1st T20I
Pakistan 105 (19.4/20 ov)
New Zealand 106/3 (15.5/20 ov)
New Zealand won by 7 wickets (with 25 balls remaining)
If one team is vastly superior to the other at each stage of a game, chances are that the upper hand will show, in any format. That was the rather obvious - yet harsh - lesson all those hoping for a more competitive T20I series between New Zealand and Pakistan were taught as New Zealand crushed Pakistan by seven wickets at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
Pakistan's top-order batting crumbled in the first ten overs as they were reduced to 38 for 6, with Tim Southee, Seth Rance and Mitchell Santner wreaking havoc. The forlorn 105 they put up was all too comfortable for New Zealand, who coasted home with 4.1 overs to spare despite the loss of two early wickets.
Pakistan were put into bat and found themselves under pressure straightaway. As skillful as New Zealand's bowling was, Pakistan did orchestrate their own their downfall in no small way.
Fakhar Zaman and Umar Amin were positive, but gifted their wickets by hoicking across the line. It was an ugly start, with the top four batsmen - all left handers - swiftly putting paid to the idea of left-handed batsmen being elegant. Zaman, Amin, Mohammad Nawaz and Haris Sohail all played abysmal shots, making it far too easy for a home side currently not dependent on anyone's largesse.
Southee, captaining in place of the injured Kane Williamson, led the attack with an accurate opening spell. He was well supported by Rance, whose extra burst of pace troubled Pakistan's top order. But the pick of the bowlers was Santner, who took two wickets to rip the heart out of Pakistan's middle order, and ensured there would be no rearguard.
Sarfraz Ahmed attempted a sweep to a flighted delivery well outside off, finding himself comically off balance outside the crease, with Glenn Phillips able to effect an easy stumping. Next ball, he tossed another one to Shadab, who edged it behind. Pakistan were now 38 for 6, headed towards another humiliation.
Hasan Ali came out and had a few swings, managing the art of T20 batting far better than all who came before him. He hit three of Pakistan's four sixes in a breezy 23, while Babar Azam, who top scored with 41, added a final-over flurry to take Pakistan to three figures.
New Zealand's chase was largely uneventful, though it did begin shakily. Martin Guptill and Phillips fell in the first four overs, and with the score reading 14 for 2 after four overs, Pakistan would have hoped to turn the game into a low-scoring scrap. However, Colin Munro showed why he's the top-ranked T20I batsman, steadying the ship and putting to rest any thoughts of a Pakistan renaissance.
A 49-run partnership with Tom Bruce set the hosts back on course, before he and Ross Taylor knocked off the remaining 49 runs without the loss of another wicket. That number was a theme, with Munro himself left stranded on 49 as a wide ball denied him the chance to become just the third player to score four successive T20I half-centuries. Still, it was a minor disappointment compared to the worries Pakistan nurse at the moment.
2nd T20I
Pakistan 201/4 (20 ov)
New Zealand 153 (18.3/20 ov)
Pakistan won by 48 runs
It took seven matches, but Sarfraz Ahmed's men have finally turned up, and finally ended New Zealand's perfect home record this season. The T20I series will go into a decider at Mount Maunganui on Sunday. Having chosen to bat, Pakistan never let up attacking through their innings, posting 201 in 20 overs. When New Zealand came out to chase, there was no one, despite their well-deserved reputation, to carry the innings through, and Pakistan clinched victory by 48 runs.
It was two years and 14 matches since Pakistan last defeated New Zealand in any format, anywhere in the world. As it happened, that also came in a T20I, and at this ground. Something about Eden Park had got Pakistan's tails up from the very beginning when they came out to bat, intent to put on a display worthy of modern T20 cricket. Fakhar Zaman and Ahmed Shehzad, mysteriously left out for the first game, were aggressive from ball one. It took them a mere 1.5 overs to eclipse the highest opening partnership on tour, which had stood at a wretched 14.
New Zealand bowled short in the first six overs, aware of their vulnerability against the short straight boundaries at this ground. But Fakhar and Shehzad were brilliant at manipulating the fielders and finding gaps, with 11 boundaries coming off a Powerplay that produced 57 runs.
Ish Sodhi's first over gave up just four runs, but this was no momentum swing. Fakhar unloaded on Mitchell Santner, smashing him for three huge sixes in an over that cost 22. New Zealand's bowlers began to get a bit fuller, which allowed Pakistan to exploit the straight boundary, a flat six onto the sightscreen leaving no doubt about Shehzad's intentions.
He was caught at long-on attempting the same shot next ball, but New Zealand never really found a way to check Pakistan's momentum all innings. It wasn't just ugly slogging; the innings was replete with gorgeous straight drives. Sarfraz looked in sweet touch, a classy drive over extra cover off Sodhi - who was New Zealand's best bowler - the pick of the lot.
Wickets never appeared to affect the run rate, and even when Ben Wheeler got two wickets in the 19th over, Pakistan continued to press. Even Trent Boult wasn't spared, and when Babar Azam pulled him for four off the final ball, he brought up the 200 as well as his fifty, bookending Pakistan's dominance in the first half.
If the crowd was hoping for a competitive match at last, they were to be disappointed. New Zealand's approach from the start wasn't quite what was needed in a chase of 202, Martin Guptill and Colin Munro unusually cautious. It might have been the pressure of the chase, but Pakistan's bowlers stepped up their game too, both in terms of pace and intensity. Mohammad Amir trapped Munro plumb in front for 1, and in the very next over Kane Williamson got a leading edge, dismissed for a golden duck. The shock of that appeared to puncture New Zealand in a way they never recovered from, and as the asking rate began to climb, wickets started to fall regularly.
All of Pakistan's bowlers registered in the wickets column, but the most encouraging aspect to this performance was the visitors' notably improved effort in the field. There was a commitment and application that had been missing for the first six games. Several runs were saved, and regular direct hits meant uncertainty crept into New Zealand's running. It also brought about a sensational run-out, Haris Sohail nailing a throw with just one stump to aim at, catching Tom Bruce well short.
Auckland is home to the largest Pakistani diaspora in New Zealand, and that showed with the support for Sarfraz's side in the stands. If they had to put in one performance this series, this was the place to do it. New Zealand's lower order offered some resistance, but there was never a question of chasing down that total, and the second half of the innings was simply a celebration of Pakistan opening their account on this tour. New Zealand were bowled out with nine balls still to go, and, against all odds, Pakistan go into this tour's final game looking to come away with the T20 trophy as well as the number one ranking in the format.
3rd T20I
Pakistan 181/6 (20 ov)
New Zealand 163/6 (20 ov)
Pakistan won by 18 runs
They may remember this as a difficult tour, but Pakistan have had the last laugh on it. In a high-pressure, series-deciding, tour-shaping, third and final T20I, Pakistan overpowered New Zealand, setting them a daunting 182 to win and then constricting them in the field. This might have shaped up to be the cracker this series hasn't yet had, but true to form, a close finish was never really on the cards. However, it was Sarfraz Ahmed's men who were responsible for that this time, showing the sort of form that, had it arrived a few games early, could have rendered this series a classic.
Pakistan won the toss and batted first again, looking to maintain the template of the previous T20I game. They did get off to a similarly positive start, with Ahmed Shehzad timing the ball beautifully. A crisp on-drive followed by a glorious cover drive in the third over off Tim Southee set Pakistan on their way.
But this was an improved New Zealand bowling performance, with Pakistan not able to cut loose in the way they did in Auckland. Colin de Grandhomme struck in the fourth over to remove Shehzad, and the run rate slowed. Fakhar Zaman kept Pakistan ticking, but at the halfway mark Pakistan were 72 for 2, largely due to a disciplined New Zealand that keeping them on a leash.
Mitchell Santner was New Zealand's best bowling option, chipping in with two wickets and driving the run rate down. He took the all-important wicket of Zaman, who was controversially given out caught on the boundary, with several replays unable to deliver a conclusive verdict. A lovely flighted delivery took care of Sarfraz after he was beginning to look dangerous, and Pakistan were in danger of falling away.
The turning point in the match, though, was Ish Sodhi's final over. Umar Amin took him to task, plundering the legspinner for three sixes in an over that brought 21. Even though he holed out to long-on off the last ball, the tempo for the death overs had been set.
New Zealand became sloppy in the field and Pakistan's middle order took full advantage. Even as Kane Williamson brought Southee and Trent Boult back on to close out the innings, they couldn't keep Pakistan from surging above 180, with 58 runs conceded off the last four overs.
The momentum carried through to the second innings, where New Zealand made a solid start without being allowed to take proper advantage of the Powerplay. Martin Guptill was in good touch, but Williamson, opening in the absence of the injured Colin Munro, couldn't help him get the start New Zealand required.
Faheem Ashraf removed the captain with his first ball in the attack. Williamson looked to slash him over point, the shot carrying straight to the fielder to end a 14-ball struggle in which he had managed just 9.
It was a quick three-over spell, just after the Powerplay, that, in hindsight, took the game out of New Zealand's hands once and for all. Seven runs came off the three overs as Guptill's momentum was stalled, and suddenly even rotating the strike became a challenge, even with the fielders pushed back. As perhaps anyone sitting through this series might have expected, Shadab Khan bowled two of them, showing immense control with his flight and pace, the batsmen unable to get a read of his length, or which way the ball would turn. The asking rate was suddenly pushing 12, and New Zealand's reliance on Guptill's explosiveness increased exponentially.
New Zealand suddenly looked like they were lacking the power hitting that is such a hallmark of their game, and scoreboard pressure took its toll. Anaru Kitchen was dismissed after charging Shadab and hopelessly missing, leaving Sarfraz to execute a simple stumping. Guptill and de Grandhomme then fell within four balls of each other, each attempting big heaves that were neither on nor well timed.
The final overs provided a pang of nostalgia as Ross Taylor unsheathed his slog sweep after years of disuse. The most optimistic home fans may even have momentarily dreamed of a miracle win as Taylor smashed three sixes in a 11-ball 25, but there was an ephemeral nature to the innings, and when he edged behind to Sarfraz off Mohammad Amir, New Zealand needed a steep 54 from 21 balls.
From thereon, the game just went through the motions as Pakistan ended the series with a swagger. It may have been a difficult, at times an embarrassing tour for Pakistan. But an 18-run win to close it, a T20I series win and the world No. 1 ranking in the format is decent reward for a tour that may generally be regarded as a disappointment.
Sunday 28 January 2018
ODI series AUS 1-4 ENG
1st ODI
Australia 304/8
England 308/5
England win by 5 wickets
That’s one way to secure your first proper win of an Australia tour. The Ashes may be gone but England kicked off the one-day internationals with the most thumping of five-wicket wins in the first of a five-game series. For that, they have Jason Roy to thank. Chasing 305 for victory, Roy pillaged 180 of them on his own, carving 16 fours and five sixes to set a new record for the highest score by an Englishman in ODIs, beating Alex Hales’ 171 set against Pakistan in 2016.
Earlier, a ninth ODI hundred by the Australia opener Aaron Finch looked to have ensured an even tussle. His 112-ball effort was measured and serene, powerful but crafted as by a carpenter. For each heave there were a few deft touches. Roy, by contrast, was a man with a chainsaw in each hand taking down a forest.
Roy’s first 50 came from a chaotic 32 balls, in which he was responsible for 12 of the 15 boundaries England managed in their first 10 overs. Fifty to 100 was a more treacherous affair.
The middle of his bat became elusive as shots plinked and plugged in the vast outfield. On 91, he misread the line of a ball from the leg-spinner Adam Zampa and was adjudged LBW. On review, the ball was shown to have hit his pad outside the line while Roy was playing a shot. The umpire’s decision was overturned and he blitzed Zampa’s next ball for six, just out of the reach of long on. On 97, he ran three off his 94th delivery for a fourth ODI hundred.
His final 80 runs were a collection of nifty reverse sweeps, hacks and a towering skip-and-slap down the ground. He would depart as he arrived, swiping with disdain but this time to the substitute fielder Jhye Richardson at square leg. It brought to an end a fine partnership with Joe Root – 221, now the highest third-wicket stand for England in ODIs. Root ensured he was on hand to see the job home, finishing unbeaten on 91 – an unconverted fifty that won’t bother him at all.
There was a Sliding Doors theme at the start, when the first ball of the match was hit for four. It was the 1,003rd competitive delivery Chris Woakes has sent down on this tour and was driven back past him by Finch. By contrast, Mark Wood’s first threatened to pierce David Warner’s right ear, skidding off the pitch and forcing the left-hander to flinch for the first time in three months. Wood’s third drew a tough catching chance at cover before he squared Warner up two balls later to find the shoulder of the bat for a simple catch to Joe Root at second slip, the opener falling for two.
England fans were already thumbing through the pages of an Ashes tragedy in their minds, desperate to get the red pen out. Their frustrations are shared by Wood himself, who felt fit and ready for the last three Tests but was seemingly unable to convince the England and Wales Cricket Board that his ankle could cope with the required work. Woakes, by contrast, still has not found the rhythm that was robbed from him by a side injury sustained during the ICC Champions Trophy in the English summer. His economy rate of 6.5 was less than Liam Plunkett’s 7.2, but the latter was more effective, with three wickets to Woakes’s one.
Over the course of Wood’s opening five-over spell, he showed flashes of what England have been missing: extracting movement off a flat surface and testing Australia’s top order with pace.
