Ken Borland

An inspired innings by Ben Stokes carried the England Lions to a series-clinching 89-run win over South Africa A in their limited-overs match in Mamelodi on Monday.

The England Lions posted a massive 378 for six after being sent in to bat, with Stokes playing an amazing innings of 151 not out off just 86 deliveries. He came in with the tourists on 123 for three in the 24^th over and built his innings superbly. He was away briskly, reaching his 50 off 46 deliveries, before exploding in the last 10 overs, during which the tourists plundered 153 runs.

Stokes needed just 27 more balls to reach his century and another 13 for his 150 as he lashed nine sixes in the last 15 deliveries he faced, the tourists slamming 83 runs in the last five overs.

The key partnership for the England Lions was the 132 Stokes and Sam Billings (56 off 33) added for the fifth wicket in just 10.4 overs.

The quality of the SA A death bowling was extremely poor and coach Vincent Barnes admitted that he would have loved to have seen more yorkers bowled.

“In terms of death bowling, there seem to be some different trends going on in the country at the moment, but I’m an old school coach and I was quite surprised how few yorkers were used. We were trying far too many different things and with just four fielders allowed to be out, all those different lines and lengths make it very difficult.

“It’s a very under-rated delivery, the neglected art of yorkers, it’s not practised enough because you need to spend hours and hours on it,” Barnes said after the defeat.

Chris Morris was the only SA A bowler to have a reasonable day, taking three for 50 and doing a good job in the closing overs.

Morris then came to the fore again with the bat, lashing 58 not out off 33 balls to provide some late cheer to an SA A innings that never really threatened the English total.

The home side lost Reeza Hendricks (9), Stiaan van Zyl (28) and Theunis de Bruyn (9) cheaply as the required run-rate rose, but Dean Elgar battled along gamely as he scored a fine 79 off 84 balls.

There were sprinklings of boundaries from Justin Ontong (22) and Dane Vilas (29), but they were surely fighting a losing cause.

David Wiese (37) and Morris were briefly threatening, but Stokes then used the yorker to great effect to bowl Wiese and Marchant de Lange (0) in the same over.

Three wickets for Stokes merely added to the celebrations for the controversial omission from England’s World Cup squad, while opening batsman Jason Roy also had cause for happiness, his 67 off 72 balls up front providing an ideal platform for the all-rounder.

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An impressive performance by the Unlimited Titans pacemen saw them to a thrilling 12-run win on the Duckworth/Lewis Method over the bizhub Highveld Lions in their Momentum One-Day Cup match at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday.

The Titans, having been sent in to bat, posted a challenging 255 for nine in their 50 overs thanks to an inspired late blast from Qaasim Adams, but a three-hour delay caused by wet patches after a 20-minute rain shower, left the Lions with an adjusted target of 149 in 20 overs, which should have been an easy task given that they had all 10 wickets in hand when they resumed on 10 without loss after 1.5 overs.

But an aggressive approach from JP de Villiers, Ethy Mbhalati and Junior Dala, bowling just outside off stump and often getting steep bounce, blew away the Lions top-order as they crashed to 46 for four.

The Lions were grateful to Alviro Petersen for a counterpunching 48 off 36 balls otherwise they wouldn’t have had any chance of victory.

Petersen was dismissed, however, in the 15^th over, after taking 16 runs off slow bowler Graeme van Buuren’s over and then promptly hitting a full toss to De Villiers running in from long-on.

De Villiers bowled out his four overs up front, finishing with excellent figures of two for 20, and Mbhalati (4-0-25-1) and Dala (4-0-19-1) were left to handle the closing overs. They weren’t scared to bowl short and extracted tremendous bounce from the grey-coloured pitch, making it very difficult for bowlers Matt McGillivray and Hardus Viljoen (16*) to score the 48 runs they needed off the last five overs.

Grant Thomson then sealed victory for the Titans in the glorious late afternoon sunshine, dismissing McGillivray (16) and Bjorn Fortuin (0) in the final over as the Lions closed on 136 for eight.

Adams showed what a fine batsman he is as his late hitting carried the Titans to a daunting 255 for nine.

The Willowmoore Park pitch provided the bowlers with assistance – especially in terms of steep bounce – and Adams provided a crucial late boost to the Titans innings with his 59 off 56 balls.

Veteran Jacques Rudolph showed that he is still on top of his game as he made a solid 77 off 105 balls at the top of the order.

Adams came to the crease with the Titans struggling on 146 for five, which soon became 181 for seven, but he played in measured fashion to make sure he was still in when the closing overs arrived. He then took a liking to Pumelela Matshikwe and McGillivray, finishing with four fours and two sixes as the Titans scored 52 runs in the last six overs.

