Sunday, March 6, 2011

England fight back magnificently and win !



This is great fightback by England. Anderson gets two wickets, Yardy one and four wickets fall within the space of 3 runs. One run out, two wickets by Anderson and one by the left arm spinner, Yardy and it is now Advantage England !

Now the match is in the 'thriller' state. 40 runs to win off 72 balls, with 3 wickets in hand.

Just now Prior has let go a chance, off Pietersen. This is going to be a humdinger of a match.

Dale Steyn has hit 14 off 14 balls and now SA need only 22 off 48 balls. The inexperienced Van Wyk is now partnering Steyn and anthing can happen !

Earlier Stuart Broad, removed Amla and Kallis and now SA are now 150/7. Three wickets fell when the score was 124 ! What a dramatic game !

The experience of Dale Steyn is proving very important here as he advises van Wyk. Mind you, SA has a long tail.

This is proving to be a great match, only 18 needed ! But then England is bowling well, with Anderson and Broad is great form !

Now Eng need 13 off 24 balls, a great humdinger of a match> We are enjoying every moment of it, with SA pushing forward and Eng bowling and fielding magnificently to deny them victory. Will it be a tie like last one ?

Now Bresnan has struck, removing van Wyk for 13 and SA are 160/8. Morne Morkel now has joined Steyn and SA need 12 !

Terrific game ! It is a game of nerves ! Now SA need 9 runs only, with two wickets in hand. Off 19 balls !

Dale Steyn is now lbw to Broad. They have gone in for a Review, but it looks plumb. He is out and now SA need 8, with only one wicket left. Well played, Dale Steyn !

Steyn was beaten by an inswinger from Broad, who is bowling intelligently. Morkel is now caught behind off Broad and England win by 6 runs ! SA bowled out for 165 ! Broad is amongst wickets, with a haul of 4/15!

"We are not chokers, we will lift the Cup" Smith had said earlier, but today's performance hardly affirmed that statement. SA were at once stage 63 for no wicket, when the great collapse started. Ten wickets fell for 102 runs ! As Trevor Bailey used to say " It was the situation" which became the villain of the piece.

Smith was angered by UDRS, when he was given out by the Review. The umpire Ashoka De Silva took five minutes to dedide that Smitha had gloved a ball from Swann into the hands of Prior.

On the other hand, Strauss seconded UDRS.

"We were absolutely happy because we were absolutely certain that he gloved the ball," Andrew Strauss said. "I was fielding at slip and there was a sound. In that sense, it was the right decision." said the suave, polished English captain.

India was angered by the UDRS, when Ian Bell was given not out. Cricket India has been sceptical of the system.

England again benefited from the system, but was disadavantaged as De Silva took the same amount of time to overturn Simon Taufel's ruling that Duminy has been caught behind !

Kallis proved that he is a gentleman when he asked Prior whether he had taken the catch and walked off. He had asked the same question to Benn and he had also walked off. Well done, Jacques, that is the gentleman's spirit !

Meanwhile, Mike Hussey will be joining the AUS WC squad. Dirk Nannes, the Victorian paceman, will accompany him.

"Our campaign is right on track" said Strauss. "Our guys showed a lot of fighting spirit. We needed that after our defeat against Ireland. A win is all you need to kick-start things. I hope our campaign is back on track."

"At the break, we knew that the wicket would deteriorate.

"However it was criminal to lose three quick wickets when we batted. But it was an easy wicket to bowl on. Swann was outstanding and the seamers banged the bowl at length."

Smith, the SA captain, seemed disappointed. "We did well for the most part of the game. We started very well with our batting but lost a few wickets in the middle and things became tough. Chasing was difficult on this track. But there are a few things we need to improve before we play our next game against India."

Man of the Match, Ravi Bopara, was shocked at the amount of turn the pitch had to offer.

"I was surprised with the amount of turn that was on offer. Me and Trotty (Jonathan Trott) were looking at a total of around 200 which would have been tough to chase. At the beginning, I didn't expect to come out to bat at the score of 15 for three especially with the top quality batsmen that we have. Basically, I was very that I was back in the playing XI." said the swashbuckling batsman.

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