A solid start was made a little rosier when Adil Rashid somehow dismissed Steve Smith via an inside edge in what must rank as one of the leg-spinner’s worst overs for England. Smuggled between a handful of long-hops and a couple of wides was a neat googly that caught the Australia captain by surprise. However, Rashid was unable to use the prize scalp as inspiration, eventually conceding 73 runs off his 10 overs, including five sixes, though he did return a second wicket when he bowled Mitchell Marsh for 50.
When Finch fell to Moeen Ali (the most economical of England’s bowlers, with one for 39), Marcus Stoinis (60) went on to push Australia to 304 for eight. Unfortunately for them, Roy made that look plenty short.
2nd ODI
Australia 270/9 (50 ov)
England 274/6 (44.2/50 ov)
England won by 4 wickets (with 34 balls remaining)
England came into this series wanting to win in different ways. So after a dominant performance in the first ODI, a nippier chase on an uncharacteristic Brisbane pitch is one to add to the portfolio. A four-wicket win with 34 balls remaining has given them a 2-0 lead in the series. This is only their second win in eight ODIs at this venue.
Australia opted to bat first and drop their only spinner. So when England used three of their own, bowling the second-highest number of deliveries by spinners in an ODI in this country, the hosts knew something was not quite right. The pitch was more Chandigarh than Gabbatoir.
Even given Australia’s duff selection, Mitchell Starc threatened to save them. Starting his last over in the 38th, with 45 to defend, Joe Root and Jos Buttler set and six-wickets still to go, he found Buttler’s outside edge, then Moeen Ali’s middle stump, leaving England with a far less comfortable 43 to get with four wickets in hand. Chris Woakes ensured a smooth finale with a swift 39 not out, while Joe Root added another measure red-inker (46no) to go with his unbeaten 91 at the MCG.
Jason Roy, in his 50th ODI, fell for only two after his 180 in Melbourne, yet England were still able to rattle Australia’s attack with Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales combining for 117 off 112 balls to break the back of the chase. While Bairstow and Hales brought up their half-centuries in style – 41-ball and 52-ball efforts reached with a four and six down the ground, respectively – there was minor alarm when both fell in the space of 13 balls, turning 119 for one into 129 for two. That partnership, in essence, allowed a stop-start middle.
It looked like your typical Gabba ODI pitch: a sweat-stained white shirt shade of mock concrete which, they say, offers something for bowlers early on. That “something” amounted to two deliveries in Woakes’ first over. Warner and Aaron Finch then thrashing a hlaf-century opening stand in under nine overs. However, Moeen’s introduction at the end of the Power Play, conceding just two singles off the 10th, got Eoin Morgan thinking. When Ali had Warner (35) caught at slip that brought a change of tack.
Morgan packed away the quicks. It might have gone against convention, like rummaging around for a pair of flip flops for an English January morning, but there was enough to suggest the open-toed approach in usually hostile spin conditions was the way forward. A penny for Australia’s thoughts, who dropped Adam Zampa, the leg-spinner, for batsman Cameron White.
Root (two for 31) ended up being the pick of the bowlers, taking two for 31 from seven overs. He removed Steve Smith lbw, then, Travis Head caught and bowled. Rarely has part-time off-spin from an English hand been treated with such fear. It ensured a boundary-less 55-ball period between the 15th and 24th over which restricted Australia to 33 runs.
Even with a second Finch ODI hundred in as many games which, again, involved time in the middle with Mitchell Marsh, Australia were unable to learn lessons from the MCG.
Again, both fell in quick succession – this time both in the space of five balls rather than 12. Marsh gave Adil Rashid the first of his two wickets when he was stumped off a big leg-spinner, before Finch went for 106 (one less than he managed in the first ODI) becoming Liam Plunkett’s 100th ODI wicket.
Everything Morgan and England tried came good. Even the inordinate stock placed in the team’s pre-match football paid dividends, as Woakes slotted home from close range to catch keeper Alex Carey off his line for an enterprising 27 on debut. That was the only threat of pushing Australia above par. Reaching for that big finish, the hosts lost six for 62 in the last 11 overs.
3rd ODI
England 302/6 (50 ov)
Australia 286/6 (50 ov)
England won by 16 runs
Jos Buttler's stunning century and a composed all-round effort with the ball helped England clinch the ODI series with two matches to play. Although Marcus Stoinis kept Australia in the hunt until the final over, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes closed the game out with another smart display of death bowling.
England had been struggling on 6 for 189 when Buttler and Woakes came together but they put on an unbroken 113-run stand to take the total beyond 300. Buttler reached his fifth one-day hundred from the last ball of the innings as England made far more than had looked likely. He then took a contentious catch to dismiss Steven Smith at a key point in the chase as England held on to go 3-0 up.
Buttler started steadily but dismantled Australia's pace attack in the final overs, at one point effortlessly heaving back-to-back sixes off Pat Cummins before following up with consecutive boundaries later in the over. Such was the Midas nature of his touch that even when he dug out a Mitchell Starc yorker it yielded four runs.
Buttler, on 97, was almost denied a century when umpire Chris Gaffaney raised his finger for an lbw shout from Starc but the replay left no doubt the ball had ricocheted off the bat before hitting the pad. In an eventful final over, Woakes brought up his half-century with a pull for six before Buttler reached his century with a hard run two off the final delivery of the innings.
Australia hit by over-rate fine
Australia have been fined for a slow over-rate after being ruled two overs behind at the SCG. It leaves captain Steven Smith one repeat offence away from a suspension.
Smith has been fined 40% of his match fee, while his players have received 20% fines.
Australia took 27 minutes more than allocated to bowl their 50 overs as England made 302 for 6, but were not judged to be as far behind as may have been feared after the umpires took time allowances into account.
Set 303 for victory, Australia were stifled by an England bowling attack that rallied after Liam Plunkett was struck down with an injury.
Plunkett left the field with a hamstring problem that caused him to pull up just before his delivery stride in the 12th over of Australia's innings. His departure from the field in his second over left England's attack a bowler short and forced Eoin Morgan to turn to Joe Root's part-time spin to make up the overs.
But Australia's chase had stuttered early on with the loss of David Warner, out chipping Woakes to extra cover, and Cameron White, who feathered a Wood delivery to Buttler.
That left the responsibility of steering the initial chase to Aaron Finch, who top-scored for Australia with 62 off 53 balls but was unable to reach his third century of the series. Finch pre-meditated a sweep shot to an Adil Rashid delivery that deceived with its extra pace and rapped the pads and after his departure the run rate required gradually increased.
As was the case with England earlier, the Australian batsmen made starts but found it difficult to convert those to big totals or to score quickly on a slowish pitch. Stoinis attempted to lift the run-rate in the latter stage of the innings with a brisk half-century but he fell heaving Woakes to deep square leg in the final over.
The match wasn't without controversial moments, particularly when Wood claimed the coveted wicket of Smith. Smith edged the ball low and to the right of Buttler, who took a one-handed grab. But the decision was sent to the third umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, to judge whether or not the catch was taken cleanly. After a lengthy period examining the replays, Dharmasena was unable to find conclusive evidence to overturn the soft signal of out and the on-field decision was upheld. Smith, clearly unhappy with the decision, walked back to the pavilion amid a loud chorus of booing from the crowd.
During the match, television footage was also widely shared on social media that showed Smith shining the ball after touching his lips but the umpires did not appear to have any issue with the condition of the ball. After the match Smith said he was not wearing any lip balm.
England had won the first two matches chasing down Australia's totals and perhaps that was on Smith's mind when he elected to bowl after winning the toss.
First-choice quicks Cummins and Josh Hazlewood returned in place of Jhye Richardson and Andrew Tye and, despite toiling on a slowish pitch and bowling several wide deliveries early on, their impact was evident in the opening stages of the innings.
England finished the first ten overs with 47 runs on the board for the loss of two wickets, by far their worst Powerplay figures of the series - they were 2 for 87 and 1 for 60 at the same point in the first and second ODIs, respectively. After losing early wickets, Jonny Bairstow and Root batted for more than ten overs without scoring a boundary as Australia's fast bowlers applied consistent pressure.
Cummins' first over was a maiden that pinned Jason Roy to the crease and in his next over Cummins got his reward when Roy slashed a full delivery outside off stump to Finch at extra cover. Alex Hales' time in the middle was brief and ended with a similarly soft dismissal, a mistimed drive off Stoinis lobbed directly to Adam Zampa at mid-on.
Australia had gone into the second ODI in Brisbane without a specialist spinner and, while a growing number of commentators and former players have questioned the absence of Nathan Lyon in the 50-over format, Zampa returned to the team in place of Travis Head and claimed the wicket of Bairstow with a well-executed googly.
Apart from Hales, England's top order made starts but Australia's bowlers were patient and struck regularly just as the batsmen seemed set. Root, who was presented with his 100th ODI cap by England and South Sydney rugby league player Sam Burgess, played on against Hazlewood for 29, while Morgan departed for 41, edging the same bowler behind just as he had started to accelerate the run rate.
Morgan was given a life on 19 when he was dropped by Smith, who put down a difficult chance while diving to his left at midwicket. But the dubious honour of the biggest howler of the innings went to White, who watched a skied ball from Moeen Ali off Mitchell Marsh drop between his hands and chest. Moeen had been dropped in a strikingly similar fashion by Hazlewood at the SCG during the fifth Ashes Test but, as in that match and throughout a disappointing tour, he was unable to capitalise and was out dragging a Marsh delivery on to his stumps soon after.
But England's much-lauded depth in batting gave them a late surge, with Buttler and Woakes combining brilliantly as the shadows lengthened for a rollicking partnership that lifted England to a total that had seemed well out of reach.
4th ODI
England 196 (44.5/50 ov)
Australia 197/7 (37/50 ov)
Australia won by 3 wickets (with 78 balls remaining)
Travis Head hit 96 to guide Australia to a three-wicket win in the fourth one-day international as a terrible start cost England at Adelaide.
The tourists fell to 8-5 in swinging conditions, before a superb 78 from Chris Woakes saw them recover to post 196 all out, Pat Cummins taking 4-24.
Australia wobbled at times in reply, but the recalled Head proved a steady presence after a skittish start.
He fell short of a ton but had done enough to ensure his side edged home.
Eoin Morgan's England team had already secured the five-match series with victory in Sydney and now lead 3-1, with the final ODI in Perth on Sunday.
5th ODI
England 259 (47.4/50 ov)
Australia 247 (48.2/50 ov)
England won by 12 runs
The opening match at Perth’s new Optus Stadium saw its first five-wicket haul courtesy of Western Australia’s own Andrew Tye’s five for 46 and even its first streaker. But it will have to wait a little longer for its first Australian win thanks to a virtuoso performance from Tom Curran, who bettered Tye with five for 35 and snuck England to a 12-run win in the fifth and final ODI.
His two Tests might have come a bit too soon in his career, but Curran’s stock as one of the most exciting limited-overs quicks in English cricket was clear for all to see. The 22-year-old held his nerve, nailed his yorkers and ensured England took an ODI series they dominated as convincingly as the 4-1 scoreline suggests. This was the Surrey quick’s maiden five-for in the format.
Tye’s maiden ODI five-for came moments before he was sold to Kings XI Punjab in the IPL auction for $1.4m AUS (just over £800,000). He had given Australia a target of 260 that began, in earnest, when Marcus Stoinis walked out at number three. On 87, he was caught superbly in the deep by Curran off an Adil Rashid full toss which brought England back into contention at 189 for five, with 71 required from the final 90 balls.
Curran used the opportunity to put on a reverse swing clinic that trapped Glenn Maxwell in front and then squared up Mitchell Starc to find an edge through to Jos Buttler in the 37th over.
In his next over, Tye was dropped by Jonny Bairstow, who had earlier robbed Curran of a wicket in the second over of Australia’s chase when Travis Head was shelled at first slip. Luckily, Moeen Ali accounted for Tye having previously dismissed Mitchell Marsh with a brilliant instinctive caught and bowled chance, but then he, too, had a catch dropped off his bowling: Tim Paine chipping to Alex Hales at long on who couldn’t do his bit.
With 25 needed from the last 24 balls, Curran returned to bowl Adam Zampa with yorker. However, a sickly Jake Ball conceded 11 runs off the 48th over. As the ask dropped to 13 from 11, Curran dug deep for one last time to breach the defence of Paine for five-wickets of his own.
The pitch was a green-tinged Waca tribute surface – a drop-in pitch, as is the way with newer cricket stadia in this part of the world. The dimensions of the oval itself were such that the first scoring shot, off the very first ball, was an all-run four to Jason Roy. The opener didn’t have to do much running after that, finding the rope with ease an ensuring, this time, England were 54-0 after 6.3 overs rather than the comical eight for five they were in the previous ODI in Adelaide.
On 20, he was caught behind off Starc. However, no part of Starc’s front foot was behind the line and Roy used the life to blitz his way to 38 from 26 balls, before slowing up with just 11 off his next 20 deliveries leading to a airy, frustrated drive, caught at mid on for Tye’s first.
It was at this point – 71-1 in the 12th over – that Australia wised up. Mitchell Marsh came into the attack and, as the pitch started to develop a hint of inconsistency, used his short ball to removing Hales via a hook deflecting off the batsman’s helmet.
Tye’s array of slower and knuckle balls accounted for the middle order. He pinned Joe Root in the chest - a blow that might have stung as much as the Test skipper’s IPL spurn. Root notched his 26th ODI fifty to cap an impressive 226-run series, top-scoring with 62, before falling to Tye. A yorker to Jake Ball closed England’s innings on 259 and gave Tye his fifth wicket.
