Ken Borland

Hashim Amla’s skill was shining like a diamond in the Centurion gloom as his unbeaten half-century gave South Africa a solid platform on a SuperSport Park pitch on which steep bounce made batting hard in the fifth Momentum One-Day International against the West Indies on Wednesday.

Amla had moved to 54 not out off 52 balls, taking South Africa to 114 for two after 21 overs, midway through their innings in a match reduced to 42 overs a side due to rain.

The West Indies had won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bowl first after bad weather wiped out two-and-a-half hours of play, and their pacemen were able to extract awkward bounce, some of it inconsistent, to trouble the South African top-order.

Cross-batted leg-side shots cost both Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis their wickets, while Rilee Rossouw was enjoying a few lives as he battled to 24 not out off 40 deliveries with just one boundary.

De Kock, playing his first game for the Proteas since doing his ankle ligaments at the same ground in mid-December, had just one scoring stroke, a lofted square-drive for four off Sheldon Cottrell, before Jason Holder removed him with his third delivery of the match.

De Kock tried to pull a shortish delivery away on the leg-side but could only splice the ball, sending a simple catch looping on the off-side.

Du Plessis hung around for 27 balls, hitting two fours, as he and Amla added a run-a-ball 53 for the second wicket, before Andre Russell banged one in head-high, a top-edged hook landing in fine leg’s hands. South Africa’s T20 captain was out for 16.

Rossouw, the ultimate in feast or famine batting it seems, came to the crease in the 11^th over in the number four position, the return of De Kock having shifted him out of the opening berth.

The left-hander was not always fluent at the crease, but he enjoyed some of the luck which has previously not been with him in the 13 other innings of his ODI career.

Seamer Carlos Brathwaite was the best of the West Indian bowlers, joining the attack in the ninth over and immediately dropping the run-rate with a tight line on the off stump, just 18 runs coming from the 26-year-old’s six-over spell.

 http://citizen.co.za/316612/amla-shines-centurion/

South Africa secured a landslide victory in the inaugural Global Softech Sixes Africa Challenge at SuperSport Park yesterday, going through the two-day tournament unbeaten and hammering Kenya by six wickets with nine balls to spare in the final.

Kenya looked well on their way to posting a competitive total as Alex Obanda (34 retired off 12 balls) and Collins Obuya (35 retired off nine balls) took them to 82 without loss after four overs, but Robbie Frylinck, voted man of the match, bowled a superb final over that cost just eight runs and included two run outs.

South African opener Cameron Delport has enjoyed an outstanding tournament, passing 30 and having to retire in five out of six innings, and he immediately put the hosts on track as he hit seamer Nehemiah Odhiambo’s first three balls for six.

Odhiambo has been one of the best bowlers in the competition, conceding just 54 runs in five matches before the final, but Delport blasted two fours and another six to end the opening over on 32 off six balls.

Delport’s retirement pitted Mangaliso Mosehle against spinners Shem Ngoche and Collins Obuya and the wicketkeeper thrashed five sixes in the next two overs as he retired on 33 off nine deliveries.

Farhaan Behardien (17* off 4) is the coolest of finishers and David Wiese (10* off 2) the longest of hitters and they polished off the remaining runs required with little fuss.

Kenya had qualified for the final thanks to a better run-rate than Zimbabwe and Uganda.

Uganda are clearly a rising force in African cricket – the great Peter Kirsten is their new coach – and they impressed all and sundry by beating Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Namibia over the two days of action in Centurion.

They missed out on the final due to a lame batting performance against Kenya, only managing 75 for five when they were chasing 88.

Kenya themselves had suffered a case of the red mists descending when they lost by 12 runs to Zimbabwe when chasing just 81.

Uganda had beaten Zimbabwe by one run thanks to excellent overs from Jonathan Sebanja and impressive all-rounder Roger Mukasa.

Individual highlights for South Africa were Mosehle hitting five successive sixes off Narendra Patel and captain Behardien’s 40 not out off eight balls against Kenya in their round-robin game and two for seven versus Tanzania; and Chris Morris’s bowling up front against Uganda.

