Ken Borland

Centuries of enormous composure by Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith led South Africa to 403 for two and froze England out of the game on the third day of the first Test at the Oval in London on Saturday.

   – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120721/Amla_Smith_freeze_England_out

Starting the day on 86 for one in reply to England’s 385, Smith and Amla batted with cool assurance and, with Jacques Kallis adding 82 not out at the end of the day, the Proteas completed one of their proudest days in many years.

Smith, with the pressure of expectation in his 100th Test adding to all the other burdens he bears so splendidly, marched to his century two balls before lunch, after four-and-a-half hours and 201 balls at the crease. South Africa’s captain and pride became just the seventh batsman to score a hundred in his 100th Test, joining the illustrious club of Colin Cowdrey, Gordon Greenidge, Javed Miandad, Alec Stewart, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Ricky Ponting.

The left-hander went on to 131, working the bowlers into his favoured leg side with enormous skill, but also playing some wonderful strokes through the off-side to thoroughly frustrate an England team that did not know where to bowl to him.

Smith eventually fell five overs before tea when he contrived to play a delivery from Tim Bresnan with his usual closed face of the bat on to the back of his front leg, from where the ball rebounded back on to the stumps.

But Amla continued to hold court, punishing anything loose with ruthless timing and placement as he made it to stumps on a magnificent 183 not out. Amla was highly effective when on the back foot, his punches through the off side being absolutely sumptious, but he was also majestic on the front foot, driving beautifully.

With Amla in the zone and in such masterful form, Kallis just got on with things quietly at the other end and had gone to 82 not out by stumps with no fuss at all.

It was most definitely not the day England had planned at all and their attack was reduced to powder-puff ineffectiveness by the end of the day.

Jimmy Anderson was troubled by the footholds and bowled 19 wicketless overs for 63 runs on Saturday. Graeme Swann, the other leader of the England attack, was utterly frustrated as Smith, who had been tied down by him initially, turned the tables and scored freely off the off-spinner after the first hour. Despite plenty of rough to work with, Swann finished the day with none for 99 in 42 overs.

It was a day when South Africa’s top-order were soaring high, without trying anything fancy. Just tremendous skill and concentration.

It is England who will now have to perform some special aerobatics to get back into the game.

The magnificent centuries of Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith, in his 100th Test, put South Africa in obvious control as they reached 403 for two at stumps on the third day of the first Test against England at the Oval in London on Saturday.

133rd over – Stuart Broad floats up a long, wide half-volley to Jacques Kallis and the maestro hammers it through the covers for four to take South Africa to 400.

129th over – Another sumptious punch off the back foot for four through cover-point by Amla, this time off Tim Bresnan, and South Africa are now in the lead.

128th over – Part-time off-spinner Kevin Pietersen is on and his second delivery is short and wide and Kallis cuts it through the covers for four.

126th over – Kallis gets on top of the bounce nicely and steers Jimmy Anderson through gully for four.

121st over – What a pinpoint throw from Andrew Strauss! Sadly it is into his own sunglasses which flipped off his head as he dashed in from midwicket to try and prevent a quick single by Kallis off Graeme Swann. Strauss was leaning backwards when he threw and managed to spear the ball straight into his glasses which were descending in front of him! They are totally demolished and the England captain dashes off to the changeroom at the end of the over to get another pair. He returns empty-handed however! Sponsors will have to help out …

115th over – Swann is spitting mad as he bowls a full toss to Amla, which is dispatched through the covers for four. It is his 39th over though … must be getting tired …

114th over – Neatly played by Kallis as he steers Ravi Bopara through backward point for four.

112th over – Four more for Amla with a majestic cover-drive for four off Bopara … even deep cover can’t stop the boundary.

106th over – Scintillating batting by Kallis as he ends the Bresnan over with two impressive boundaries. He leans back and pulls emphatically to the midwicket fence and then strokes an imperious drive through extra cover.

105th over – Over-pitched from Swann and Amla drives the off-spinner beautifully through the covers for four to go to 150 for the fourth time in his Test career. Amla has been the crease for just over seven hours and faced 294 balls, stroking 19 fours. A really fine innings, especially considering the pressure when he came to the crease.

98th over – Kallis heaves a sweep over midwicket for four off Swann.

Afternoon session

Hashim Amla was left to carry on the good work as South Africa went to tea on 277 for two on the third day of the first Test against England at the Oval in London on Saturday.

92nd over – Tim Bresnan strays down leg again and Amla sends the ball skipping down to the fine leg boundary for four.