The script was written for a hometown, newly-made millionaire to cap off a special occasion. Curran, though, had no intention of letting a good story get in the way of a maginificent win.
Australia 304/8
England 308/5
England win by 5 wickets
That’s one way to secure your first proper win of an Australia tour. The Ashes may be gone but England kicked off the one-day internationals with the most thumping of five-wicket wins in the first of a five-game series. For that, they have Jason Roy to thank. Chasing 305 for victory, Roy pillaged 180 of them on his own, carving 16 fours and five sixes to set a new record for the highest score by an Englishman in ODIs, beating Alex Hales’ 171 set against Pakistan in 2016.
Earlier, a ninth ODI hundred by the Australia opener Aaron Finch looked to have ensured an even tussle. His 112-ball effort was measured and serene, powerful but crafted as by a carpenter. For each heave there were a few deft touches. Roy, by contrast, was a man with a chainsaw in each hand taking down a forest.
Roy’s first 50 came from a chaotic 32 balls, in which he was responsible for 12 of the 15 boundaries England managed in their first 10 overs. Fifty to 100 was a more treacherous affair.
The middle of his bat became elusive as shots plinked and plugged in the vast outfield. On 91, he misread the line of a ball from the leg-spinner Adam Zampa and was adjudged LBW. On review, the ball was shown to have hit his pad outside the line while Roy was playing a shot. The umpire’s decision was overturned and he blitzed Zampa’s next ball for six, just out of the reach of long on. On 97, he ran three off his 94th delivery for a fourth ODI hundred.
His final 80 runs were a collection of nifty reverse sweeps, hacks and a towering skip-and-slap down the ground. He would depart as he arrived, swiping with disdain but this time to the substitute fielder Jhye Richardson at square leg. It brought to an end a fine partnership with Joe Root – 221, now the highest third-wicket stand for England in ODIs. Root ensured he was on hand to see the job home, finishing unbeaten on 91 – an unconverted fifty that won’t bother him at all.
There was a Sliding Doors theme at the start, when the first ball of the match was hit for four. It was the 1,003rd competitive delivery Chris Woakes has sent down on this tour and was driven back past him by Finch. By contrast, Mark Wood’s first threatened to pierce David Warner’s right ear, skidding off the pitch and forcing the left-hander to flinch for the first time in three months. Wood’s third drew a tough catching chance at cover before he squared Warner up two balls later to find the shoulder of the bat for a simple catch to Joe Root at second slip, the opener falling for two.
England fans were already thumbing through the pages of an Ashes tragedy in their minds, desperate to get the red pen out. Their frustrations are shared by Wood himself, who felt fit and ready for the last three Tests but was seemingly unable to convince the England and Wales Cricket Board that his ankle could cope with the required work. Woakes, by contrast, still has not found the rhythm that was robbed from him by a side injury sustained during the ICC Champions Trophy in the English summer. His economy rate of 6.5 was less than Liam Plunkett’s 7.2, but the latter was more effective, with three wickets to Woakes’s one.
Over the course of Wood’s opening five-over spell, he showed flashes of what England have been missing: extracting movement off a flat surface and testing Australia’s top order with pace.
A solid start was made a little rosier when Adil Rashid somehow dismissed Steve Smith via an inside edge in what must rank as one of the leg-spinner’s worst overs for England. Smuggled between a handful of long-hops and a couple of wides was a neat googly that caught the Australia captain by surprise. However, Rashid was unable to use the prize scalp as inspiration, eventually conceding 73 runs off his 10 overs, including five sixes, though he did return a second wicket when he bowled Mitchell Marsh for 50.
When Finch fell to Moeen Ali (the most economical of England’s bowlers, with one for 39), Marcus Stoinis (60) went on to push Australia to 304 for eight. Unfortunately for them, Roy made that look plenty short.
2nd ODI
Australia 270/9 (50 ov)
England 274/6 (44.2/50 ov)
England won by 4 wickets (with 34 balls remaining)
England came into this series wanting to win in different ways. So after a dominant performance in the first ODI, a nippier chase on an uncharacteristic Brisbane pitch is one to add to the portfolio. A four-wicket win with 34 balls remaining has given them a 2-0 lead in the series. This is only their second win in eight ODIs at this venue.
Australia opted to bat first and drop their only spinner. So when England used three of their own, bowling the second-highest number of deliveries by spinners in an ODI in this country, the hosts knew something was not quite right. The pitch was more Chandigarh than Gabbatoir.
Even given Australia’s duff selection, Mitchell Starc threatened to save them. Starting his last over in the 38th, with 45 to defend, Joe Root and Jos Buttler set and six-wickets still to go, he found Buttler’s outside edge, then Moeen Ali’s middle stump, leaving England with a far less comfortable 43 to get with four wickets in hand. Chris Woakes ensured a smooth finale with a swift 39 not out, while Joe Root added another measure red-inker (46no) to go with his unbeaten 91 at the MCG.
Jason Roy, in his 50th ODI, fell for only two after his 180 in Melbourne, yet England were still able to rattle Australia’s attack with Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales combining for 117 off 112 balls to break the back of the chase. While Bairstow and Hales brought up their half-centuries in style – 41-ball and 52-ball efforts reached with a four and six down the ground, respectively – there was minor alarm when both fell in the space of 13 balls, turning 119 for one into 129 for two. That partnership, in essence, allowed a stop-start middle.
It looked like your typical Gabba ODI pitch: a sweat-stained white shirt shade of mock concrete which, they say, offers something for bowlers early on. That “something” amounted to two deliveries in Woakes’ first over. Warner and Aaron Finch then thrashing a hlaf-century opening stand in under nine overs. However, Moeen’s introduction at the end of the Power Play, conceding just two singles off the 10th, got Eoin Morgan thinking. When Ali had Warner (35) caught at slip that brought a change of tack.
Morgan packed away the quicks. It might have gone against convention, like rummaging around for a pair of flip flops for an English January morning, but there was enough to suggest the open-toed approach in usually hostile spin conditions was the way forward. A penny for Australia’s thoughts, who dropped Adam Zampa, the leg-spinner, for batsman Cameron White.
Root (two for 31) ended up being the pick of the bowlers, taking two for 31 from seven overs. He removed Steve Smith lbw, then, Travis Head caught and bowled. Rarely has part-time off-spin from an English hand been treated with such fear. It ensured a boundary-less 55-ball period between the 15th and 24th over which restricted Australia to 33 runs.
Even with a second Finch ODI hundred in as many games which, again, involved time in the middle with Mitchell Marsh, Australia were unable to learn lessons from the MCG.
Again, both fell in quick succession – this time both in the space of five balls rather than 12. Marsh gave Adil Rashid the first of his two wickets when he was stumped off a big leg-spinner, before Finch went for 106 (one less than he managed in the first ODI) becoming Liam Plunkett’s 100th ODI wicket.
Everything Morgan and England tried came good. Even the inordinate stock placed in the team’s pre-match football paid dividends, as Woakes slotted home from close range to catch keeper Alex Carey off his line for an enterprising 27 on debut. That was the only threat of pushing Australia above par. Reaching for that big finish, the hosts lost six for 62 in the last 11 overs.
3rd ODI
England 302/6 (50 ov)
Australia 286/6 (50 ov)
England won by 16 runs
Jos Buttler's stunning century and a composed all-round effort with the ball helped England clinch the ODI series with two matches to play. Although Marcus Stoinis kept Australia in the hunt until the final over, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes closed the game out with another smart display of death bowling.
England had been struggling on 6 for 189 when Buttler and Woakes came together but they put on an unbroken 113-run stand to take the total beyond 300. Buttler reached his fifth one-day hundred from the last ball of the innings as England made far more than had looked likely. He then took a contentious catch to dismiss Steven Smith at a key point in the chase as England held on to go 3-0 up.
Buttler started steadily but dismantled Australia's pace attack in the final overs, at one point effortlessly heaving back-to-back sixes off Pat Cummins before following up with consecutive boundaries later in the over. Such was the Midas nature of his touch that even when he dug out a Mitchell Starc yorker it yielded four runs.
Buttler, on 97, was almost denied a century when umpire Chris Gaffaney raised his finger for an lbw shout from Starc but the replay left no doubt the ball had ricocheted off the bat before hitting the pad. In an eventful final over, Woakes brought up his half-century with a pull for six before Buttler reached his century with a hard run two off the final delivery of the innings.
Australia hit by over-rate fine
Australia have been fined for a slow over-rate after being ruled two overs behind at the SCG. It leaves captain Steven Smith one repeat offence away from a suspension.
Smith has been fined 40% of his match fee, while his players have received 20% fines.
Australia took 27 minutes more than allocated to bowl their 50 overs as England made 302 for 6, but were not judged to be as far behind as may have been feared after the umpires took time allowances into account.
Set 303 for victory, Australia were stifled by an England bowling attack that rallied after Liam Plunkett was struck down with an injury.
Plunkett left the field with a hamstring problem that caused him to pull up just before his delivery stride in the 12th over of Australia's innings. His departure from the field in his second over left England's attack a bowler short and forced Eoin Morgan to turn to Joe Root's part-time spin to make up the overs.
But Australia's chase had stuttered early on with the loss of David Warner, out chipping Woakes to extra cover, and Cameron White, who feathered a Wood delivery to Buttler.
That left the responsibility of steering the initial chase to Aaron Finch, who top-scored for Australia with 62 off 53 balls but was unable to reach his third century of the series. Finch pre-meditated a sweep shot to an Adil Rashid delivery that deceived with its extra pace and rapped the pads and after his departure the run rate required gradually increased.
As was the case with England earlier, the Australian batsmen made starts but found it difficult to convert those to big totals or to score quickly on a slowish pitch. Stoinis attempted to lift the run-rate in the latter stage of the innings with a brisk half-century but he fell heaving Woakes to deep square leg in the final over.
The match wasn't without controversial moments, particularly when Wood claimed the coveted wicket of Smith. Smith edged the ball low and to the right of Buttler, who took a one-handed grab. But the decision was sent to the third umpire, Kumar Dharmasena, to judge whether or not the catch was taken cleanly. After a lengthy period examining the replays, Dharmasena was unable to find conclusive evidence to overturn the soft signal of out and the on-field decision was upheld. Smith, clearly unhappy with the decision, walked back to the pavilion amid a loud chorus of booing from the crowd.
During the match, television footage was also widely shared on social media that showed Smith shining the ball after touching his lips but the umpires did not appear to have any issue with the condition of the ball. After the match Smith said he was not wearing any lip balm.
England had won the first two matches chasing down Australia's totals and perhaps that was on Smith's mind when he elected to bowl after winning the toss.
First-choice quicks Cummins and Josh Hazlewood returned in place of Jhye Richardson and Andrew Tye and, despite toiling on a slowish pitch and bowling several wide deliveries early on, their impact was evident in the opening stages of the innings.
England finished the first ten overs with 47 runs on the board for the loss of two wickets, by far their worst Powerplay figures of the series - they were 2 for 87 and 1 for 60 at the same point in the first and second ODIs, respectively. After losing early wickets, Jonny Bairstow and Root batted for more than ten overs without scoring a boundary as Australia's fast bowlers applied consistent pressure.
Cummins' first over was a maiden that pinned Jason Roy to the crease and in his next over Cummins got his reward when Roy slashed a full delivery outside off stump to Finch at extra cover. Alex Hales' time in the middle was brief and ended with a similarly soft dismissal, a mistimed drive off Stoinis lobbed directly to Adam Zampa at mid-on.
Australia had gone into the second ODI in Brisbane without a specialist spinner and, while a growing number of commentators and former players have questioned the absence of Nathan Lyon in the 50-over format, Zampa returned to the team in place of Travis Head and claimed the wicket of Bairstow with a well-executed googly.
Apart from Hales, England's top order made starts but Australia's bowlers were patient and struck regularly just as the batsmen seemed set. Root, who was presented with his 100th ODI cap by England and South Sydney rugby league player Sam Burgess, played on against Hazlewood for 29, while Morgan departed for 41, edging the same bowler behind just as he had started to accelerate the run rate.
Morgan was given a life on 19 when he was dropped by Smith, who put down a difficult chance while diving to his left at midwicket. But the dubious honour of the biggest howler of the innings went to White, who watched a skied ball from Moeen Ali off Mitchell Marsh drop between his hands and chest. Moeen had been dropped in a strikingly similar fashion by Hazlewood at the SCG during the fifth Ashes Test but, as in that match and throughout a disappointing tour, he was unable to capitalise and was out dragging a Marsh delivery on to his stumps soon after.
But England's much-lauded depth in batting gave them a late surge, with Buttler and Woakes combining brilliantly as the shadows lengthened for a rollicking partnership that lifted England to a total that had seemed well out of reach.
4th ODI
England 196 (44.5/50 ov)
Australia 197/7 (37/50 ov)
Australia won by 3 wickets (with 78 balls remaining)
Travis Head hit 96 to guide Australia to a three-wicket win in the fourth one-day international as a terrible start cost England at Adelaide.
The tourists fell to 8-5 in swinging conditions, before a superb 78 from Chris Woakes saw them recover to post 196 all out, Pat Cummins taking 4-24.
Australia wobbled at times in reply, but the recalled Head proved a steady presence after a skittish start.
