7th Match: Australia v South Africa at Sydney, 22 Jan 2002 Claire Killeen |
Australia innings:
South Africa innings: |
Adam Gilchrist (8) was the man dismissed - bowled by captain Shaun Pollock (1/25) as he defended the ball off an inside edge back into his stumps. The breakthrough only represented a brief moment of relief for the South Africans, though, with Pollock being hammered to add to the woes that had mounted earlier in the day as he watched his side crumble to be dismissed for its miserable total.
Mark Waugh (22*) and Ricky Ponting (2*) enjoyed some fortunate escapes but neither lost his wicket to Pollock or to Makhaya Ntini (0/8) and Australia accordingly looks well on track for victory.
Waugh was dropped twice in the closing over of the session. The first slice of luck came as he fended at a short delivery from Pollock and sent the ball spearing wide to the right of wicketkeeper Mark Boucher and off his outstretched glove to the third man boundary.
The second close shave came from the very next delivery as he fended again and popped the ball off the shoulder of his bat toward point. Jonty Rhodes, normally the most reliable of fieldsmen, somehow seemed to misjudge the ball's flight, overrunning it and consequently grassing the ball with an attempt at an overhead catch to the dismay of Pollock and the other fielders.
South Africa has remained its own worst enemy for much of the day today and, unless something changes drastically when play resumes, appears out of this contest already. The fact that its players have contested three games in four days appears to be having an effect - because almost all of them appear well below their best.
Bichel snared career-best figures of 5/19 in the space of two spells, devastating the middle order as he removed Neil McKenzie (18), Jonty Rhodes (0), Mark Boucher (1) and Shaun Pollock (0) in lightning-quick succession, and then followed that effort with an extraordinary catch at the start of his second spell to dismiss Makhaya Ntini (0) and finish the innings.
Ntini drove firmly down the on side of the wicket but stood horrified as he watched his fellow fast bowler pluck the ball from mid-air with an amazing, leaping one handed catch to his right.
There are a few people dressed as Superman - not to mention a few other superheroes as well - in the crowd here today but not even they could have any qualms about Bichel classifying his performance as a superhuman one today either.
The Queenslander built brilliantly on the work of Glenn McGrath (3/29) and Jason Gillespie (1/27) who had earlier softened the South African upper order.
McGrath took two wickets in his opening spell to set the tone for the South African innings, removing Herschelle Gibbs (0) and youngster Boeta Dippenaar (0) to leave the total at 2/5.
Gillespie also bowled excellently, though he ultimately only had the scalp of Lance Klusener (0) to show for his hard work.
Tailender Steve Elworthy (18) was later left seeing stars of another form, receiving a sickening blow as he ducked into a short McGrath delivery travelling at 133 kilometres per hour on its path straight into his helmet. The all-rounder's helmet was dented and he was clearly shaken; though he batted on, he was later taken to St Vincent's Hospital for observation.
That the Proteas even advanced to a three-figure total was largely due to their disciplined opening batsman, Gary Kirsten (44). Before being trapped in front of his stumps by leg spinner Shane Warne (1/13), the left hander scored almost half of his team's runs as it crashed to its third lowest total in one-day international history.
South Africa's slide has now left Australia in an excellent position to shoot past it on the competition table later tonight.
An Australian win of any kind will push the home team past the Proteas. And, if victory is achieved inside 40 overs, the Australians will even receive the first bonus point of the series for their efforts.
Bowling from the Paddington End - having relieved the previously near-unplayable Glenn McGrath (2/18) - Bichel stunned the South African middle order, removing a quartet of the visitors' key strokemakers and helping himself to his best ever one-day international figures.
Neil McKenzie (18), Jonty Rhodes (0), Mark Boucher (1) and Shaun Pollock (0) all fell to the Queenslander as the Proteas plunged from a scoreline of 2/42 to 6/49 in the space of a disastrous half-hour.
Jason Gillespie (1/27) was the next fast bowler to hammer a nail into the Proteas coffin when he trapped pinch hitter Lance Klusener (0) in front of his stumps for the fourth duck of the innings. By this point, the tourists had fallen to a dismal 7/50 and the Australians' 12th and 13th men, Ian Harvey and Brett Lee, were doing far more running than the batsmen.