88th over – WICKET – Graeme Smith’s tremendous innings comes to an end in fairly freakish fashion. The left-hander looks to play Bresnan into the leg side with his usual closed bat-face, but this time the ball comes off the bat and into his front leg, from where it ricochets back into the stumps! Smith bowled for 131 off 273 balls, with 20 fours. Jacques Kallis gets going with a boundary as Bresnan strays leg-side and the batsman works the ball to the fine leg boundary.

85th over – Amla is a bit early on the drive off Jimmy Anderson and the ball flies straight back down the wicket, but the bowler can’t get a hand to it and away it runs to the boundary, bringing up the 250 partnership off 493 balls.

84th over – Smith thick-edges Stuart Broad through gully, but he was well in control of the shot and gets four runs. He runs the next ball down to the third man boundary as well, past the despairing dive of Graeme Swann at third slip. Broad now goes straighter and Smith works him off his hip to fine leg for a third successive boundary!

83rd over – Amla has been driving and driving the second new ball without any reward, but now he gets one out the screws off Anderson, sending the ball racing through the covers for four.

82nd over – Stuart Broad is back with the second new ball, but strays down leg and Amla glances him fine for four.

74th over – England, in their desperation, have now wasted a review after Bresnan’s appeal against Smith for lbw was turned down. The paceman straightened a delivery into the left-hander, but HotSpot picks up a tiny scratch of bat on the ball. It also pitched outside leg stump and would probably have gone over the stumps!

72nd over – Amla edges a steer off Anderson past third slip for four to go to 99 and two balls later he steers the ball with far more control to third man for a single and his 15th test century. There’s no denying his sheer class either, this hundred coming in 282 minutes, off 199 balls and showcasing his great temperament and skill. Anderson’s next delivery, to Smith, is leg-side and flicked away for four by the South African captain.

69th over – Wonderful skill from Amla as he collects two boundaries in the Swann over – wristily flicking a ball from middle-and-off through midwicket, and then getting a sweep from outside off stump ridiculously fine for his 12th four.

67th over – Anderson starts after lunch with a 7:2 offside field, but his last delivery gets a bit of reverse in-shape, on to the pads and Amla flicks the ball through backward square for four.

Morning session

Graeme Smith brought up his century just before lunch which South Africa took on 187 for one on the third day of the first Test against England at the Oval in London on Saturday.

65th over – Successive boundaries off Tim Bresnan take Smith to his 25th Test century just two balls before lunch. The left-hander steers the ball through gully and then cracks a crunching cut shot behind point for his 16th boundary. Smith becomes the seventh batsman to score a century in his 100th Test, after Colin Cowdrey, Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Alec Stewart, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Ricky Ponting, and he needed four-and-a-half hours and 201 balls to reach the landmark. His 2nd fifty took just 41 balls! One of the all-time greats, there’s no denying!

64th over – Smith comes down the pitch to a well-flighted delivery from Graeme Swann, makes it a full toss and whips the ball through wide mid-on for four.

57th over – Ravi Bopara replaces Swann and again finds an edge, but this time Smith’s drive flies through gully for four.

56th over – Four more for Smith! Stuart Broad again drifts too straight from around the wicket and Smith whips him, straight out of the middle of the bat, through square-leg.

55th over – 21 runs from Swann’s last two overs as Smith collects two more boundaries. First he comes down the wicket again, driving crisply wide of mid-on for four; Swann then fires in a delivery on leg-stump and Smith tickles it fine for his 10th four, four of them in the last three overs!

54th over – Smith lashes the first ball after the drinks break through the covers with a classic cover-drive for four. Bowler Broad helped by bowling around the wicket and angling the ball into the left-hander, and by over-pitching, but that was a magnificent stroke by the South African captain.

53rd over – Swann has rather tied Smith up this morning, but the South African captain now breaks the shackles. He comes down the pitch to the first ball of the over and flicks the off-spinner through square-leg for three runs, bringing up his fifty. Coming off 160 balls, in 208 minutes, it’s the slowest of his 33 Test half-centuries. Two balls later, Smith reaches far down the pitch and sweeps very well, past backward square-leg for his seventh boundary.

52nd over – A wonderful cover-drive for four by Hashim Amla off Broad, perfectly-placed, hardly a fielder moved!

44th over – England are targeting Smith outside off stump today but this time it’s a touch short from Jimmy Anderson and the left-hander steers the ball expertly through gully for four, bringing up the hundred partnership off 246 deliveries.

43rd over – Full and on middle stump from Swann and Smith covers the turn and clips the ball firmly through midwicket for four.

42nd over – Amla gets the first boundary of the day with a superbly elegant back-foot drive through the covers off Anderson.