He fell short of a ton but had done enough to ensure his side edged home.
Eoin Morgan's England team had already secured the five-match series with victory in Sydney and now lead 3-1, with the final ODI in Perth on Sunday.
5th ODI
England 259 (47.4/50 ov)
Australia 247 (48.2/50 ov)
England won by 12 runs
The opening match at Perth’s new Optus Stadium saw its first five-wicket haul courtesy of Western Australia’s own Andrew Tye’s five for 46 and even its first streaker. But it will have to wait a little longer for its first Australian win thanks to a virtuoso performance from Tom Curran, who bettered Tye with five for 35 and snuck England to a 12-run win in the fifth and final ODI.
His two Tests might have come a bit too soon in his career, but Curran’s stock as one of the most exciting limited-overs quicks in English cricket was clear for all to see. The 22-year-old held his nerve, nailed his yorkers and ensured England took an ODI series they dominated as convincingly as the 4-1 scoreline suggests. This was the Surrey quick’s maiden five-for in the format.
Tye’s maiden ODI five-for came moments before he was sold to Kings XI Punjab in the IPL auction for $1.4m AUS (just over £800,000). He had given Australia a target of 260 that began, in earnest, when Marcus Stoinis walked out at number three. On 87, he was caught superbly in the deep by Curran off an Adil Rashid full toss which brought England back into contention at 189 for five, with 71 required from the final 90 balls.
Curran used the opportunity to put on a reverse swing clinic that trapped Glenn Maxwell in front and then squared up Mitchell Starc to find an edge through to Jos Buttler in the 37th over.
In his next over, Tye was dropped by Jonny Bairstow, who had earlier robbed Curran of a wicket in the second over of Australia’s chase when Travis Head was shelled at first slip. Luckily, Moeen Ali accounted for Tye having previously dismissed Mitchell Marsh with a brilliant instinctive caught and bowled chance, but then he, too, had a catch dropped off his bowling: Tim Paine chipping to Alex Hales at long on who couldn’t do his bit.
With 25 needed from the last 24 balls, Curran returned to bowl Adam Zampa with yorker. However, a sickly Jake Ball conceded 11 runs off the 48th over. As the ask dropped to 13 from 11, Curran dug deep for one last time to breach the defence of Paine for five-wickets of his own.
The pitch was a green-tinged Waca tribute surface – a drop-in pitch, as is the way with newer cricket stadia in this part of the world. The dimensions of the oval itself were such that the first scoring shot, off the very first ball, was an all-run four to Jason Roy. The opener didn’t have to do much running after that, finding the rope with ease an ensuring, this time, England were 54-0 after 6.3 overs rather than the comical eight for five they were in the previous ODI in Adelaide.
On 20, he was caught behind off Starc. However, no part of Starc’s front foot was behind the line and Roy used the life to blitz his way to 38 from 26 balls, before slowing up with just 11 off his next 20 deliveries leading to a airy, frustrated drive, caught at mid on for Tye’s first.
It was at this point – 71-1 in the 12th over – that Australia wised up. Mitchell Marsh came into the attack and, as the pitch started to develop a hint of inconsistency, used his short ball to removing Hales via a hook deflecting off the batsman’s helmet.
Tye’s array of slower and knuckle balls accounted for the middle order. He pinned Joe Root in the chest - a blow that might have stung as much as the Test skipper’s IPL spurn. Root notched his 26th ODI fifty to cap an impressive 226-run series, top-scoring with 62, before falling to Tye. A yorker to Jake Ball closed England’s innings on 259 and gave Tye his fifth wicket.
The script was written for a hometown, newly-made millionaire to cap off a special occasion. Curran, though, had no intention of letting a good story get in the way of a maginificent win.
Saturday 27 January 2018
3 tests SA 2-1 IND
1st Test
Day 1
South Africa 286
India 28/3 (11 ov)
India trail by 258 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Drama, thy name is Test cricket. At Newlands. On a pitch with a bit of spice. With a build-up that did not lack for shots across the bow.
Faf du Plessis confessed he had a score to settle, and so he armed himself with four fast bowlers the envy of the world. Virat Kohli saw Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander during warm-ups. His only comment with regard to that was "we knew they were going a batsman short and we want to get at them with the new ball".
But really, how could anyone avoid the temptation of unleashing that attack, in any condition let alone a surface with both pace and lateral movement. Given 11 overs to turn the game, Philander dismissed M Vijay, Steyn claimed Dhawan to move into the top-10 wicket-takers in Test history and Morkel lured Kohli into a familar trap behind the wicket. India bowled South Africa out for 286 but then they limped to stumps at 28 for 3.
Cape Town dealt almost exclusively in hair-raising action. Bhuvneshwar Kumar began proceedings by spiriting three wickets in his first three overs. To ensure there wasn't one-way traffic, AB de Villiers produced a half-century that was downright delectable. He had total control of the game and the opposition at his mercy when the debutant Jasprit Bumrah - who played his last first-class game almost a year ago - knocked back the off stump.
India's hold-one-end-up bowler Hardik Pandya got rid of du Plessis for 62 mere moments after a remarkably tight lbw call went against the visitors. Kohli probably had that running in his head - and the South African captain's pre-series comments about revenge - when he indulged in a send-off and was soon cautioned by the umpires.
Worried that things had calmed too far down, Quinton de Kock played like he was the action hero who always gets shot at but never gets hit.
Now, it is more than fair for a home team to play to its strengths but that didn't mean batting was a treacherous exercise. The outfield was lightning. The ball came on even better than expected. Fields were up. And fun was had. The run-rate through the first two sessions was 4.3
Dean Elgar might not be too happy with how his day went though. Having finished 2017 as South Africa's highest Test scorer, his first innings in the new year lasted only three deliveries. It wasn't entirely his fault though. India had probably done their homework and realised that of his 44 dismissals to pace, 30 of them have been caught behind or in the cordon. So Bhuvneshwar forced him to deal with a back-of-a-length ball pitching on off stump and seaming away. He had to play. Then he had to go.
Aiden Markram was lbw not playing a shot. Okay, that's not quite true. He was trying desperately to bring his bat in line with a good length delivery pitching outside off and jagging back in but he just wasn't quick enough. The young opener basically strung himself up with his habit of shuffling across and playing around his front pad.
The third wicket of this phenomenal spell was probably the most important of them all. But it was the least sexy. Hashim Amla poked well away from his body and Wriddhiman Saha picked up his second catch of the first half hour, much to the cacophonous delight of the slip fielders beside him. Oddly, Ajinkya Rahane was not among that number with India choosing to go in with Rohit Sharma, a man in better recent form, and Hardik Pandya.
With the new ball and the outside and inside edges hogging the limelight, the middle of the bat was off sulking somewhere. De Villiers found it and made sure it was front and centre for the entire time he was at the crease. He sent his first delivery through midwicket for a crisp boundary. He struck India's best bowler of the day for four fours in an over. He played late. He met the ball close to his body. He used soft hands. And he punished anything even remotely short. In essence, de Villiers' innings was an exhibition of how to bat on a difficult pitch. Playing only his third day of Test cricket over the last two years, he made 65 off 84 balls.
Du Plessis was, as ever, scoring runs by simply making sure he was at the wicket. He waited for the wide ones to hit through cover and point. He feasted on the straight ones, that strong bottom hand coupling very nicely with a fast outfield. But the cut shot to get to a half-century in his comeback Test - he missed Boxing Day with a viral infection - was basically a dare. Try stopping that.
India might have done even better if Mohammed Shami had found his rhythm sooner but he probably did not enjoy bowling into the wind; his run-up noticeably affected. It took 10 overs and three spells for his first wicket of the tour. It was one his team was hunting for though. Philander, in his pre-match comments, had indicated that he did not believe India were better travellers now. And while he did play some of the best cover drives in the match, helping string a vital 60-run stand for the sixth wicket at more than run-a-ball with de Kock, he left the field with his defences and his stumps shattered.
Bhuvneshwar had the opportunity to take a fifth wicket just before tea was taken, but India's old problem of having a porous slip cordon put paid to those plans when Dhawan dropped Keshav Maharaj on 0. The batsman had made 35 in enterprising fashion before he was dismissed, run-out by a direct hit from R Ashwin at mid-on. Later, the offspinner picked up his first wicket in South Africa, Rabada caught behind. The innings ended in the 74th over when Morkel was lbw to the same bowler for 2. The hosts' last five wickets added 144 runs - that's two more than the first five.
Day 2
South Africa 286 & 65/2 (20 ov)
India 209
South Africa lead by 142 runs with 8 wickets remaining
In their first innings of a season in which they'll be living out of their briefcases, India realised they forgot to pack something rather important. The middle of the bat. They were 92 for 7 and the Newlands Test began to look like another one in a long line of dismal performances away from home.
Two months ago, when Hardik Pandya was rested from the Test team, he spoke about playing in South Africa in this way. "I might be the difference, let's see." Living up to his own lofty billing, the 24-year old allrounder defied a fearsome fast-bowling attack to make 93 off 95 balls. South Africa did eventually secure a lead of 77 runs, bowling India out for 209, but it might have come at a sizeable cost. With three overs to tea, Dale Steyn injured his left heel and there are concerns that he may he out of the series.
Cape Town, as it did on the first day, continued spoiling cricket fans rotten. Vernon Philander began the day with five successive maidens. Kagiso Rabada was just plain mean. Morne Morkel seemed to be pushing through his action better; the snap of his wrist had been more palpable and those awkwardly rising deliveries came with greater frequency. Steyn, while fit, calmly moved to 418 Test wickets, three away from the national record.
Can you spot a weak link in there? Given helpful conditions, each of them can be a spearhead. They also pose different questions to a batsman, are incredibly accurate, and hate giving away runs. All of that meant India had not a moment of respite. They made only 29 in the first 18 overs - the point when they lost their first wicket of the day. Back then, the plan was to survive. Invest time in the middle as the surface flattens out and hope to have wickets in hand when the bowlers start to tire.
And they did. They also got frustrated because Pandya wasn't trussing himself up and presenting his wicket to them. As audacious as the shots he played were - upper cuts to a 145 kph bouncer, a flat-batted biff over extra cover to get to his fifty and a still-headed down-the-track flick through midwicket - he was also thoughtful. Once, when he was beaten while playing a cut shot - he's very good at that - he queried his partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar whether his execution was off or if the ball had kept low. The exchange of information continued all the way through their 99-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Pandya made runs all around the dial. Crucially, he threw South Africa off their plans. They began bowling around the wicket, targeting his body. That left lbw in the bin. He walked at Philander first ball, giving a bowler who relies exceedingly on lateral movement something more to think about than the outside edge. That his strokeplay is eye-catching is no surprise. But his ease in countering a quality bowling line-up in Test cricket certainly was. India may have finally found a bankable seam-bowling allrounder, the discovery taking place while their greatest ever was celebrating his 59th birthday.
South Africa could, of course, have saved themselves some irritation if Dean Elgar had held on to a sharp catch at gully when Pandya was only 15. Prior to that, he overturned Richard Kettleborough's verdict of caught behind with the help of a review. Steyn was the aggrieved bowler on both occasions, and his day only got worse when he hobbled off the field.
The loss of a bowling leader often derails campaigns. But as in Perth 2016, Rabada stepped up. His third ball of the day was clocked at 146 kph. It beat the splice of the bat on its way to the wicketkeeper. In light of that, there may be sense in playing him off the back foot. But, he is just as adept as pitching the ball up, and has sensational speed through the air. Rohit Sharma found that out the hard way when he was late to bring the bat down and was out lbw.
Rabada's next wicket was Pandya - right after he nailed the batsman in the gut - and he was rewarded with a kiss on the forehead from captain Faf du Plessis. The 22-year old is every bit in the mold of his mentor. He was disgruntled that he was used for only seven overs early on. He indulged in angry screams after taking a wicket. He made batsmen hop. He greeted the opposition's premier spinner with a short ball aimed at the heart. Best of all, when Chesteshwar Pujara played a rare drive through the covers and trotted across for a single, he told the batsman "you hit that so hard, and it didn't even go off the square." It had all the hallmarks of a Steyn sledge - the man did memorably respond to Rohit's call of "come to India, let's see what happens" with "I have more runs than you do this series" in 2013-14.
Pandya's day was not quite done yet. He came on second-change for India and dismissed both of South Africa's openers but their lead is already at 142 and the Test remains in their control.
Day 3 (washout)
South Africa 286 & 65/2 (20 ov)
India 209
South Africa lead by 142 runs with 8 wickets remaining
The entire third day of the Newlands Test was lost to rain, although there might not have been too many people complaining as a result considering Cape Town is in the middle of a severe drought. The showers began on Saturday night and returned in full force in the morning. There were a brief few moments after lunch when it seemed like play could have been possible, but even as the groundsmen were preparing to peel the covers off, the weather turned.
Days four and five will now feature 98 overs each, but play will begin at the usual time of 1030 local. At present, South Africa are 65 for 2 - leading India by 142 runs - with Hashim Amla on 4 and nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada on 2 at the crease.
Day 4
South Africa 286 & 130
India 209 & 135 (42.4 ov, target: 208)
South Africa won by 72 runs
For a half hour or so, the South African pace attack looked... unremarkable. Without Dale Steyn - out of the series with a heel injury - the other three had a difficult task summoning their usual menace. Then came an inswinger. It only decided to be one after travelling three-fourth the distance down the pitch. It fooled Virat Kohli. And it broke India.
