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Ken Borland

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Dilshan blames batsmen for defeat 0

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Ken

Sri Lanka captain Tillakaratne Dilshan said his team’s failings at the crease were to blame for their defeat by an innings-and-81-runs at the hands of South Africa in the first test at Centurion on Saturday.
    Sri Lanka were bowled out for 180 and 150, in reply to South Africa’s 411, with none of their batsmen able to score more than Angelo Mathews’ 38 in the first innings or last for longer than two hours at the wicket.
    “Our batting didn’t click, that’s where we lost the game,” Dilshan told a news conference after the defeat. “As a batting group, we definitely have to take responsibility. We’ve been working hard in the nets, but we didn’t carry that to the middle.
    “It’s not easy to beat South Africa, especially in South Africa, but if we had put runs on the board, then we could have put pressure on them.”
    South Africa captain Graeme Smith praised his bowlers for their efforts, Vernon Philander taking 10 for 102 in the match as Sri Lanka were bowled out in 47.4 overs on the first day and in 39.1 overs on Saturday, the third day.
    “It was over in three days, but we needed to work hard initially. In the end it was emphatic because we bowled very well, the intensity was great today. Each guy really showed their skill and, in my opinion, the bowling today was probably the best standard – skills-wise – of the summer, even though we bowled Australia out for 47.
    “We asked questions all the time and there weren’t too many free deliveries out there,” Smith said.
    Philander continued his breathtaking introduction to test cricket by taking five for 49 – his fourth five-wicket haul in his first three tests.
    “It’s an awesome achievement by Vernon, there was obviously still a bit of life in the pitch, but he deserved his 10-for. He’s got a lot of motivation at the moment, he understands his skills, he’s gained confidence from four-day domestic cricket.
   “You always hope someone’s as successful when they debut as Vernon has been, but he’s played cricket for long enough and been through enough ups and downs to know that it won’t always be as easy. He knows there will be a few tougher times,” Smith said.
    The South African captain, who scored 61 opening the innings, also praised a tenacious batting display by his team on a pitch that was soft and well-grassed.
    “I think we saw today that the pitch had a lot in it, AB de Villiers’ 99 was as good as a century and each batsman contributed. We just had to knuckle down and I would have been happy if we were just a hundred ahead on first innings,” Smith said.
    South Africa eventually gained a first-innings lead of 231, which was more than enough as Sri Lanka’s batsmen once again came unstuck against the home attack.

Tags:
Category Cricket, Sport

De Villiers’ 99 frustrates Sri Lanka 0

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Ken

AB de Villiers fell irritatingly short of a century but put South Africa in a commanding position after the second day of the first test against Sri Lanka at Centurion on Friday.

    De Villiers scored 99 as South Africa, replying to Sri Lanka’s first innings of 180, amassed 389 for nine for a lead of 209 runs.

    The 27-year-old had just driven seamer Thisara Perera straight down the ground for four to go to 99, but much to his ire, he cut the next delivery, which was short and wide, low to backward point, where substitute Dimuth Karunaratne dived forward to take a good catch.

    De Villiers showed great determination and concentration in his 135-ball innings that was studded with fine strokeplay that brought him 12 fours.

    Ashwell Prince and Mark Boucher, both under pressure to keep their places in the team, were also able to rise to the occasion as South Africa’s lower-order more than doubled the score after they were struggling on 173 for five.

    Prince scored 39 before he edged medium-pacer Angelo Mathews to wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva, but the left-hander could consider himself fortunate to have survived two dropped catches. Prince was dropped by Perera, diving forward in the gully, off Dilhara Fernando on 23, and by Silva off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath when he had 26.
    Boucher finished the day on 49 not out, helping himself to six fours in a confident innings that has eased the pressure on the veteran wicketkeeper/batsman.

    Last man Imran Tahir batted with cavalier disdain for the bowlers and stayed with Boucher for the last 38 minutes before stumps, making his highest test score of 24 not out as they put on 39 for the 10th-wicket, extending the lead past 200.

    Sri Lanka’s attack had bowled with perseverance but little penetration as they failed to obtain the same assistance from the pitch that the South African bowlers had.

    Perera was the most succesful bowler with three for 114 in 24 overs.
De Villiers and Prince combined in a sixth-wicket stand of 97 to take South Africa into a handy lead.
The pair rescued the innings against a probing Sri Lankan attack which had reduced South Africa to 173 for five shortly after lunch.
Left-arm paceman Chanaka Welegedara removed Jacques Kallis for 31 in the fourth over after lunch, his first from the Hennops River End. South Africa’s leading run-scorer drove at a delivery that pitched on off stump and was moving further away from him to edge a tumbling catch to Mathews at third slip.
De Villiers took no risks, pushing singles through the off side but punishing any poor deliveries on the leg side.

    Prince was off to a quick, if streaky, start, collecting four fours, all of them to the third man boundary, off 98 balls.