For as long as defiant opener Gary Kirsten (44) and McKenzie had been together at the crease, the visitors looked as though they may have been building toward a decent total. But, when Bichel defeated McKenzie with a stinging yorker, the South Africans were brought rapidly to their knees.
Kirsten remained - for a sustained period - the one shining light in South Africa's innings. He struggled against the new ball, and didn't always find it easy against Bichel either, but at least seemed to place the sort of price on his wicket that others around him did not.
Yet even this was not enough to ward the Australians off completely. The left hander eventually succumbed to an lbw decision as he walked across his crease and looked to slide a Shane Warne (1/7) delivery into the leg side in the leg spinner's second over.
With overs still remaining for each of Gillespie, McGrath and Bichel, the South Africans' prospects of so much as batting out the 50 overs - and/or pushing the score well in advance of the century mark - look remote.
Under skies covered by far more cloud than had been the case when brilliant sunshine prevailed earlier in the day, McGrath terrorised the South African upper order, striking with just his second legitimate delivery.
Opener Herschelle Gibbs (0) was well caught by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist after he played a defensive shot down the wrong line at an excellent McGrath delivery. The right hander went back and across, played off an outside edge and handed McGrath the figures of 1/1.
It represented the sixth time that the Australian spearhead has dismissed Gibbs in the one-day international arena.
After surviving some similarly wholehearted bowling from Jason Gillespie (0/18) at the other end, Boeta Dippenaar (0) succumbed as he attempted to cut a delivery that was too close to him for the shot and edged the ball to Shane Warne at first slip.
This earned McGrath the outstanding figures of 2/1 off two overs.
The momentum was briefly interrupted by the rain that had been confidently and correctly forecast by meteorologists to hit Sydney at some point of the afternoon. A heavy though brief shower interrupted play at the end of the fifth over, sparking the loss of 41 minutes of action.
It was not enough to cause any reduction in overs, though, and it also failed to halt the South Africans' struggle against the new ball.
McGrath and Gillespie continued to bowl an impeccable line and length and beat the bat with regularity as the defensive and watchful Gary Kirsten (16*) and Neil McKenzie (15*) tried to launch a recovery.
Kirsten hit a lovely boundary down the ground but proved how difficult the task remained as he played with uncertainty off the edge at Gillespie in the tenth over and saw the ball drop only a few inches short of Gilchrist.
Though South Africa currently holds a four point lead, Australia would move past it on the competition standings with a win tonight. A bonus point victory would move the Australians a point clear of the Proteas, while a regulation win would give the home country an edge on the head-to-head rule.
Having omitted talented opening batsman Matthew Hayden from their squad yesterday, the Australians have added Brett Lee and Ian Harvey to the list of players who will be absent from their eleven today. Andrew Symonds will continue to fill the all-rounder's role after a great bowling display in the previous match in the series in Brisbane, while Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh will be paired together at the top of the batting order.
Michael Bevan, rested for the last game, returns to the middle order in place of Hayden.
South Africa, having lost its last two games in the series - including Sunday's day-nighter against Australia at the 'Gabba - has been presented with further problems in the form of injury. The tourists have been unable to consider Allan Donald, Jacques Kallis and Justin Kemp for this match on account of such concerns, and have been forced to reshuffle their line-up as a consequence.
Donald has ongoing problems with a finger injury sustained last week in Hobart; Kallis' ankle is still playing up after he rolled it in a match in Melbourne early in the series; and Kemp injured himself in a bizarre incident with a beach ball in his hotel room.
The all-rounder was reportedly attempting to kick the beach ball but the momentum caused him to fracture his hand against a wall.
Makhaya Ntini is at least over his hamstring twinge and he returns to the eleven along with batsman Boeta Dippenaar. All-rounder Charl Langeveldt has been omitted.
In a nice touch at the start of the day, the man who tossed the coin for the two captains was Woy Woy volunteer firefighter, Daniel Franich.
Franich won a competition to gain the honour, and to provide himself with a welcome break from the memory of battling major blazes on the Central Coast for much of the past month.
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Date-stamped : 22 Jan2002 - 14:56