Ken Borland

Herschelle Gibbs returned to Indian Premier League action and the manner in which he did so suggests the South African veteran could have a key role to play for the Mumbai Indians as the playoffs rapidly approach.

Gibbs played his first game of this year’s IPL competition last week, having sat out due to a combination of a broken finger and Mumbai preferring James Franklin and Richard Levi, but if people thought the 38-year-old’s T20 career was on the wane, he quickly disabused them of the notion with a well-considered 66 not off 58 balls against the high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Western Cape star played the perfect supporting role to Rohit Sharma, who made a sensational century, as they added 167 off 106 deliveries for the second wicket, the third highest partnership in IPL history.

With Gibbs back to form a dangerous opening partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai now seem to have the batting to back up their powerful bowling attack and you would have to tip them as one of the favourites for the title.

It was another satisfactory week in terms of South African performances in the IPL, with lanky fast bowler Morne Morkel still top of the pole in terms of wickets taken.

Morkel locked down top spot by taking two wickets in three matches, although the Delhi Daredevils spearhead did go for more runs than he has previously, with figures of 1-35 against Kolkata, 1-32 against the Chargers and 0-31 against Chennai.

His brother Albie made an impressive return to action for the Super Kings after going home for Louis Vorster’s funeral, hitting two towering sixes as he lashed 18 not out off six balls as the defending champions beat the Rajasthan Royals in an exciting finish. He has also settled back nicely into his role of new-ball bowler, providing good support for Ben Hilfenhaus with figures of 0-19 in three overs against the Royals and 1-15 in four overs against the lethal Delhi Daredevils top-order.

Jacques Kallis continues to perform, without any airs or graces, for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

He starred with the bat in the loss to the Mumbai Indians, scoring 79 off 60 balls, although 40 runs would come off his four overs.

Kallis bowled superbly against the Delhi Daredevils, however, removing deadly openers David Warner and Virender Sehwag and conceding just 20 runs in his four overs, before scoring 30 off 27 balls in the succcessful run-chase and winning the man of the match award.

It would be an extremely frustrating week for South Africa’s other two major stars at the IPL – AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis.

Because he is inexplicably being batted so low by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the marvellously in-form De Villiers would bat just once in his two matches and face just four balls, scoring nine not out.

Du Plessis did not play for the Super Kings last week due to illness and would like to climb back up the run-scorer’s table after initially holding the Orange Cap but now slipping down to 11th place.

Dale Steyn returned to action for the Deccan Chargers after a foot niggle and tried his best to deny the Punjab Kings XI victory in their thriller at Mohali, but his outstanding figures of 2-26 in four overs were not supported at the other end.

Off-spinner Johan Botha also returned to action and fine form for the Rajasthan Royals, bowling 12 overs for just 73 runs and taking three wickets, sending him into the top 15 of the most economical bowlers who have delivered at least 25 overs.

Other South African performances: Wayne Parnell – 2* & 2-0-12-1 Pune Warriors v Rajasthan Royals; David Miller – 28* off 18 balls Punjab Kings XI v Deccan Chargers; Juan Theron – 4-0-29-0 & 7* Deccan Chargers v Punjab Kings XI; JP Duminy – 13* off 9 balls Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils; Alfonso Thomas – 4-0-46-0 & 7 Pune Warriors v Bangalore Royal Challengers; Roelof van der Merwe – 3-0-17-0 Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings.

Did not play: Marchant de Lange (KKR), Robin Peterson (MI), Faf du Plessis (CSK), Richard Levi (MI), Gulam Bodi (DD), Kyle Abbott (PK), Davey Jacobs (MI), Charl Langeveldt (BRC), Rilee Rossouw (BRC).

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120514/A_week_for_the_veterans

The Kolkata Knight Riders were hard-pressed to match Rohit Sharma’s sensational century and they subsided to a 27-run defeat at the hands of the Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League match at Eden Gardens on Saturday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/article.aspx?id=1378591

Rohit’s dazzling 109 not out off just 60 balls left Kolkata with a daunting target of 183 and they could only manage 155 for four.

As much as Rohit’s innings took the match away from the Knight Riders, the Mumbai bowlers were all disciplined and accurate, with the batsmen particularly unable to crack the code of Lasith Malinga (4-0-27-0) and Kieron Pollard (4-0-29-1).