Newlands was once again a reminder that Test-match conditions tilted in favour of the bowlers foster compelling cricket. In fact, footage of the fast bowling from both teams can probably replace adrenaline in hospitals. The fourth day alone featured 18 wickets and six of them went to Vernon Philander as his career-best sealed victory for his team, on his home ground, by 72 runs.
In the end, the result highlighted the difference between the two sides and was borne from the fact that South Africa's bowlers allowed 48 boundaries in the entire Test and India's offered 41 in the first innings alone.
Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah did try their best to make amends. Like a heavy metal song that begins in the guise of a gentle melody, they simply blew batsmen away in the morning.
Faf du Plessis was the worst affected. He did not do much wrong in deciding to press forward to a delivery that under normal circumstances would have come up about waist-high. But in Cape Town, on a surface that spent an entire day under the covers, something crazy happened. The ball banged into the deck, it trampolined up to take the top glove even as the batsman recoiled from the line of fire, and settled in the wicketkeeper's waiting gloves.
As elated as India would have been at that point, they would have known their batsmen would have to tackle those kinds of deliveries at a much higher frequency. They did start rather well, cruising to 28 for 0 in seven overs and in that time, M Vijay had already bested two jaffas, ruled out on both of them, but using DRS to continue his innings. Philander made sure the opener wasn't third time lucky.
Given the new ball from the other end, Morne Morkel bounced out Shikhar Dhawan and then had Cheteshwar Pujara caught behind with a snorter that the batsman had no choice but to play. India were in the mire and in walked their captain.
Kohli's stay at the crease was purposeful. He half seemed in one-day mode, turning dots into ones and ones into twos. He knew India wouldn't get too many opportunities to score and so he tried to give himself a leg up - literally. In the hour that he was out there, he made a conscious effort to thrust his front foot down the pitch and in his eagerness to do so, it often slid too far across on off stump. One of his leg glances was played right around his pad. South Africa sensed an opportunity.Philander converted it brilliantly.
The game changed from that moment on. Kagiso Rabada came charging in next over and roughed up Rohit Sharma with a ferocious bouncer. The batsman was beaten for pace and would have been out if not for a bit of casual fielding at long leg by Keshav Maharaj - he did not have his shades on and the sun blinded him from even putting a hand on the catch. If India read anything into that moment of fortune, Philander got rid of Rohit five balls later, a loose push away from the body forced an inside edge to crash into his stumps.
Hardik Pandya was caught at gully - the same position he was dropped at in the first innings - for 1 with AB de Villiers securing a fine catch and indulging in a loud send-off. In the pre-match presser, South Africa made no pretense that they have a score to settle with India. Come the time to back it up, they were absolutely relentless.
A man playing his second Test since January 2016 found a way to perform at his peak. De Villiers batted at a level beyond the rest to take the lead above 200. There was a flick through midwicket for four that bowlers might petition to be taken out of the game. Then, a man who was meant to be in a moon boot walked out to bat. Steyn may not be able to play the sport he loves for four weeks, but when his team was nine down and needed him, he shrugged off the pain and put on the pads. South Africa are highly invested in winning this series and they've made a near-perfect start to it.
2nd Test
South Africa 269/6
India
SA Won toss & will bat
After all the talk of the pace and bounce of the Highveld, Centurion ended up providing India the most subcontinental conditions they could have expected on this tour. The skies were blue, the pitch was brown, and R Ashwin bowled the bulk of India's overs.
That could have been the extent of India feeling at home. For the first 80.4 overs of the day, South Africa's batsmen had pitched tents on this flat, friendly surface and pinned family photographs onto the canvas. Aiden Markram had fallen narrowly short of a hundred, but Hashim Amla looked all set to stroll past that milestone, and South Africa were 246 for 3.
And then, Centurion 2018 turned into Kolkata 2010. Amla and Alviro Petersen had scored centuries that day, only for South Africa to collapse from 218 for 1 to 296 all out, in a typically Eden Gardens post-tea collapse.
Here, South Africa lost three wickets for the addition of five runs, two of them to run-outs, and India, out of nowhere, were back in the game. They hardly deserved to be: Ashwin and Ishant Sharma apart, their frontline bowlers had been poor.
Deserve, however, has nothing to do with Test cricket; a few overs is all it takes, sometimes, for a match to swing 180 degrees.
It began, as it often can, with a moment of brilliance on the field. Amla got on his toes, rode the bounce of a short ball from Hardik Pandya, and tucked it gently into the on side. Faf du Plessis called for one, and Amla, after a moment's hesitation, responded. That moment was enough; Pandya sprinted across in his follow-through, swooped on the ball, spun around, and fired a direct hit at the bowler's end. Amla was gone, for 82.
In walked Quinton de Kock, a left-hander. Ashwin, from round the wicket, greeted him with a quick-turning offbreak in the channel outside off stump. New to the crease, de Kock pushed at it without really moving his feet and edged to slip.
All the swirling excitement and anxiety of the moment got to Vernon Philander, who ten minutes earlier would not have expected to put on his pads. A bunt into the leg side, and a mad dash to the other end despite his captain yelling at him to stay put cost him his wicket. South Africa were 251 for 6 and India flooded the stump mic with yelps of delight.
For most of the first eight-ninths of this day, India's voices had been muted. The first four South African wickets had added 85, 63, 51 and 47, indicative of an attack that seldom applied pressure from both ends, and a top order that batted with a great degree of comfort.
Playing only his seventh Test innings, Markram passed 50 for the fourth time, and looked a natural fit at this level. Taking guard on off stump, he stood tall and stood still at the crease, making no trigger movement and as a result remaining perfectly balanced. Time and again India's seamers slipped in the full, straight lbw ball in vain; Markram's head refused to fall across to the off side, and he punched and drove handsomely through the V, the area wide of mid-on proving particularly productive.
When the quicks dropped short, he punished them with punches and slaps through the covers and, on one occasion, a dismissive pull. The Saturday crowd at Centurion got to see all these shots frequently, since the fast bowlers, Ishant apart, kept feeding him boundary balls.
Jasprit Bumrah showed control with the new ball, but sprayed it around in all his subsequent spells, while Mohammed Shami, much like day one in Cape Town, was wayward and below top-pace with the new ball. Just when he seemed to be finding some rhythm and reverse-swing around an hour after lunch, Shami went off the field, looking a little under the weather. India's team management later clarified it was a "mild headache".
Bounce apart, there wasn't a whole lot of help for the seam bowlers, and perhaps this was why India went in with Ishant ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had picked up 4 for 87 and 2 for 33 in Cape Town. Ishant responded impressively, coming on as first change and testing Dean Elgar's footwork and judgment with his angle, a bit of seam movement, and a fullish length that drew the left-hander forward.
Having fought his way through this spell, Elgar survived a testing period against Ashwin just before lunch, getting beaten twice in 10 balls, with India unsuccessfully reviewing for caught-behind on one occasion. Soon after lunch, Elgar stepped out and drove Ashwin back over his head - perhaps the shot of an anxious batsman looking to hit his tormentor off his length - but the next time he tried stepping out, he didn't reach the pitch of the ball and ended up stabbing a catch to silly point.
This was India's best period of play all day, with Ashwin finding dip and bounce at one end and Ishant bowling tightly at the other. These two couldn't keep bowling forever, however, and South Africa soon returned to free-scoring ways, with Amla turning the clock back with the wristwork on his flicks and back-foot punches. It took a change of angle for India to effect their next breakthrough, Markram edging Ashwin behind when he went around the wicket. The ball, angled across Markram, didn't spin back as much as he expected, but it was the length that did him, pinning him awkwardly to the crease - rather than going neither forward nor back, he was trying to do both at the same time - and making him jab away from his body.
AB de Villiers was busy right from the time he came in, unveiling the reverse-sweep to pick up a boundary off Ashwin when he was still in single figures, but there was a touch of looseness to his game as well. A jab away from his body at Bumrah resulted in an inside-edge that nearly trickled onto his stumps, and when he tried the same shot against Ishant after tea, he chopped on for 20. The ball had begun to keep low every now and then and this was a shot he could have avoided.
At that point, though, South Africa were still in too dominant a position to worry unduly. Amla was looking at his serene best, putting Shami away disdainfully when he kept dropping short in a brief post-tea spell, driving Ashwin against the turn with a twirl of his wrists, and, on 79, keeping out a shin-high shooter from Bumrah as if it was a perfectly normal delivery. Just when he looked set to coast to a century and beyond, however, a moment's hesitation brought India roaring back to life.
Day 2
South Africa 335
India 182/5
India trail by 152 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
An aggressive unbeaten 85 from Virat Kohli led India's response to South Africa's 335, but South Africa kept chipping away at the other end to end the second day firmly in front. Fighting against a five-man attack that hardly ever let up the pressure, India went to stumps trailing by 152, with only five wickets in hand. Kohli was still at the crease, and with him was the combative Hardik Pandya, their sixth-wicket partnership worth 19.
On a pitch that didn't offer a great deal of bounce or seam movement, Kohli put South Africa under pressure by trusting in his subcontinental method of taking a big stride forward and trying to score quickly off good-length balls. According to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data, he scored 47 runs off 51 "good-length" balls from the fast bowlers. His cover drives, as always stood out, but there were a couple of gorgeous straight-bat punches past the bowler too.
For all that, he did not succeed in shifting South Africa away from their length. To Kohli, the four quicks bowled 41 balls just short of a good length, conceding 14 runs off them, and only eight balls that were either "full" or "short". Those numbers summed up how well they bowled.
Yet, the conditions were the most subcontinental India could have hoped for on this tour, and a couple of sizeable top-order partnerships could have put South Africa under serious pressure. Instead, India gifted them a couple of soft early wickets, back-to-back, and a third after their only major partnership, 79 between Kohli and M Vijay for the third wicket.
In a series notable for the volume of the stump mics in the TV broadcast, two Kohli comments and their aftermath summed up India's day.
First, as tea approached, he yelled out to Vijay, in chaste and not-entirely-repeatable Hindi, that South Africa would be extremely worried if their partnership were to extend deep into the evening. This was true. Vijay was batting with a certain degree of comfort against the fast bowlers, and, having overcome a slightly iffy start, was defending and leaving vigilantly.
Then, after tea, he grew a little loose against the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj. It's a feature of Vijay's game, a tendency to drop his guard against spin after focusing hard against pace. Time and again, he kept trying to cut balls from Maharaj that were neither short enough nor wide enough. On 46, the inevitable happened, and a top-edged cut settled inside Quinton de Kock's gloves.
Given India were only playing five specialist batsmen, the difference between 107 for 2 and 107 for 3 was significant. Especially when South Africa's attempts to find reverse-swing were beginning to bear fruit.
Kagiso Rabada came back into the attack immediately after Vijay's dismissal, and his first ball was a sign of what was to come - a back-of-a-length ball in the corridor that reared up and seamed away to beat Kohli's outside edge.
Over after over, Rabada kept hanging the ball outside off stump, getting it to move away from the right-hander, testing their patience, and making them wonder when the inswinger would come. Towards the end of the fourth over of his spell, Kohli yelled out to Rohit Sharma, "Aur nahin dalega, chautha over hai! [he won't bowl any more, it's his fourth over!]"
Rabada kept going, eventually sending down two more overs. The inswinger arrived twice either side of Kohli's yell, both delivered at the perfect moment, with perfect control, after dragging his prey across the crease. Both produced big lbw shouts. Kohli was adjudged not out, and South Africa lost a review on height; Rohit was given out, and India retained a review but lost a wicket, with ball-tracking returning an umpire's call verdict on height.
There was no real pressure release when Rabada's spell ended. Lungi Ngidi, the debutant, replaced him with no major loss in pace or wicket threat. An inside-edge saved Kohli when a full ball pinged him on the front pad, mid-shuffle, but Parthiv Patel, who scored 19 in a fifth-wicket stand of 32, had no such luck when he nicked a lifter in the corridor - an excellent way for Ngidi to pick up his first Test wicket.
It wasn't Ngidi's first major intervention of the day. In the tenth over of India's innings, he had moved swiftly to his right from mid-on, picked up, turned around, and fired a direct hit at the bowler's end to find a diving Cheteshwar Pujara short of his crease while going for a suicidal single off the first ball he faced. This ball came right after Morne Morkel had dismissed KL Rahul, whose leaden-footed push at a full ball only succeeded in spooning a return catch. India had gifted South Africa two early wickets.
In the morning session, a half-century from Faf du Plessis had helped South Africa add 66 to their overnight total for the loss of their four remaining wickets. A rash of missed chances - including two dropped catches off R Ashwin off successive balls to let off Rabada - frustrated India somewhat during a 42-run eighth-wicket stand between du Plessis and Rabada, but they created enough chances in an improved bowling performance for the let-offs to not cost them too much. Ishant Sharma ended up with three wickets, and Ashwin - who wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Morkel for the sixth time in six Tests - with four.
Day 3
South Africa 335 & 90/2 (29 ov)
India 307
South Africa lead by 118 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Virat Kohli's 21st Test hundred and two early wickets from Jasprit Bumrah kept India's bid for a series-levelling win alive, but AB de Villiers' skill and enterprise ensured South Africa remained in control of the Centurion Test. Having secured a 28-run first-innings lead, South Africa were 90 for 2 when bad light ended play ten overs into the post-tea session, with de Villiers having just brought up a fluent half-century. Dean Elgar was at the other end, on an ungainly but undefeated 36.