The Titans had been sent in to bat and there was little sign of the troubles ahead when they reached 104 for one after 23 overs.

Henry Davids had been dismissed for 18 in the 15^th over when he tried to sweep left-arm spinner Fortuin and was caught at backward square-leg, but Rudolph and Heino Kuhn then added a run-a-ball 52.

That promising partnership ended though when Kuhn swiped wrist-spinner Eddie Leie to long-off to be dismissed for 23.

Van Buuren came in and struck a couple of boundaries but was then trapped lbw on the back foot when he should have been forward, for 11, by McGillivray.

Thomson was then bowled for 10 as he tried to sweep Fortuin but missed, and the Titans had crashed to 146 for five when Mangaliso Mosehle (1) was bowled by the 20-year-old.

Rudolph soldiered on though, stroking seven fours and a six, but he was caught behind when McGillivray found the perfect length, as well as some extra bounce and nip away.

When Albie Morkel was bounced out for 2 by Viljoen, the Titans were in danger of being bowled out for less than 200, but Adams took charge and received stout assistance from De Villiers, who scored 26 off 18 balls.

There was something of a pall around the Lions camp after their dismal display against the Knights on Friday night, but they produced a better bowling display on Sunday.

McGillivray was able to make life hard for the batsmen as he bowled a super length, finishing with three for 49 with Adams carting him for two fours and a six in the penultimate over to tarnish his figures.

The young seamer had the last laugh though when he had Adams caught at long-off, Temba Bavuma taking a superb leaping catch.

Fortuin took three for 47, while Viljoen bowled well at the death to finish with two for 52, 13 runs coming off his first over courtesy of four wides, two of which went to the boundary.

http://citizen.co.za/318795/titans-thrill-crowd-beat-lions/

An overwhelming batting display – Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw blazing their way to centuries – carried South Africa to a comfortable 131-run victory over the West Indies in the fifth and final Momentum One-Day International at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday night.

With Amla and Rossouw slamming a record 247 runs for the third wicket off just 181 balls, South Africa charging to 361 for five after bad weather delayed the start of play by two-and-a-half hours and reduced the match to 42 overs per side, the hosts were always in control and they duly bowled the West Indies out for 230 in 37.4 overs.

Their batsmen having once again produced the goods, South Africa’s second-string bowling attack were eager to please but, Wayne Parnell apart, they showed that the Proteas cannot be complacent in the field when they get to the World Cup.

Kyle Abbott managed to dismiss dangerman Chris Gayle with the first ball of the innings, the left-hander only getting a thin edge as he flashed at an ill-directed opener short and well wide of off stump. The Proteas had to get the dismissal on review as umpire Sundaram Ravi called the delivery wide.

Abbott continued to spray the ball about, and although he claimed a second wicket with a full, straight delivery that bowled Marlon Samuels for 50, he persisted with banging the ball in halfway down the pitch and went for 59 runs in seven overs to finish a disappointing series for him.

Narsingh Deonarine (43) and Dwayne Smith (31) added 77 at a run-a-ball for the second wicket to repair the early damage, but Aaron Phangiso fooled Smith with the arm-ball to trap him lbw and Deonarine failed to get back in time as Samuels turned down a quick single and was run out in the left-arm spinner’s next over.

Samuels went on to score a quickfire half-century before being castled by what replays suggested was an Abbott no-ball, while Denesh Ramdin made a run-a-ball 40 before being undone by a sharp lifter from Parnell, gloving a catch to square-leg, where Amla moved smartly and dived to take a fine catch.

Parnell would be the best of the South African bowlers by some margin, taking four for 42 in nine overs, while fast bowler Marchant de Lange, who will not be going to the World Cup, enjoyed standing in for Vernon Philander (slight groin strain) and took one for 34 in eight tidy overs.

Although the West Indies’ batsmen never threatened to win the match, South Africa’s bowling was not precise enough for them to be happy with their performance in the field. Even Parnell tended to stick to back-of-a-length deliveries, which will be fodder for better batting line-ups at the World Cup.

Rossouw proved his credentials with the World Cup just around the corner as he lashed a great century, helping himself to a career-best 132 off just 98 balls, with nine fours and eight sixes, and Amla cruised to yet another century, scoring a fine 133 off 105 deliveries.

Rossouw and Amla added 247 for the third wicket off just 181 balls, a record third-wicket partnership for South Africa and equalling their own mark for the best stand for any wicket that they set in the second ODI at the Wanderers.

It was another top-class batting display by the South Africans, even with big gun AB de Villiers having a rest, as they laid a solid platform on a tricky pitch and then launched a spectacular late onslaught.