Scores in brief

Namibia 72-2 (JJ Kotze 31*, Gerrie Snyman 22; Narendra Patel 2-10). Kenya 75-2 (Rakep Patel 35*; Gerrie Snyman 1-6). Kenya won by four wickets.

Tanzania 73-2 (Benson Nyaikini 32*, Khalil Rehemtulla 28*). Uganda 75-2 (Roger Mukasa 34*, Jonathan Sebanja 25). Uganda won by four wickets.

South Africa 128-1 (Cameron Delport 36*, Mangaliso Mosehle 33*, Farhaan Behardien 30*). Zimbabwe 99-3 (Malcolm Waller 34*, Stephen Trenchard 22*, Roy Kaia 24; Chris Morris 2-16). South Africa won by 29 runs.

Tanzania 50-3 (Benson Nyaikini 32*; Collins Obuya 1-2, Rakep Patel 1-6). Kenya 51-0 (Alex Obanda 27*). Kenya won by six wickets.

Uganda 81-3 (Roger Mukasa 31*, Deusdedit Muhumuza 24*; Roy Kaia 2-12). Zimbabwe 80-2 (Timycen Maruma 35*, Malcolm Waller 32*). Uganda won by one run.

South Africa 122-1 (Cameron Delport 31*, Farhaan Behardien 31*, David Wiese 34*). Namibia 69-3 (Sarel Burger 32*). South Africa won by 53 runs.

Zimbabwe 80-3 (Roy Kaia 25*; Narendra Patel 1-10). Kenya 68-1 (Collins Obuya 33*; Roy Kaia 1-8). Zimbabwe won by 12 runs.

Uganda 89-2 (Jonathan Sebanja 24, Arnold Otwan 32*; Chris Morris 1-9). South Africa 92-3 (Robbie Frylinck 34*; Jonathan Sebanja 1-10). South Africa won by three wickets.

Tanzania 91-2 (Abhik Patwa 26, Kassim Mussa 33*, Khalil Rehemtulla 31*). Namibia 86-0 (JJ Kotze 33*, Sarel Burger 31*, Gerrie Snyman 21*). Tanzania won by five runs.

South Africa 122-2 (Cameron Delport 32*, Farhaan Behardien 40*, Mangaliso Mosehle 35*). Kenya 102-3 (Alex Obanda 35*, Collins Obuya 33*, Nehemiah Odhiambo 27). South Africa won by 20 runs.

Uganda 82-2 (Roger Mukasa 31*; Jonathan Sebanja 28, Deusdedit Muhumuza 20*; Sarel Burger 2-15). Namibia 80-2 (JJ Kotze 31*, JJ Smit 25*; Roger Mukasa 2-7). Uganda won by two runs.

Tanzania 91-3 (Abhik Patwa 23, Benson Nyaikini 36*; Malcolm Waller 2-15). Zimbabwe 96-2 (Roy Kaia 31*, Malcolm Waller 31*). Zimbabwe won by four wickets.

Kenya 87-1 (Alex Obanda 34*, Rakep Patel 34*; Jonathan Sebanja 1-8). Uganda 75-5 (Roger Mukasa 20; Rakep Patel 2-14). Kenya won by 12 runs.

Tanzania 62-5 (Nasibu Mapunda 23*; David Wiese 2-11, Farhaan Behardien 2-7). South Africa 64-0 (Cameron Delport 34*, Farhaan Behardien 23*). South Africa won by six wickets.

Namibia 92-3 (JJ Smit 32*, Sarel Burger 31*; Malcolm Waller 2-15). Zimbabwe 96-2 (Timycen Maruma 34*, Malcolm Waller 27, Stephen Trenchard 30*; Christi Viljoen 1-10). Zimbabwe won by four wickets.

Kenya 91-2 (Alex Obanda 34*, Collins Obuya 35*). South Africa 92-0 (Cameron Delport 32*, Mangaliso Mosehle 33*). South Africa won by six wickets.

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.