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Ken Borland



Another habitual batting collapse by SA 0

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Ken

South Africa staged one of their habitual batting collapses as they were bowled out for 147 and lost to Zimbabwe by 29 runs in their Pran RFL T20 Triangular Series match at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.

20th over – WICKET – Lonwabo Tsotsobe swings across a full, straight delivery from Kyle Jarvis and is bowled for one.

19th over – WICKET – Marchant de Lange misses a loose drive at a Richard Muzhange yorker and is bowled for three.

18th over – Christopher Mpofu settles the outcome with two wickets in another outstanding over. WICKET – Robin Peterson falls for 13 to the first ball of the over as he tries to slog-sweep another Mpofu slower ball, but can only sky it straight upwards, the bowler himself taking the catch. Mpofu rather foolishly bowls a short ball with fine leg up and Colin Ingram pulls it behind square for four. WICKET – All hope is gone now for South Africa as Ingram tries to heave yet another slower ball straight down the ground, but can only sky it to deep mid-on, where Vusi Sibanda hangs on to the catch this time! Ingram’s 48 off 39 balls was a defiant but ultimately unsuccessful effort.
17th over – Muzhange spoils an outstanding over with a last-ball full toss which Ingram muscles straight down the ground for six.

16th over – Clever batting by Peterson brings 10 runs off the last three balls of Jarvis’s over. The left-hander shovels a good full ball between long-on and cow-corner for his first boundary and then ends the over with a brave scoop from off-stump, behind the wicket and away to the boundary.

15th over – WICKET – Muzhange returns and claims the wicket of the dangerous Albie Morkel with his first ball back! It’s a rank bad ball that does the trick, though, as the left-handed Morkel bottom-edges a cut at a very wide delivery and is caught behind for 10.

14th over – Cremer’s figures take a battering in his final over which costs 15 runs. Morkel starts the over by easing a straight drive majestically for six, before the leg-spinner pitches too short and is pulled fine for four by Ingram, who then drives crisply through wide mid-on for four more.

12th over – Cremer strikes again! WICKET – JP Duminy (6) runs down the pitch and past a Cremer googly. The left-hander is so far down the track that wicketkeeper Brendan Taylor can afford to fumble the ball, drop it, fumble again and then only effect the stumping on the third attempt! A key wicket though for Zimbabwe.

11th over – Colin Ingram strikes back with a sweetly-struck sweep for six off Prosper Utseya.

10th over – Two wickets in two balls for Cremer! WICKET – Justin Ontong (4) uses his feet but he ends up chipping a cramped drive to Utseya at cover. WICKET – Dane Vilas then tries to cut his first ball, but it’s a big-turning googly and he ends up chopping the ball on to his stumps!

9th over – WICKET – Utseya gets the key wicket, rather gifted to him by Richard Levi, who just plonks a short-arm pull into the hands of Craig Ervine at cow-corner. Levi played some great shots though in his 40 off 28 balls.

7th over – Medium-pacer Muzhange comes on and Levi launches a no-ball straight out of the ground for a magnificent six! The free hit brings just a single as Muzhange finds the blockhole.

6th over – Off-spinner Utseya comes on but Ingram collects four runs off his second delivery with a beautifully-timed late-cut. Utseya ends the over with a full toss, which Ingram bashes down the ground for four more.

5th over – Ingram is dropped first ball as he tries to pull a bouncer outside off stump from Mpofu and Sibanda drops a sitter running in to square-leg! Poor Mpofu then concedes a boundary off the last ball of the over via a nifty leg-glance by Levi.

4th over – Jarvis is surprisingly kept on and goes even worse as Levi gets stuck into him. Levi effortlessly slog-sweeps a one-bounce four, drives a low full toss crisply through extra cover for another four and then strokes a six over long-on.

3rd over – WICKET – Mpofu’s impressive start continues with a wicket! Hashim Amla tries to drive on the up again, this time over mid-on, but skews a slower-ball up in the air and Hamilton Masakadza takes a good back-pedalling catch. Amla is out for 11 off seven balls.

2nd over – Jarvis undoes the fine work done by Mpofu in the first over as he concedes 14 runs, including three boundaries through the covers – two by Amla and one by Levi.

Zimbabwe innings

Zimbabwe’s top three were in the groove as they steered them to 176 for four in their Twenty20 Triangular Series match against South Africa at the Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.

20th over – A lucky start to the final over for Marchant de Lange as his first ball is a wretched, short delivery down leg and Brendan Taylor somehow manages to glove it to wicketkeeper Dane Vilas, who takes a good catch diving forward. Captain Taylor’s 38 off 21 balls ensured a great finish for the innings though.

19th over – Full and wide from Albie Morkel and Taylor just chips it straight back over his head for four.

18th over – Superb batting by Taylor! Wayne Parnell bowls a half-volley which the Zimbabwe captain short-arm punches over long-on for a magnificently-timed six. Taylor then bashes a short ball and a full delivery through the covers for boundaries!

17th over – A good over from Morkel is spoilt as Taylor’s pull-drive off the last ball flies to deep midwicket, where Justin Ontong drops the catch and spills the ball over the boundary for six!