A tendency for indifferent bounce had been apparent even on day two of this Test match, and it grew pronounced when South Africa began their second innings. Bumrah, with his hit-the-deck style and exaggerated angle into the right-hander, accentuated the effect of this low bounce, and by the sixth over of the innings had sent back Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla in near-identical fashion: both times, he pitched the ball short of a good length, got it to skid through at knee height, and jam into pad with the batsman in midair, their muscle memory conditioning them to expect far more bounce.
It left South Africa 3 for 2, effectively 31 for 2, and with R Ashwin - who took the new ball - continually threatening both edges of the left-handed Elgar at the other end, India were piling on the pressure. The situation called for a clear-headed batsman with supreme eye and technique, and South Africa happened to have one in de Villiers.
Putting the misbehaving pitch out of his mind, he batted with great clarity and put away all the loose and marginally loose balls India offered him - they usually erred on the full side, or fed him on his pads in the quest for lbw - to race away at close to a run a ball. By tea, he had moved to 33 off 42 balls.
The post-tea session was brief and stop-start, with a short, sharp shower sending the players off the field for an hour, and the light turning murky 5.1 overs after resumption. In between, India missed a chance to send Elgar back on 29, when Bumrah, returning for his second spell, found his edge with extra bounce in the corridor. The ball flew a couple of feet to the left of the wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, and he remained unmoved, despite Cheteshwar Pujara standing unusually wide at first slip.
Starting the day trailing by 152, India's last five wickets added 124 before Kohli was last man out in the eighth over after lunch, chipping Morne Morkel to long-on in a bid to score quick runs with only the No. 11 Bumrah for company.
The bulk of India's runs came in a rollicking seventh-wicket partnership between Kohli and Ashwin. The two came together after Hardik Pandya lost his wicket in a moment of carelessness in the seventh over of the day, and added 71 at close to five an over to put the pressure back on South Africa. The second new ball broke the partnership four overs before lunch, and the last three wickets added a further 26 runs before Kohli's dismissal.
Pandya began the day looking comfortable against the pace of Lungi Ngidi and then Kagiso Rabada from one end and the swing of Vernon Philander, bowling with the keeper up to the stumps, at the other. With Kohli quickly moving from his overnight 85 to bring up his 21st Test hundred in the sixth over of the day, the sixth-wicket partnership was beginning to worry South Africa when they were gifted a wicket out of the blue.
Sent back by Kohli after he pushed one to mid-on, Pandya was run out by a direct hit - he was past the crease when the throw hit the stumps, but he was in midair, having failed to ground either his bat or his feet. At that point, India were still trailing by 126.
In walked Ashwin. South Africa had targeted his body in Cape Town as well, and Rabada had greeted him to the crease by hitting him on the index finger of his right hand. This time, Rabada smacked his left glove off the third ball he faced, and followed up with another bouncer.
Ashwin's response was to go after Rabada in his next over, whenever he pitched anything remotely in his half of the pitch. Three fours flew through the off side, all off shots hit on the up, and Ashwin was suddenly batting on 22. An edge in Rabada's next over fell just short of the diving AB de Villiers at gully - the decision went up to the third umpire - and India could breathe again.
With Rabada losing his radar somewhat in an all-out search for wickets, he ended up conceding 40 in a seven-over spell. There was a low full-toss, which Kohli clipped away to the midwicket boundary, and a short, wide one that Ashwin cut for another four. Boundaries came off the other bowlers too, the pick of them a sweetly-timed chip over mid-off by Ashwin off Keshav Maharaj's left-arm spin.
South Africa took the second new ball at the start of the 82nd over, and Kohli, correctly guessing that Philander's first ball would be a fullish outswinger, sashayed forward and drove it to the cover boundary. He would play a similar shot in Philander's next over too, but by then India had lost two more wickets; Ashwin drove away from his body and nicked a Philander outswinger to second slip, and Mohammed Shami edged a steeply bouncing Morne Morkel delivery to first slip.
Ishant Sharma added 25 with Kohli before Morkel sent him back with a perfectly directed bouncer from round the wicket. With two balls left in the over, Jasprit Bumrah ducked awkwardly into a short ball, which ricocheted off the shoulder of his bat and into the grille of his helmet, and only just managed to keep another lifter off his ribcage.
Kohli had already been farming the strike with Ishant for company, and had brought up 150 with a fierce pull to the midwicket boundary off Morkel. Given how uncomfortable Bumrah was now looking, Kohli had to expand his risk-taking, and an attempted loft off Morkel brought his and India's innings to a close.
Day 4
South Africa 335 & 258
India 307 & 35/3 (23 ov, target: 287)
India require another 252 runs with 7 wickets remaining
With one day left to play at SuperSport Park, South Africa are seven wickets from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead, and India are a distant 252 runs from levelling the Test series. Having bowled South Africa out for 258 in their second innings, India were left with the task of chasing 287 with the best part of four sessions remaining. They ended day four 35 for 3, with two of their top-order batsmen already lost to treacherous low bounce, and another out to a loose shot.
The new ball had shown a definite tendency to keep low at the start of South Africa's second innings on day three, and Jasprit Bumrah had removed Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla with shooters pitching short of a good length. India lost M Vijay and Virat Kohli in the same manner; Vijay played on to one from Rabada that shot through at just above ankle height; Kohli was lbw to a nip-backer from Lungi Ngidi that went through at knee height.
Given that the older ball did not misbehave quite as much in South Africa's innings, India might have accepted it if they had only lost those two wickets in the 23 overs they played until stumps. They lost one more, however, to a ball that didn't deserve a wicket; Ngidi bowled it short and wide, and perhaps it stopped slightly on KL Rahul - he shaped to cut, checked his shot as he played it, and ended up slicing it straight into backward point's hands.
At stumps, Cheteshwar Pujara was batting on 11 and with him was Parthiv Patel - promoted ahead of Rohit Sharma to No. 5, possibly since he's the only left-hander in India's XI - on 5.
South Africa were bowled out in the tenth over after tea, with Mohammed Shami's four wickets playing a key role in keeping India in the contest. Shami's key interventions came when he took three wickets in a seven-over spell before lunch, after AB de Villiers and Dean Elgar had put on 141 for the third wicket.
Bumrah and Ishant Sharma were also among the wickets, finishing with 5 for 110 between them, while R Ashwin toiled wicketless for 29.2 overs before ending the innings by getting last man Ngidi caught in the deep.
Thanks to the slowness of the pitch, low bounce was a manageable threat for South Africa's batsmen once the ball became older and softer. Even so, de Villiers breathed a sigh of relief when Bumrah got one to keep low in the fourth over of the morning as well, but this time the line was just outside off stump.
Conditions were otherwise reasonably good to bat in, and with India also offering de Villiers release balls every now and then - width the most frequent culprit - South Africa's lead was beginning to trouble India, and their worries were compounded by Elgar's stay. He never looked comfortable at the crease, particularly against Ashwin's offspin but kept fighting cussedly, bringing up his half-century with a drive through extra-cover off Ishant.
The breakthrough arrived thanks to extra bounce, Shami getting one to rear at de Villiers in the corridor to find a bit of glove through to Parthiv Patel. Then, Shami dropped one short to Elgar, who had pulled a similar ball to the boundary at the start of his spell, but this time he hit it in the air and within range of KL Rahul patrolling the square-leg boundary.
Ashwin, who kept getting the ball to dip into awkward areas and turn sharply, nearly had a wicket in the over after Elgar's dismissal. Faf du Plessis, stretching forward, failed to get to the pitch of an offbreak and flicked it in the air. Rahul, diving full-length to his right at leg gully, only got his fingertips to it.
There was more frustration waiting for India in the next over. Shami kept hitting a good length outside off stump, and finding just a bit of seam movement. De Kock, seemingly unaware of the option of leaving the ball, kept throwing his hands at it. Three successive edges flew to the boundary, two wide of the slips and one just beyond Parthiv's reach as he dived to his left. The next ball produced another poke from de Kock; this time, it was close enough to Parthiv for him to take the catch.
The game had rattled along in the morning session; it nearly came to a standstill after tea, with both sides sitting back and waiting for a mistake from the other. It was understandable, given how delicately poised the Test match was. Bowling in tandem, Hardik Pandya and Ishant kept bowling just short of a good length, often sending down cutters, and conceded only 14 runs in 11 overs, discomfiting both du Plessis and Vernon Philander with movement or inconsistent bounce but without creating a chance.
It took a short, harmless-looking ball to end the seventh-wicket partnership at 46, Philander unbalanced on the pull and caught at square leg. Then, in his next over, Ishant got one to lift unexpectedly in the fifth-stump channel, and Keshav Maharaj nicked to Parthiv off the shoulder of the bat.
Du Plessis remained at the crease, forever a thorn in India's flesh; when he pulled the returning Shami for four off the last ball before tea, he had moved to 37 off 122 balls. He survived a dropped chance on 46 when Bumrah put down a return catch, but fell to a near-replay in his next over, two short of his second fifty of the match. In between, Shami sent back Kagiso Rabada with bounce and seam movement in the corridor, Virat Kohli taking a good, low catch at second slip.
Day 5
South Africa 335 & 258
India 307 & 151 (50.2 ov, target: 287)
South Africa won by 135 runs
It was a brown banana peel for South Africa. Morne Morkel said it was 100% like bowling in India. Virat Kohli batted as if he was in India. However, in the end South Africa not only dodged a bullet, they caught the bullet and shred it into pieces with their determined batting, ruthless bowling and sensational fielding, beating India by 135 runs and winning back the Freedom Trophy.
South Africa fined for slow over-rate
South Africa have been fined 20% of their match fees for their slow over-rate in the second Test against India. Match referee Chris Broad found them to be two overs short of their target with time allowances taken into consideration. Captain Faf du Plessis pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the sanctions. He was fined 40% of his match fee - double that of his team, in accordance with the ICC's rules.
South Africa began the day needing seven wickets, but closed the match even before the lunch break. Lungi Ngidi ended his impressive debut with a six-for, but the start of the final collapse was self-inflicted. When he was under pressure to keep his place in the XI in the West Indies, Cheteshwar Pujara ran himself out. In Centurion, he became only the 23rd player to be run out twice in the same Test.
As with the first-ball duck in the first innings, Pujara's mouth wrote a cheque his knees couldn't cash. With AB de Villiers and Ngidi chasing after a ball, Pujara overestimated his speed and was caught short. The other overnight batsman, Parthiv Patel, batting ahead of Rohit Sharma, soon hooked Kagiso Rabada in the air, and Morne Morkel took a splendid diving catch after running to his right at fine leg.
Hardik Pandya and R Ashwin have provided resistance with the bat earlier in the series, but this time they couldn't. Pandya repepated his first innings dismissal from Cape Town, edging when looking to ramp a wide bouncer. Ashwin fell on the loose drive. Seven down, India still needed 200 to win.
Rohit and Mohammed Shami then added 54 runs to delay the inevitable and bring India to the brink of the lunch. However, in the last over before the scheduled lunch break, de Villiers pulled off a sensational catch diving forward at deep fine leg. Rohit had got enough bat on his pull shot, which resulted in a low flat offering. Given only a split second, de Villiers judged it perfectly, took the required paces, threw himself at the ball and caught it smoothly. Not for a moment did he look like dropping the chance. Usually these low catches go to the third umpire; there was no need here
Lunch was now delayed, and moments later, Ngidi had Shami caught at mid-on, his fifth wicket. The crowd wasn't big given it was Wednesday morning, but the appreciation was whole-hearted and Ngidi soaked it all in, kissing the badge on his shirt and then walking back to fine leg to an even bigger applause. He went on to make it one better in the next over and end the Test.
3rd Test
Day 1
India 187
South Africa 6/1 (6 ov)
South Africa trail by 181 runs with 9 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Virat Kohli attacked, Cheteshwar Pujara defended and defended solidly and Bhuvneshwar Kumar applied himself in the end to score 134 runs between them. But the rest - extras included - added only 53 more as India went from 144 for 4 to 187 all out on the first day of the Wanderers Test. India were not out of it yet on the evidence of the tumultuous six overs South Africa faced before stumps, losing Aiden Markram to Bhuvneshwar.
When India made the bold move of batting first on a green pitch with a lot of seam movement, despite all the pressure their batting has been under, they would have hoped for a lot of grit and a bit of luck to ride out these tough conditions. On what was not the prettiest day of Test cricket, Pujara and Kohli showed plenty of grit, some luck followed through dropped catches and a missed review, but India handed back the advantage with some ordinary batting from the lower middle order, which was missing R Ashwin as they decided to play an all-seam attack.
If India were still in the contest, it was down to fielding lapses from South Africa. Kohli was dropped on 11 and 32, Pujara was on nought when the hosts appealed half-heartedly for an lbw and chose not to review a not-out call that would have been overturned. There was more general sloppiness in the field, and comeback man Ajinkya Rahane was on 3 when he was caught behind off a Vernon Philander no-ball.
Philander was in the thick of the action all day. He began the Test with a spell of 8-7-1-1, the most economical first eight overs for a South Africa bowler in all Tests since readmission. His victim was KL Rahul, with a ball that seamed back in and took the inside edge to become one of Quinton de Kock's five catches, but there was a moment when he could have supported his fellow fast bowler a bit better. Kagiso Rabada drew a Kohli top edge with a surprise bouncer, which would have been a sitter had Philander from mid-off or Markram from cover decided early enough to go for it. Neither of them did, and eventually it was too late for Philander to make up with a dive.
