s off stump. Dippenaar’s 20 was made up entirely of five boundaries in an81-minute stay at the crease and within a minute of his departure South Africa had lost their sixth wicket.
South African captain Shaun Pollock was caught off bat and pad off the first ball he faced, but Mark Boucher denied Srinath the hat-trick by playing his first delivery safely into the gully.
Lance Klusener, who is under some pressure to justify his place in the side, had come in at the fall of Kallis' wicket and he mixed several hefty blows with a little luck – at one point a leading edge flew down to third man for four as he aimed to hit Ashish Nehra past mid-on – to go to lunch on 29 with Boucher not out at this stage on 19.
The first innings deficit at this stage was 20, but with six wickets remaining South Africa were well-positioned to take a substantial first innings lead and with the match not yet at the halfway stage there was still ever possibility of a result.
India chose not to take the second new ball at the start of play, using Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan and Kallis, 49 overnight, finally went to his 50 in the fourth over of the morning when he chopped down late on Zaheer for a three down to third man. He had been at the crease for 159 minutes at that stage and had faced 105 balls.
Dippenaar, meanwhile, found himself unable to get off the mark against the left-arm seam of Zaheer and the legspin of Kumble. Finally, after he had been there for 28 minutes, Kumble dropped one short for Dippenaar to pull him through midwicket.
India eventually took the new ball in the 95th over of the innings with Kallis brushing a four down the leg side of Ashish Nehra that went dangerously close to wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta.
The new ball, however, did the trick for India when Kallis was forced onto the back foot by Nehra and the edge carried low to VVS Laxman at second slip where the Indian fielder took an excellent low catch. He had batted for 208 minutes and hit 10 fours while Dippenaar was not out on 12.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 05 Nov2001 - 18:35