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Ken Borland

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Kallis a calming influence alongside me – Petersen 0

Posted on January 03, 2012 by Ken

Alviro Petersen scored a fine century in his comeback test for South Africa against Sri Lanka at Newlands on Tuesday and later praised Jacques Kallis for being a calming influence as he batted alongside him.
    Opening batsman Petersen, playing his first test since last January, scored 109, while Kallis ended the day on 159 not out to steer South Africa to a commanding 347 for three at stumps on the first day.
    “I have to give Jacques full credit, he was back to as South Africa have known him. We had lots of conversations about the areas to score in, what the bowlers are trying to do and he was just a calming influence. A guy with over 12 000 runs is not just going to stand there with a mouth full of teeth,” Petersen told a news conference after the end of play.
    Petersen and Kallis shared a record third-wicket stand of 205, South Africa’s best for any wicket against Sri Lanka, and Petersen said it had been a case of playing the conditions and the match situation correctly after South Africa had slipped to 56 for two.
    “We’d lost a couple of wickets and the game was in the balance. But we played the conditions well, we put the bad ball away and once we were set, we just kept building the partnership,” Petersen said.
    The 31-year-old said the South Africans had been surprised by how the Sri Lankan attack had bowled at them.
    “We were surprised by the lines and lengths of their bowling; we were surprised by the number of short balls they bowled,” Petersen said.
    Sri Lanka bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake conceded that his attack had been poor.
    “We did not bowl well at all, especially in the first session when we could have kept them to under 80 runs. Our line wasn’t so bad, but the length was either too far up or a bit short.
    “If we could have kept them under 300 at stumps, I would have been very happy, but the fifty runs extra was because of bad bowling,” Ramanayake said.
    Sri Lanka had won the toss and controversially sent the South Africans in to bat, with Ramanayake admitting that they had misread the pitch.
    “We thought that pitch would do something, but it did not do as much as expected. It became a good pitch after the first session, but we did not bowl well – that was the main reason,” Ramanayake said.
    The South Africans would have batted first if they had won the toss, Petersen confirmed.
    “We were surprised they sent us in, the pitch looked quite dry this morning and we wanted to bat first anyway. We made full use of the conditions and would like to get a big first-innings total. I think the pitch will deteriorate, it’s really dry and this afternoon some balls hit the cracks and they were already loose. It will turn and we want to put scoreboard pressure on the Sri Lankans,” Petersen said.


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Smith’s been kicked around … but still cheerful 0

Posted on January 02, 2012 by Ken

Graeme Smith may have felt like he had been kicked around like a football on the beach in the summer holidays in the aftermath of the Kingsmead fiasco, but the South African captain was a cheerful but thoroughly determined figure on the eve of the Newlands test against Sri Lanka.

 

Smith acknowledged that the team had let themselves down in the shock 208-run defeat in Durban and it was up to them to put things right in Cape Town from Tuesday, and win the series.

 

“It’s been a pretty tough time, an embarrassing one or two days because we didn’t perform to the standards expected of us. We’ve taken a few blows over the last few days, but we need to overcome the emotions and play a lot tougher. We need to make Sri Lanka earn things a lot more than we did in Durban.

 

“All these ups and downs – it’s been the story of my career! I’ve played under that pressure since I was 22 and I was stupid enough to take the captaincy at that age! But it’s about bouncing back and getting things right over the next five days,” Smith said at Newlands on Monday.

 

Having been hammered by a Sri Lankan side that had looked hopelessly outclassed in the first test, Smith conceded that the South Africans needed to lift themselves mentally.

 

“I can’t fault the training nor the effort, they’ve been outstanding, especially since Gary Kirsten came on board. But mentally we need to be a bit stronger, that’s the only thing I can put my finger on.

 

“We just didn’t adapt well to conditions in Durban and recently, we haven’t played our best cricket in those conditions. But when we’ve toured the sub-continent, we’ve adapted well, so maybe it is more of a mindset thing.

 

“It’s easier for us when the ball does go through and there’s good carry, but when it doesn’t, we need to adapt, we need to shift mentally,” Smith said.

 

The captain also confirmed the starting XI for the test, with two changes being made to the team that failed at Kingsmead.

 

Vernon Philander is back up and running again and will return in place of Marchant de Lange, who is probably the first bowler to take seven wickets in an innings and then be left out of the next test!

 

Alviro Petersen has also been called up to open the batting with Smith, with Jacques Rudolph dropping down the order to number six to replace Ashwell Prince.

 

“I faced Vernon in the nets and he had good zip. He’ll bring a bit more structure into the attack – he knows how to get people out, but he’s got good control too.

 

“Alviro will also come up front with me, with Jacques going to six, and he’s carrying some terrific form into the game,” Smith said.

 

Whatever the personnel, it is the team as a whole that needs to react positively to whatever conditions they come across – and they won’t be as seam-friendly as they were for the last test at Newlands, against Australia in November. The South African camp was grumpy from the outset in Durban at the pitch not being as pacy and bouncy as they have come to expect … The collective eye may well have been taking off the ball as a result, leading to the most embarrassing defeat at home since the return from isolation.

 

<b>South Africa team</b> – Graeme Smith, Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Jacques Rudolph, Mark Boucher, Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.

 

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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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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

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