Kolkata also got off to the worst of starts as they crashed to three for two in the second over.

Munaf Patel picked up the key wicket of Gautam Gambhir when he bowled him for a duck, while Manvinder Bisla (1) top-edged a slog-sweep off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and was caught by Munaf.

The innings obviously needed rebuilding, but the steady increase of the required run-rate was also a major problem for the Knight Riders.

Jacques Kallis, being the great professional that he is, refused to give in, however, as fought valiantly for his 79 off 60 balls. But, on a slow pitch and against a softening ball, he was unable to reproduce the explosiveness of Rohit and was forced to attempt various innovations he would barely have tried in practice.

Kallis shared a partnership of 57 in 8.2 overs with Manoj Tiwary (27), which lifted Kolkata’s hopes but ultimately he and Yusuf Pathan were left with too much to do at the end.

Malinga’s incredible ability to find the blockhole prescribes that batsmen are limited to ones and twos against him and Pollard also ensured that there would be no late dramatics as he trapped Tiwary lbw and bowled two overs for 11 runs at the death.

Pathan produced an innings of 40 not out off 31 balls that was a welcome relief to him individually after a wretched run of form but not nearly enough to change the news that Mumbai have now jumped into third place on the log.

SECOND FIDDLE

With Rohit in prime form and Herschelle Gibbs back to form a dangerous opening partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, Mumbai now have the batting to back up their powerful bowling attack and must be considered one of the favourites for the title.

Mumbai will also be delighted with their all-round bowling effort as pace bowlers Munaf (4-0-32-1) and Dwayne Smith (4-0-32-1) backed up Malinga and Pollard well.

The brilliance of Rohit carried the Mumbai Indians to a daunting 182 for one as he played one of the innings of the tournament as he belted his highest T20 score. The 25-year-old’s tremendous talent was obvious as he stroked 12 fours and five sixes.

The match also marked the return of Gibbs to IPL action and the veteran scored a well-considered 66 not off 58 balls, playing the perfect supporting role to Rohit as they added 167 off 106 deliveries for the second wicket.

The Mumbai Indians had won the toss and elected to bat first with the conditions not expected to get any better for the batsmen, and the Knight Riders struck an early blow when Shakib al-Hasan removed Tendulkar for two in the third over.

The Little Master was drawn forward to drive, but the left-arm spinner managed to get enough away movement from a quicker delivery to beat the bat and sharp wicketkeeper Bisla had the bails off in a flash.

Gibbs took three beautiful off-side boundaries off Brett Lee’s first over, but Rohit quickly marked himself as the star of the show. He hit Shakib for two fours and a six in his third over and had drawn level with Gibbs on 24 as Mumbai reached 50 off 37 balls.

Hitting boundaries to all points of the compass, Rohit raced to his half-century off 29 balls.

Kolkata’s bowlers looked powerless as Rohit had a shot for every ball, but mystery spinner Sunil Narine has baffled most batsmen in this tournament and Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir really should have bowled the West Indian against him for more than just one over in the first half of his innings.

Gibbs by this stage had committed himself to playing second fiddle and he fed Rohit the strike well as the duo raised their century partnership off 71 deliveries.

Rohit conquered Eden Gardens itself as this is just the third century scored on the famous ground’s slow pitch, the Indian prospect going to his maiden T20 hundred as he pushed Lee to midwicket for a rare single off his 52nd ball.

Gibbs went to his fifty, off 48 deliveries, off the next delivery as Mumbai went to 156 for one after 17 overs. But they managed to score just 26 runs off the last three overs as Lee and Kallis conceded just 12 runs in the last two overs.

The spinners, Shakib (4-0-27-1) and Narine (4-0-28-0) were the best of the Kolkata bowlers in the face of the third highest partnership in IPL history. The record is held by Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh, who added 206 for the second wicket for the Punjab Kings XI against Bangalore in Dharamsala last year.

David Warner and Naman Ojha added an unbroken 189 for the second wicket for the Delhi Daredevils against the Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad just two days ago.

Chris Gayle sent the Royal Challengers Bangalore off on the right foot and they maintained control to complete a 35-run victory over the Pune Warriors in their Indian Premier League match at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Friday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/article.aspx?id=1377831

Gayle was once again batting on another planet as his sensational opening onslaught of 57 off 31 balls steered the Royal Challengers to 173 for three, which was always likely to be enough after Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar knocked off the cream of the Pune top-order.