41st over – Amla completes a wonderfully composed half-century, in 152 minutes off 110 balls, as he drives off-spinner Swann to mid-on and steals a single.

There was no lack of intensity from South Africa on the second day as they reached stumps on 86 for one in the first Test against England at the Oval in London on Friday.

Having rebounded superbly with the ball, claiming England’s last seven wickets for 118 runs to bowl them out for 385, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla ensured there were no further alarms after the early loss of Alviro Petersen for a duck as they batted South Africa through to the close.

Both batsmen looked as solid as concrete against a probing English attack that was eventually backing off and setting defensive fields. Smith, playing his 100th Test, finished the day on 37 not out off 118 balls, with four fours, while Amla was on 47 not out, off 97 deliveries, with six fours.

South Africa’s bowlers had given little evidence of their passion and desire on the first day, when Alastair Cook cruised to a century and took England to 267 for three at the close of play.

But when Vernon Philander began troubling Cook from the outset, it was clear that England’s batsmen would not have nearly as easy a ride as on the first day.

It was Dale Steyn who sparked the South African comeback when he removed Cook for 115 and Ravi Bopara for a duck in successive overs.

Cook’s footwork was still sluggish when he went hard at a drive off Steyn and, when the ball swung back in nicely, it found the inside edge and cannoned into the stumps. The left-hander had played many fine strokes in collecting 11 fours and a six (his leaves were also impressive!) and his 295-ball innings was a mighty effort to give England an early head-start in the highly-anticipated series.

The unfortunate Bopara, still trying to cement his place in the side, tried to pull out of a hook shot at the fired-up Steyn, but withdrew the bat too late, the edge going through to wicketkeeper AB de Villiers.

Philander had been the perfect foil at the other end, just eight runs coming from the five overs he bowled at the start of the day, and he was unlucky not to get the reward for beating the bat several times. The introduction of Jacques Kallis saw the pressure on England increase if nothing else, as the great all-rounder’s first four overs were all maidens and he picked up the key wicket of Ian Bell (13).

PUGNACIOUS PRIOR

Bell, seeing the ball swinging away nicely, was then bemused as he left a delivery which swung in and just clipped the off-bail, causing it to topple and the in-form 30-year-old was bowled.

Matt Prior’s wicket was the one that really mattered though.

Even though South Africa were on top at lunch, leggie Imran Tahir spinning out Tim Bresnan, who dragged the ball into his own stumps, for eight to leave England on 326 for seven, Prior prospered in the afternoon.

South Africa’s bowlers were guilty of losing a bit of focus and there were enough bad balls for Prior to hammer nine fours and breeze to 60 off 90 balls. Early on he had been like a man stumbling in the dark without a lamp, and England’s innings could have been truly wrecked if a couple of half-chances had been taken.

He was reprieved when Petersen made a great save in the slips but couldn’t throw down the stumps with both batsmen in the middle of the wicket, and Jacques Rudolph dropped a sharp catch, lunging low to his right in the gully, off Morne Morkel when Prior had 17.

South Africa will rue those lapses, but will be happy they limited the dangerous Stuart Broad to just 16 as he was bowled by a tremendous Philander delivery that he had little hope of keeping out – from over the wicket, the ball came back miles to bowl the left-hander through the gate – and that Morkel wrapped up the innings with two wickets in the 126th over.

Prior’s pugnacious innings off 60 off 90 balls came to an end when he edged an expansive drive away from his body to De Villiers, and Jimmy Anderson (2) joined him back in the pavilion four balls later when he flapped at a leg-side, short-pitched delivery from Morkel, the catch behind giving the wicketkeeper five in the innings.

Morkel did not have the best of days with the ball, overdoing the short delivery, but his final figures of 4-72 were a just reward for his efforts on the first day.

Steyn had, crucially, recaptured his mojo in the morning, but his poor spell after lunch left him with figures of 2-99 in 30 overs. Kallis was also superb and his figures of 2-38 in 19 overs underestimate his value, his wickets being the key ones of Bell and Kevin Pietersen, and both at crucial times.

Philander again worked well in partnership with Steyn (perhaps they should have been used together more on the first day) and deserved better figures than 1-79 in 27 overs.

England had 11 overs to strike back with the new ball before tea and Anderson managed to get his 10th ball to go like a boomerang, swinging back into Petersen and hitting him on the back leg to trap him lbw for a duck.

But Amla was a grimly determined Smith’s able co-pilot as they negotiated the best England could throw at them, and a 106-minute rain delay straight after tea, to ensure South Africa go into the third day on even terms.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120720/No_lack_of_intensity_by_SA_on_2nd_day