16th over – An eventful Parnell over! His first ball is driven very high back over his head by Vusi Sibanda and Richard Levi drops a steepling catch! Parnell drops the next ball short and Sibanda smashes a pull shot through midwicket for four. WICKET – But two balls later, Sibanda tries to heave the left-arm seamer leg-side, but can only slice a catch high to Lonwabo Tsotsobe at deep backward point. Sibanda’s 58 off 50 balls as been a really useful innings, but he’s out at a bad time for Zimbabwe. WICKET – Parnell claims a second wicket with the last ball of the over as Elton Chigumbura pulls his first ball, but mistimes it to Colin Ingram at deep midwicket.

14th over – WICKET – The fantastic opening stand is eventually broken on 114 as Masakadza skies a slog-sweep off Robin Peterson to Colin Ingram at cow-corner. Left-arm spinner Peterson held that delivery back well. Masakadza’s 55 off 39 balls was a mighty fine innings though!

13th over – Parnell is introduced for the first time and drags a slower-ball down leg, Sibanda whipping it through backward square-leg for four.

12th over – The part-time spin of Justin Ontong is employed, but the gamble doesn’t pay off as 14 runs come from the over. Two attempted leg-breaks come out as long-hops and are spanked for four through the covers and six over long-on by Masakadza.

11th over – Tsotsobe returns but Masakadza plays an expert paddle-sweep to collect four runs past short fine-leg.

10th over – Sibanda breaks the boundary-drought as he leans back and launches Peterson straight over long-off for a majestic six!

5th over – De Lange’s first ball of his second over is too full and Sibanda lambasts it through the covers for another boundary. Four balls later, it’s stand and deliver from Masakadza as he swats the fast bowler over wide long-on for four more.

4th over – Tsotsobe overpitches and Sibanda drives the ball superbly straight back over the bowler’s head for four.

3rd over – De Lange starts with a short ball outside off stump and Masakadza cracks it for four with a beautiful back-foot square-drive.

2nd over – Sibanda steps forward and heaves Tsotsobe high and handsome over backward square-leg for a big six!

1st over – Masakadza edges a turning delivery from Peterson just short of Albie Morkel lunging at slip, but ends the over well with a confident sweep shot for four.

Herath earns Sri Lanka shock win 0

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Ken

Diminutive left-arm spinner Rangana Herath took five wickets as Sri Lanka beat South Africa by 208 runs on the fourth day of the second test at Kingsmead on Thursday.

    It was Sri Lanka’s first test victory in South Africa in nine attempts and follows their defeat by an innings at Centurion in the first test. The islanders have also been through a 15-match winless streak since the retirement of world record wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan.

    South Africa were chasing a highly unlikely 450 for victory, but their batsmen once again let them down as they were bowled out for 241 with nine balls left in the day’s play.

    The hosts’ top-order collapsed dismally after lunch, slumping to 133 for six before AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn fought hard for two-and-a-quarter hours.

    Herath was the star performer, taking five for 79 in 30.3 overs, giving him nine wickets in the test and the man of the match award.

    But pace bowler Dilhara Fernando (13-3-29-2) can also take credit for bowling South Africa out in two-and-a-half sessions.

    De Villiers and Steyn added 99 for the seventh wicket and looked set to see South Africa through to stumps before Herath returned with a second new ball that was just three overs old.

    He quickly trapped De Villiers lbw for 69 with an arm-ball, ending a determined innings by the South African vice-captain. De Villiers faced 141 balls and he hit six fours and a six.

    Morne Morkel then slogged at part-time spinner Tillekeratne Dilshan, missed and was out leg-before for five.

    With bad light threatening to end play for the day, Herath then removed Steyn, for an impressive, fighting innings of 43, and last man Marchant de Lange (0) in the space of three balls to end the match.

    Sri Lanka were closing in on victory as the hosts collapsed to 136 for six at tea, Jacques Kallis completing the first pair of his test career as South Africa lost five wickets for 50 runs in the afternoon session.

Kallis faced six balls without getting off the mark, before top-edging a sweep at Herath into his helmet, from where the ball looped to short-leg.

Kallis, playing in his 149th test, was initially given not out by umpire Steve Davis, but Sri Lanka had the decision overturned on appeal.

Jacques Rudolph (22) had chased the fourth ball after lunch from Thisara Perera, edging a wide ball into the slips, where Mahela Jayawardene took another fine catch.

Hashim Amla looked set to play a major innings as he reached 51, but he dashed off for a quick single to mid-on off Herath, which was turned down by Ashwell Prince, leaving him stranded.

Prince was out for seven half-an-hour later when a lifter from Fernando forced him to edge a catch into the slips; and Mark Boucher battled hard before being trapped lbw by Herath, also for seven.

Rudolph and Amla had taken South Africa to 86 for one at lunch after being asked to chase what would have been a world-record winning score to prevent Sri Lanka levelling the three-match series.

South Africa comfortably reached 37 without loss before Fernando extracted steep bounce and forced captain Graeme Smith (26) to edge a slip catch to Jayawardene.

Earlier, Steyn took two of Sri Lanka’s last three wickets as the tourists added just 23 runs to their overnight total before they were dismissed for 279 in their second innings.

Steyn ended with figures of five for 73 in 20 overs to complete the 17th five-wicket haul of his test career.

    The third and final test is in Cape Town from January 3. 


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