Zaheer switched from over the wicket to around and immediately earned an lbw decision from umpire Billy Bowden against Mohnish Mishra (4) and, two balls later, the left-armer showed his wonderful skills with a delivery that pitched off and hit off to remove Manish Pandey for a duck.

Australian captain Michael Clarke is no doubt unaccustomed to being affiliated with such a struggling side as the basement-dwelling Pune Warriors and he confidently hit out, stroking a couple of boundaries in his 13 off 10 balls before his heave to leg off Vinay found the hands of Manoj Tiwary at deep midwicket.

Pune were 22 for three but Anustup Majumdar then linked up with Robin Uthappa to add 50 for the fourth wicket off just 28 balls.

But the dismissals of both batsmen – Uthappa was stumped by AB de Villiers off Muttiah Muralitharan for 38 off 23 balls and Majumdar was well-caught by Zaheer off Harshal Patel for 31 – left the Warriors in need of a miracle with 72 needed off 35 balls and just four wickets left.

Wicketkeeper De Villiers also claimed the scalp of Angelo Mathews (4), who charged down the pitch and played the worst shot of the match to be stumped off left-arm spinner KP Appanna.

At 105 for six after 15 overs, it was obvious that the Challengers would be victorious and the brilliant bowling of Muralitharan, Zaheer and Vinay ensured that the victory would be comprehensive, the eighth-biggest in terms of runs in this year’s IPL.

The experience and class of Zaheer (4-0-21-2) and Muralitharan (4-0-16-2) spearheaded the Bangalore attack, while Vinay finished with the impressive figures of three for 32.

Gayle’s belligerence had earlier taken Bangalore to 80 for one in the ninth over but, despite Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 53, the visitors faded away in the second half of their innings. Coach Ray Jennings is an independent thinker, but his continued refusal to bat De Villiers higher than number five is an outrage and a major topic of discussion.

De Villiers was left in the dugout until the 18th over and could face just four balls, scoring nine not out, before the end of the innings.

The Indian newspapers will once again be full of another spectacular innings by Gayle, who was ruthless from the outset, hitting the first and last balls of the third over bowled by Krishnakant Upadhyay for six.

The left-hander then had no pity on seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he belted him for four sixes in the sixth over, reaching his half-century off just 24 balls, the fastest in this year’s IPL.

But the impressive Mathews greatly limited the damage as he had Gayle caught at long-on, flat-batting a slower ball, and the Challengers finished with a total that was under expectations given their start.

Captain Virat Kohli under-performed again as he was caught off the leading edge at short-cover off leg-spinner Rahul Sharma for just nine and Dilshan eventually fell for 53 off 44 balls as he was run out, backing up too far, by the quick-thinking Alfonso Thomas.

The last three overs were the only section of the second half of the innings in which the Bangalore batsmen dominated as Saurabh Tiwary finally threatened the crowd with two fours and a six and De Villiers hit the last ball of the innings for six as well.

Tiwary scratched around without much purpose for most of his innings, finishing with 36 not out off 30 balls, which didn’t bother the home crowd much. He was also unable to rotate the strike effectively, which meant De Villiers was not able to face anything more than a handful of deliveries.

Mathews was a cut above the other Pune bowlers, removing Gayle in full flight and conceding just three runs in the 16th over as he finished with one for 14 in three overs.

Corrie van Zyl, CSA’s General Manager of cricket, says attitudes need to change and the focus must be on the amateur game if the newly-instituted transformation fund is to succeed in its developmental goals.

Cricket South Africa this week announced the establishment of a dedicated transformation fund, in line with the agreements they signed with the department of sport and Sascoc.

The fund will go towards improving facilities and creating more opportunities for youngsters to play cricket. As acting president Willie Basson pointed out at the launch, more than 80% of the population under the age of 15 is ethnic African.

“The transformation fund that has just been announced means there’s going to be greater effort in pushing for transformation and funds for new projects, but it’s all about our attitudes towards our country. If our attitude isn’t right, then it’s not going to happen. What’s in our hearts matters most and South African cricket will not be strong without its amateur base.

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