A couple of wickets had fallen in the first 10 overs as Quinton de Kock (4) and Faf du Plessis (16) fell to horizontal-bat strokes on a pitch that provided enough awkward bounce to make those shots difficult.

Amla once again looked in a class apart as he reached a 49-ball half-century in the 21^st over, midway through the innings with South Africa on 109 for two, while Rossouw, who has endured a troubled ODI career thus far, struggled through to his 50 off 60 balls.

But those early miscues all seemed a lifetime ago as Rossouw then blossomed in spectacular fashion, needing just 23 more deliveries to register his second century of the series.

The left-hander raced past Amla and looked every bit a power-hitter as he smashed 82 runs off his last 38 balls.

Amla just kept on amassing runs as he has all series, except in this innings he was able to do it in half-dozens at a time, clearing the boundary six times to go with his 11 fours, showing that even a great batsman like him has had room to improve his game.

The West Indies were bleeding runs horrifically as the sun shone brightest on its way to the western horizon, bathing SuperSport Park in a sepia light befitting a display that was one for the ages.

The last 147 runs of the Amla and Rossouw partnership came off just 69 balls … and that by two batsmen who are not renowned for being big boundary-hitters.

Finishers David Miller (23 off 9) and JP Duminy (18* off 7) were left with only a handful of overs to bat but they collected their share of boundaries as 87 runs were hammered in the last five overs.

With the bounce providing something for the bowlers to work with – which the West Indians failed to do – South Africa’s total was certainly well over par.

 http://citizen.co.za/316681/amla-rossouw-batting-blaze/

Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers batted through the second session and carried South Africa to a commanding 225 for three at tea on the first day of the first Test against the West Indies at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

Both batsmen were closing in on centuries with Amla on 79 not out and De Villiers on 85 not out, having added 168 for the fourth wicket and thoroughly shifting the momentum after a tough morning session in which South Africa had been sent in to bat in overcast, bowler-friendly conditions.

Kemar Roach had been the best of the West Indies bowlers with two for 28 in 11 overs and he was unfortunate not to bowl Amla on 25 in the first over after lunch as he hit the off stump but the bails merely wobbled without coming off.

The other two West Indian quicks, Jerome Taylor and Sheldon Cottrell, were all at sea as they sprayed the ball around and were duly punished by two of the classiest batsmen in world cricket, Amla and De Villiers collecting 18 fours and a six in the 30 overs bowled after lunch.

While Amla was not entirely on top of his game, he was also fortunate not to be bowled on 33 when he was beaten all ends up by left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn’s arm-ball, De Villiers was all class, marching to his half-century off 78 balls, with 10 fours.

Amla showed why there is so much hype about his wristy strokeplay, however, as he reached his 50 off 87 balls, with seven fours, most of them spanked through the off-side with superb timing.

Apart from the lack of control displayed by Taylor and Cottrell, the West Indians also erred badly in only bowling Roach for five overs in the second session, all of them straight after lunch.

Amla and De Villiers were once again earning themselves gold stars as they steadied South Africa after the loss of three wickets without a run being scored, taking the hosts to 102 for three at lunch.

Amla and De Villiers came together after an amazing collapse saw South Africa slump from 57 without loss to 57 for three, a previously-toothless West Indian attack suddenly taking wickets in three successive overs.
It was an extraordinary turnaround given how poorly the visitors had bowled in the first hour, producing assorted lengths and lines as openers Alviro Petersen and Dean Elgar brought up their 50 partnership in just the 10th over.

Petersen was the first to go, getting a start but only making 27 before he pushed at a regulation shortish delivery from Roach and edged it to first slip.

Just seven balls later, Elgar edged a loose drive at a short, wide delivery from Cottrell and was caught by Marlon Samuels in the gully for 28.

It was not smart batting by the South African openers, letting an ill-disciplined West Indies side back into the game, and worse was to follow another seven balls later when Faf du Plessis fell for a duck.

Du Plessis couldn’t resist sparring at a fine delivery from Roach that just shaped away a bit and bounced more than expected, the edge safely taken by wicketkeeper and captain Denesh Ramdin.

South Africa were shaky at 57 for three after being sent in to bat, but Amla and De Villiers are both well-versed in saving the Proteas.

Amla swiped three fours through the off-side off Taylor, while De Villiers played himself in, playing straight and reaching 16 not out at the interval.

With debutant Stiaan van Zyl and young Quinton de Kock next to bat, South Africa’s hopes of a good total probably rested on their two best batsmen putting together a sizeable partnership and that has been achieved.

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