    A top-class spell of seam bowling by Perera had earlier allowed Sri Lanka to restore a semblance of parity as South Africa reached 168 for four at lunch.
South Africa had resumed on 90 for one, but made a poor start to the day when nightwatchman Dale Steyn was run out for a duck in the second over of the morning.
Steyn fended a lifting delivery from Welegedara away on the leg-side and there was confusion between him and Jacques Rudolph, allowing Rangana Herath at mid-wicket to score a direct hit on the stumps.
Rudolph and Hashim Amla (18) added 35 for the third wicket, but the Sri Lankan bowlers kept plugging away and Perera reaped the reward.
Bowling a consistent line and length outside off stump, Perera found the edge of Amla’s bat and Mathews took a fine diving catch at third slip.
Opening batsman Rudolph, battling the pain of a dislocated little finger on his left hand, showed tremendous determination in a 228-minute vigil at the crease, but Perera ended his resistance on 44, nipping away a delivery that found the edge and travelled low to Tharanga Paranavitana at first slip.
Kallis’s 56-ball stay was not without incident.
He ducked into a bouncer from fast bowler Fernando and was struck a disorientating blow on the earpiece of his helmet. Kallis received treatment for seven minutes before resuming his innings on 25 and was lucky as he prodded at the first delivery of Fernando’s next over and edged a catch which diving wicketkeeper Silva should have taken.


 

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Category Cricket, Sport

Keeping it simple brings Philander fame 0

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Ken

Vernon Philander continued to make one of the most famous introductions into test cricket at Centurion on Thursday as he completed his third five-wicket haul in his first three tests for South Africa.
    Thanks to Philander’s five for 53, South Africa bowled Sri Lanka out for just 180 on the first day of the first test, the 26-year-old continuing in the same vein as his debut series against Australia last month, when he took 14 wickets in two tests.
    The seamer is the first South African to take three five-wicket hauls in his first three tests.
    Philander is not altogether new to South Africa’s national team, having played seven ODIs and seven Pro20 matches between 2007 and 2008, but he was considered ill-equipped mentally and physically for the rigours of international cricket and dropped.
    Since then, Philander has taken 151 first-class wickets at an average of just 17.80 to suggest his omission was ill-judged.
    “I just try to keep it as simple as possible. There was a bit of assistance there today and I tried to exploit it,” Philander told a news conference after the first day’s play at Centurion on Thursday.
    “For me, I just tried to bowl as if it was a flat pitch. Sometimes you get on a greentop and you think you should bowl bouncer, bouncer, yorker and then bowl the middle stump out. But the assistance is there, why try to bowl any differently?”
    Philander, who was educated at Ravensmead Secondary School in Cape Town, came through South Africa’s powerful junior cricket programme, representing Western Province Schools for three years (2001-2003) and SA Schools in 2002 and 2003.
    He is also a hard-hitting lower-order batsman who has scored two first-class centuries and averages 27.13 with the bat. Philander is also in talks with Somerset to represent them at the start of next summer.
    “It’s not finalised yet, but the talks are in final stages. It will be nice to experience their wickets before South Africa tour England next year,” he said.
    South Africa ended the first day of the test on 90 for one, just 90 runs behind, however Philander believes they still have work to do in order to take charge of the game.
    “Tomorrow morning there’ll still be something in the pitch and a lot depends on the overhead conditions. Obviously we hope the sun is out so it flattens the pitch. We still need to bat well and get through that initial patch,” Philander said.
    The Sri Lankans, according to wicketkeeper/batsman Kaushal Silva, are rueing the pre-tea collapse that saw them lose their last six wickets for 24 runs in 5.1 overs.
    “It was a hard task for us after losing the toss, especially with the kind of bowlers South Africa have and the pitch, but we did okay in the first two hours. It was only after the water break in the second session, when we lost three wickets in quick succession, that the game really turned.
    “The way Jayawardena and Samaraweera were batting, we were planning a score of 250-300 which would have been competitive,” Silva, who was the first-ball victim of a contentious caught behind decision on review, said.

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Category Cricket, Sport

SA send Sri Lanka in to bat 0

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Ken

South Africa won the toss and sent Sri Lanka in to bat on the first day of the first test at Centurion on Thursday.
    A pitch sporting a healthy covering of green grass and partly-cloudy overhead conditions should provide plenty of assistance to the pace bowlers.
    Sri Lanka have made three changes to the team that drew their last test against Pakistan five weeks ago and will go into the match with just one frontline spinner in left-armer Rangana Herath.
    Seamers Thisara Perera and Dilhara Fernando come into the team for Dhammika Prasad and Kosala Kulasekara, while spinner Suraj Randiv makes way for an extra batsman in the experienced Thilan Samaraweera.
    South Africa are fielding the same XI that lost by two wickets to Australia to level the series three weeks ago.
    Teams
    South Africa – Graeme Smith, Jacques Rudolph, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
    Sri Lanka – Tharanga Paranavitana, Tillekaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena, Thilan Samaraweera, Angelo Mathews, Kaushal Silva, Rangana Herath, Thisara Perera, Chanaka Welegedara, Dilhara Fernando.

Tags:
Category Cricket, Sport

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