While Philander could be accused of being a little too short through the day, his first spell, with the ball seaming both ways, was still a testing one. Pujara took 31 of those 48 balls, which means 31 of the 41 balls Philander bowled while he was at the wicket.
There was nothing loose on offer even though South Africa didn't do enough to make India play and edge balls. With so much seam movement available, you had to either wait for a rank delivery or take the risk of going after decent ones. Pujara took the first route. He just kept playing the line, making sure he didn't follow the ball when it seamed away, and hoping he got an inside edge or that the ball did too much when it seamed back in. There were ironic cheers when Pujara set off for a run off the 45th ball he faced only for the umpire to call it a leg-bye. There was another big cheer when he faced his 50th ball, still on zero. When the run finally came, 81 minutes into his innings, having refused to play a loose shot, Pujara had made the bowlers bowl on his pads.
India's captain took the other route. He showed more urgency, nailing drives every time a ball presented itself for the shot. There was nothing half-hearted - as with M Vijay's drive to get out - about Kohli's innings. This 84-run third-wicket partnership couldn't have done without him at the other end. You couldn't just stand there and not score. Kohli backed his eye to pick errors in length early and punish them. There were two cracking cover drives, one moments after he had been dropped by Philander. Rabada tried the one-two trick by threatening his outside edge repeatedly and then going for the lbw ball, but he never really got it right, and Kohli kept clipping him away.
The shots didn't stop; he had to keep playing them on this pitch even though they meant a slightly higher risk than usual. Post lunch, Kohli went to cut Morne Morkel, the ball was too wide, took the toe end, but this time AB de Villiers put him down at third slip as the ball dipped on him rather late. Just as the partnership was getting into the realm of the dangerous, Ngidi finally drew the edge from Kohli, a solid one on the drive. The catch nearly blew de Villiers off his feet, but he hung on, injuring his finger in the process.
Rahane couldn't make the most of his break as Morkel soon trapped him lbw with a full straight ball. Apart from the fielding, South Africa could look back at the wide lines and lengths that kept beating the bat but were not full enough to take the edge. However, the run-rate always hovered around two, which meant they could get India out cheaply if they got their act together.
It needed a change in plans for that to happen. There was debate if South Africa would have been better served by a proper batsman and not an allrounder in Andile Phehlukwayo. What can the fifth bowler do on such a pitch that the main four can't? Take an edge from Pujara, maybe. All day long, Pujara had been playing inside the line of balls that seamed away, but this one was perhaps slower, perhaps it seamed less, and took the edge through.
The lower-middle order then capitulated. Parthiv Patel nicked off, Hardik Pandya top-edged a ball that was not there for the pull, Mohammed Shami hit straight to mid-off, and South Africa were right back. The only application and resistance from the tail came from Bhuvneshwar, whose 30 helped give India something to bowl at.
Day 2
India 187 & 49/1 (17 ov)
South Africa 194
India lead by 42 runs with 9 wickets remaining
The Wanderers Test is now a one-innings shootout on a treacherous surface, and India have their noses well ahead, ending day two 42 ahead with nine wickets in hand. Hashim Amla put on a clinic on how to bat on a tough pitch, he got support in the form of 30s from nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander, but Japsrit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar combined to keep the first-innings deficit down to seven. If South Africa had a slender lead, they were also looking at the prospect of having to bat last on a pitch getting increasingly uneven to go with the seam movement.
Awed with some of Virat Kohli's stroke-play, the other half-centurion for India, Cheteshwar Pujara, said Kohli played some shots not many could have played on this pitch with extravagant bounce and seam movement. On day two, Amla batted with the control of Pujara and the flair of Kohli. While Amla's control percentage according to ESPNcricinfo's logs was marginally under Pujara's, a lot of time Pujara was only leaving balls. Nobody scored more in-control runs in this Test than Amla's 49 such runs.
Pujara also said if anybody got a hundred on this track, it would have been a brilliant innings. It would need more than individual brilliance: partners to bat with him. When Amla fell for 61, he was the seventh wicket. After his 64-run partnership with Rabada, this seventh-wicket stand with Philander was only the second time Amla had some support in the innings. For a while it did seem Bhuvneshwar, too, was going to run out of support, especially when Rabada and Amla followed up a 23-run first hour with 52 in the second.
In Bhuvneshwar's first spell of 6-5-1-1, a wicket seemed likelier to arrive than a run. One wicket did arrive too, after 17 balls of toying around with Dean Elgar's edge, Bhvuneshwar finally hit the willow. Parthiv Patel was switched on in this Test, diving to his left to complete the catch. Rabada and Amla then rode through the tough period before targeting Mohammed Shami and Bumrah. Rabada even played the Amla-in-the-mirror flick from the line of off for a four to square leg.
Not for the first time on the tour, Shami let India down. The first overs of each of his spells brought a release of pressure: he began with five wides in his first, and short and wide in his second and third. In a Test in which scoring runs has involved a lot of risk, Shami went at 3.83 an over, and yet bowled only two overs fewer than the much more impressive Ishant Sharma.
It was Ishant who broke the threatening partnership between Amla and Rabada minutes before lunch. It was Ishant who supported Bhuvneshwar in his first spell after lunch. This was a spell in which Bhuvneshwar cleaned up AB de Villiers, five runs after he had survived an lbw shout from Ishant where a review could have sent him on his way. This is when India needed a good follow-up act.
When Bumrah was introduced in the middle of the afternoon, South Africa were 97 for 4. Amla was batting like a dream, and India were still behind the game. They couldn't have afforded a repeat of the hour Bumrah and Shami had given them in the morning. Bumrah made sure it didn't happen. He bowled with pace and he hit the pitch hard, extracting all the unevenness out of the pitch. Faf du Plessis was gone shouldering arms, Quinten de Kock looking to drive on the up, repeating the mistake de Villiers had made. At 125 for 6, India were ahead now, but there was still Amla.
Batting here remained a game of heightened awareness and concentration, with a higher level of risk than usual, plus a lot of luck. On such a track Amla was going at better than a run every two balls. His shuffle was even more pronounced in this innings, getting closer to balls seaming away and also giving him access to the leg side. On more than a few occasions India tried to go behind his legs, but Amla kept hitting those balls to fine leg and square leg. Driving here has been the most difficult shot but Amla is somebody who can do so without having to come forward to drive. He kept punching off the back foot.
The support Amla needed came from Philander. The two added 44 for the seventh wicket. Philander pulled the short ball with authority, and played the push-drive well. Shami was again their victim, but eventually Bumrah's attempt to go behind Amla's legs succeeded. Not in the desired manner, though. Amla had this straight ball covered, but it stopped a touch and the flick went in the air and straight to square leg three-fourths of the way to the boundary.
Philander soon fell to the hook off the bowling of Shami, and Bumrah took the wickets of Andile Phehlukwayo and Lungi Ngidi to complete his five-for. India would have noticed South Africa didn't survive much better than them, but went at close to three an over as opposed to India's 2.42. They followed the lead, and snuck in a quick 16 from Parthiv Patel in the second innings even before the openers came together. KL Rahul and M Vijay then batted assuredly, adding 32 in 12 overs as South Africa continued to miss their targets: bowling too wide and too short to take the edges.
Day 3
India 187 & 247
South Africa 194 & 17/1 (8.3 ov, target: 241)
South Africa require another 224 runs with 9 wickets remaining
On their most glorious day of cricket on this tour of South Africa, India closed in on a rare Test win in conditions that required courage, skill and some luck, but one blow too many to the batsmen forced the umpires to take the players off the field with South Africa 17 for 1 chasing an improbable 241.
South Africa were scheduled to bat for 65 minutes before stumps, but the day's play did not get that far, with the umpires taking the players off after Dean Elgar was struck on the grille of his helmet by a short, steeply rising ball from Jasprit Bumrah. It was the fourth time Elgar had been hit on the body in his brief innings. The captains met the match referee after the incident, but the future of the match remained unclear.
In the post-match press conference, India manager Sunil Subramaniam said the match officials would make a call on the match on the fourth morning. He said India had no complaints about the pitch, contending that it had behaved the same way on all three days, and that they would want the game to continue.
This may have had a lot to do with the match situation, engineered by some brilliant batting. Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and M Vijay batted out of their skins, putting behind them the blows they took from the inconsistent and exaggerated bounce, going through periods of excessive seam movement, putting every scoring opportunity away. The lower order, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a composed 33 and Mohammed Shami with a whirlwind 27, then all but put the matter beyond South Africa, setting the hosts 241 to win.
Vijay was hit five times in the first session, Kohli wore one length ball on his glove, and by the time Rahane was hit on his bare back elbow India were in such a good position that Rahane sent back the physio, who had been kept busy earlier. India didn't want to risk giving a suggestion that this pitch was dangerous; they were desperate to win, they didn't mind a bruised rib or finger, and probably didn't imagine or think of worse.
Before you talk about padding and arm guards and helmets, you must watch a net session and watch from up close these Test cricketers face bouncers chucked at them by the sidearm. It takes half a second to leave the bowler's hand and reach the batsman. Facing accurate short-pitched fast bowling on true pitches or in the nets is hard enough; here the bounce was unpredictable. Sometimes it jumped off a length, and also seamed back in, leaving the batsmen nowhere to go. Umpires chatted often, looking worriedly at some of the good-length areas, and a piece or two of the pitch that had come off.
India, they were not bothered. They had their eye on the prize. They began the day effectively 42 for 1, having lost only their pinch-hitter Parthiv Patel. Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel took out KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara in the first five overs of the day, and South Africa sensed an opportunity here. Then Vijay and Kohli then did what Pujara and Kohli did in the first innings.
What a day it was for India to find the Vijay that had gone missing in the first five innings of this series. The pitch has usually been at its worst in the first hour of each day; on the third day it was also dangerous. Vijay bore most of the brunt. However, his judgement didn't waver. This was a proper dig-in: he left judiciously, drove only when the ball was too full, and was always on the lookout for a single. He scored only 25 off 127 balls, but he weathered the new ball and the pitch. The pitch was never going to get flat, but he made the job of those following him a little easier.
Kohli, at the other end, got into better positions to attack. There was one drive ball in the first whole first hour, and Kohli nailed the drive for four. That hour produced just 18 runs and two wickets. His reaction to counter the excessive seam movement was to get as far forward as possible, never mind the high pace of bowlers other than Philander. What Kohli did was exceptional because he scored at a rate of more than three an over.
For the bowlers there was a difficulty too: it seamed too much, and the ball often missed the edges. Like with India's change bowlers in the second hour of day two, the half-volleys began to arrive, and Kohli was in no mood to miss any. It eventually took a big seaming delivery from Kagiso Rabada to snake past Kohli's inside edge and hit the top of off stump. Rabada had earlier bowled Vijay with a yorker than proved to be the last ball before lunch.
The most impressive part of Kohli's innings, though, was his leaving outside off stump, which he didn't do enough of in Cape Town. He didn't follow with his hands balls that seamed away. If he did on the odd occasion, he went back and looked at the imaginary line he had given himself to stay in, to not play outside of.
Just like the leave, Kohli might have wished he had incorporated Rahane into his plans in Cape Town and Bhuvneshwar in Centurion. Rahane's counterattack at the other end was nothing short of sensational. Just like in Melbourne in 2014-15, Rahane was there by his captain when South Africa began to bowl better to him. A flurry of boundaries either side of Kohli's dismissal took him to 27 off 25 at one point.
Rahane drove on the up, waved off help when hit, ran like a gazelle, cut over the infield, and shepherded Bhuvneshwar. This must have been a bittersweet partnership for Kohli: on the one hand, it was swiftly taking the Test away from South Africa, but it was taking a dead rubber away after the duo at the crease had been left out of the last Test. After Rahane finally fell to a strangle down the leg side, Mohammed Shami swung his bat wildly, hitting the first six of the match, then the second, and taking India to an extremely comfortable position.
Day 4
India 187 & 247
South Africa 194 & 177 (target: 241)
India won by 63 runs
India couldn't dismiss Dean Elgar at all, but found a way around him to complete their third Test win in South Africa. He was ridiculed on the third evening for a short ball that hit him in the face and caused an interruption in the play, but Elgar tried his darnedest - in vain - to deny India. The visitors were efficient and ruthless even as Elgar and Hashim Amla went more than half the day without losing a wicket and added 119 of the 241 required for the second wicket. India waited and waited for the first breakthrough without giving away free runs, and once the wicket came they swooped in on the kill. The last nine wickets fell for 53 runs.
As at Lord's 2014, Ishant Sharma began the slide with a mid-afternoon spell of 7-2-15-2, but here the load was shared. His victims were big: Amla and Faf du Plessis. Jasprit Bumrah was equally impressive in his nine-over spell that followed up with wickets of AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock. Once the two were taken off, Mohammed Shami came back from an average morning with quick, full and accurate bowling to run through the tail.
This was one of India's great wins in Test cricket as they came here beleaguered, having lost the series, and were presented with a treacherous surface. They got most of their selections right, made the bold move of batting first, batted with extreme courage and determination with contributions all around, including a couple of 30s from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Having set South Africa 241, they would have looked at an easy job, but there were hiccups. Play was suspended 19 minutes before stumps on the third evening as the umpires were concerned about the players' safety. After meetings, it was decided the pitch would be given a chance on the fourth morning, but overnight and early-morning rain pushed India's quest for a win back by an hour.
The pitch did show signs it had settled down a little with the uneven bounce becoming a lesser concern for the batsmen than the seam movement. Elgar took eight blows on the body, including four on the third evening. Amla was rapped on the gloves by length balls a couple of times. Between them they were beaten 26 times, but they kept batting on. Elgar had to keep getting attention on his forearm. Amla wore reinforced gloves. Inch by inch they took South Africa closer.
Elgar showed a lot of ticker in not getting perturbed by the number of blows he took. He showed great judgement in leaving the ball, didn't follow the ones that seamed away from him, and kept nudging away ones and twos. There were a few lucky runs between the slips and the gullies, but you need that in these highly unusual circumstances and conditions.
Amla was more in control of what he was doing, shuffling well across to know what lines to leave and then also opening up the leg side for runs. India tried going behind his legs, but his bat kept coming down in time. The punch to balls higher than his waist, a shot almost unique to Amla, continued to be his friend. In his 40s, when Amla got stuck and scored just two runs off 39 balls, the punch came to his rescue and saw him through to a second fifty in the match.
Elgar's method was different. When India put together a spell of 25 balls for just two runs, he ended it with a hoick over square leg. Elgar was not there to look pretty. He was there to just be. As long as he could be. When he reached his fifty, after accepting congratulations from Amla and the crowd, he quietly knocked the left side of his chest, then his thigh pad twice, and again his chest, his heart. He had shown enough of it.
India played the waiting game. This was a mature spell of play. When not much was happening they sought to shut down the scoring. Hardik Pandya did a job too, bowling six overs for 15. If the worst happened, India wanted to be in the game by the time the new ball was taken.
By the time Ishant was brought back about 25 minutes before tea, South Africa needed 117 runs and the second new ball would be available in 28 overs. Having looked to get Ama behind his legs because of his shuffle, India now had a short midwicket in place. Ishant, the rare bowler pitching balls on a good length, was now rewarded. For the second time in the Test, Amla failed to keep a clip to leg down, and Pandya at short midwicket accepted the catch.
As it happens in fourth innings, more so on pitches like these, the new batsmen find it incredibly difficult to bat. This was India's moment. They couldn't afford another partnership. South Africa needed one more man to bat out of his skin to add to the efforts of Elgar and Amla. De Villiers was the man who could run away with it. Bumrah, though, oproduced a ball that only a settled batsman could have avoided. It reared off a length, and held its line, and the edge was taken at gully.
On the other side of tea, Ishant and Bumrah did their one-two again. Ishant got one to nip back in and stay low too to hit du Plessis' stumps. Quinton de Kock grabbed a golden duck with Bumrah bowling quick and straight at his stumps. The pace and efficiency of this four-pronged attack was too much for the rest. Elgar, who carried his bat with 86 not out off 240 balls of pure grit, and Lungi Ngidi fought hard with the last-wicket stand of 16, but they were only delaying the inevitable.
Day 1
South Africa 286
India 28/3 (11 ov)
India trail by 258 runs with 7 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Drama, thy name is Test cricket. At Newlands. On a pitch with a bit of spice. With a build-up that did not lack for shots across the bow.
Faf du Plessis confessed he had a score to settle, and so he armed himself with four fast bowlers the envy of the world. Virat Kohli saw Dale Steyn, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander during warm-ups. His only comment with regard to that was "we knew they were going a batsman short and we want to get at them with the new ball".
But really, how could anyone avoid the temptation of unleashing that attack, in any condition let alone a surface with both pace and lateral movement. Given 11 overs to turn the game, Philander dismissed M Vijay, Steyn claimed Dhawan to move into the top-10 wicket-takers in Test history and Morkel lured Kohli into a familar trap behind the wicket. India bowled South Africa out for 286 but then they limped to stumps at 28 for 3.
Cape Town dealt almost exclusively in hair-raising action. Bhuvneshwar Kumar began proceedings by spiriting three wickets in his first three overs. To ensure there wasn't one-way traffic, AB de Villiers produced a half-century that was downright delectable. He had total control of the game and the opposition at his mercy when the debutant Jasprit Bumrah - who played his last first-class game almost a year ago - knocked back the off stump.
India's hold-one-end-up bowler Hardik Pandya got rid of du Plessis for 62 mere moments after a remarkably tight lbw call went against the visitors. Kohli probably had that running in his head - and the South African captain's pre-series comments about revenge - when he indulged in a send-off and was soon cautioned by the umpires.
Worried that things had calmed too far down, Quinton de Kock played like he was the action hero who always gets shot at but never gets hit.
Now, it is more than fair for a home team to play to its strengths but that didn't mean batting was a treacherous exercise. The outfield was lightning. The ball came on even better than expected. Fields were up. And fun was had. The run-rate through the first two sessions was 4.3
Dean Elgar might not be too happy with how his day went though. Having finished 2017 as South Africa's highest Test scorer, his first innings in the new year lasted only three deliveries. It wasn't entirely his fault though. India had probably done their homework and realised that of his 44 dismissals to pace, 30 of them have been caught behind or in the cordon. So Bhuvneshwar forced him to deal with a back-of-a-length ball pitching on off stump and seaming away. He had to play. Then he had to go.
Aiden Markram was lbw not playing a shot. Okay, that's not quite true. He was trying desperately to bring his bat in line with a good length delivery pitching outside off and jagging back in but he just wasn't quick enough. The young opener basically strung himself up with his habit of shuffling across and playing around his front pad.
The third wicket of this phenomenal spell was probably the most important of them all. But it was the least sexy. Hashim Amla poked well away from his body and Wriddhiman Saha picked up his second catch of the first half hour, much to the cacophonous delight of the slip fielders beside him. Oddly, Ajinkya Rahane was not among that number with India choosing to go in with Rohit Sharma, a man in better recent form, and Hardik Pandya.
With the new ball and the outside and inside edges hogging the limelight, the middle of the bat was off sulking somewhere. De Villiers found it and made sure it was front and centre for the entire time he was at the crease. He sent his first delivery through midwicket for a crisp boundary. He struck India's best bowler of the day for four fours in an over. He played late. He met the ball close to his body. He used soft hands. And he punished anything even remotely short. In essence, de Villiers' innings was an exhibition of how to bat on a difficult pitch. Playing only his third day of Test cricket over the last two years, he made 65 off 84 balls.
Du Plessis was, as ever, scoring runs by simply making sure he was at the wicket. He waited for the wide ones to hit through cover and point. He feasted on the straight ones, that strong bottom hand coupling very nicely with a fast outfield. But the cut shot to get to a half-century in his comeback Test - he missed Boxing Day with a viral infection - was basically a dare. Try stopping that.
India might have done even better if Mohammed Shami had found his rhythm sooner but he probably did not enjoy bowling into the wind; his run-up noticeably affected. It took 10 overs and three spells for his first wicket of the tour. It was one his team was hunting for though. Philander, in his pre-match comments, had indicated that he did not believe India were better travellers now. And while he did play some of the best cover drives in the match, helping string a vital 60-run stand for the sixth wicket at more than run-a-ball with de Kock, he left the field with his defences and his stumps shattered.
Bhuvneshwar had the opportunity to take a fifth wicket just before tea was taken, but India's old problem of having a porous slip cordon put paid to those plans when Dhawan dropped Keshav Maharaj on 0. The batsman had made 35 in enterprising fashion before he was dismissed, run-out by a direct hit from R Ashwin at mid-on. Later, the offspinner picked up his first wicket in South Africa, Rabada caught behind. The innings ended in the 74th over when Morkel was lbw to the same bowler for 2. The hosts' last five wickets added 144 runs - that's two more than the first five.
Day 2
South Africa 286 & 65/2 (20 ov)
India 209
South Africa lead by 142 runs with 8 wickets remaining
In their first innings of a season in which they'll be living out of their briefcases, India realised they forgot to pack something rather important. The middle of the bat. They were 92 for 7 and the Newlands Test began to look like another one in a long line of dismal performances away from home.
Two months ago, when Hardik Pandya was rested from the Test team, he spoke about playing in South Africa in this way. "I might be the difference, let's see." Living up to his own lofty billing, the 24-year old allrounder defied a fearsome fast-bowling attack to make 93 off 95 balls. South Africa did eventually secure a lead of 77 runs, bowling India out for 209, but it might have come at a sizeable cost. With three overs to tea, Dale Steyn injured his left heel and there are concerns that he may he out of the series.
Cape Town, as it did on the first day, continued spoiling cricket fans rotten. Vernon Philander began the day with five successive maidens. Kagiso Rabada was just plain mean. Morne Morkel seemed to be pushing through his action better; the snap of his wrist had been more palpable and those awkwardly rising deliveries came with greater frequency. Steyn, while fit, calmly moved to 418 Test wickets, three away from the national record.
Can you spot a weak link in there? Given helpful conditions, each of them can be a spearhead. They also pose different questions to a batsman, are incredibly accurate, and hate giving away runs. All of that meant India had not a moment of respite. They made only 29 in the first 18 overs - the point when they lost their first wicket of the day. Back then, the plan was to survive. Invest time in the middle as the surface flattens out and hope to have wickets in hand when the bowlers start to tire.
And they did. They also got frustrated because Pandya wasn't trussing himself up and presenting his wicket to them. As audacious as the shots he played were - upper cuts to a 145 kph bouncer, a flat-batted biff over extra cover to get to his fifty and a still-headed down-the-track flick through midwicket - he was also thoughtful. Once, when he was beaten while playing a cut shot - he's very good at that - he queried his partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar whether his execution was off or if the ball had kept low. The exchange of information continued all the way through their 99-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Pandya made runs all around the dial. Crucially, he threw South Africa off their plans. They began bowling around the wicket, targeting his body. That left lbw in the bin. He walked at Philander first ball, giving a bowler who relies exceedingly on lateral movement something more to think about than the outside edge. That his strokeplay is eye-catching is no surprise. But his ease in countering a quality bowling line-up in Test cricket certainly was. India may have finally found a bankable seam-bowling allrounder, the discovery taking place while their greatest ever was celebrating his 59th birthday.
South Africa could, of course, have saved themselves some irritation if Dean Elgar had held on to a sharp catch at gully when Pandya was only 15. Prior to that, he overturned Richard Kettleborough's verdict of caught behind with the help of a review. Steyn was the aggrieved bowler on both occasions, and his day only got worse when he hobbled off the field.
The loss of a bowling leader often derails campaigns. But as in Perth 2016, Rabada stepped up. His third ball of the day was clocked at 146 kph. It beat the splice of the bat on its way to the wicketkeeper. In light of that, there may be sense in playing him off the back foot. But, he is just as adept as pitching the ball up, and has sensational speed through the air. Rohit Sharma found that out the hard way when he was late to bring the bat down and was out lbw.
Rabada's next wicket was Pandya - right after he nailed the batsman in the gut - and he was rewarded with a kiss on the forehead from captain Faf du Plessis. The 22-year old is every bit in the mold of his mentor. He was disgruntled that he was used for only seven overs early on. He indulged in angry screams after taking a wicket. He made batsmen hop. He greeted the opposition's premier spinner with a short ball aimed at the heart. Best of all, when Chesteshwar Pujara played a rare drive through the covers and trotted across for a single, he told the batsman "you hit that so hard, and it didn't even go off the square." It had all the hallmarks of a Steyn sledge - the man did memorably respond to Rohit's call of "come to India, let's see what happens" with "I have more runs than you do this series" in 2013-14.
Pandya's day was not quite done yet. He came on second-change for India and dismissed both of South Africa's openers but their lead is already at 142 and the Test remains in their control.
Day 3 (washout)
South Africa 286 & 65/2 (20 ov)
India 209
South Africa lead by 142 runs with 8 wickets remaining
The entire third day of the Newlands Test was lost to rain, although there might not have been too many people complaining as a result considering Cape Town is in the middle of a severe drought. The showers began on Saturday night and returned in full force in the morning. There were a brief few moments after lunch when it seemed like play could have been possible, but even as the groundsmen were preparing to peel the covers off, the weather turned.
Days four and five will now feature 98 overs each, but play will begin at the usual time of 1030 local. At present, South Africa are 65 for 2 - leading India by 142 runs - with Hashim Amla on 4 and nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada on 2 at the crease.
Day 4
South Africa 286 & 130
India 209 & 135 (42.4 ov, target: 208)
South Africa won by 72 runs
For a half hour or so, the South African pace attack looked... unremarkable. Without Dale Steyn - out of the series with a heel injury - the other three had a difficult task summoning their usual menace. Then came an inswinger. It only decided to be one after travelling three-fourth the distance down the pitch. It fooled Virat Kohli. And it broke India.
Newlands was once again a reminder that Test-match conditions tilted in favour of the bowlers foster compelling cricket. In fact, footage of the fast bowling from both teams can probably replace adrenaline in hospitals. The fourth day alone featured 18 wickets and six of them went to Vernon Philander as his career-best sealed victory for his team, on his home ground, by 72 runs.
In the end, the result highlighted the difference between the two sides and was borne from the fact that South Africa's bowlers allowed 48 boundaries in the entire Test and India's offered 41 in the first innings alone.
Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah did try their best to make amends. Like a heavy metal song that begins in the guise of a gentle melody, they simply blew batsmen away in the morning.
Faf du Plessis was the worst affected. He did not do much wrong in deciding to press forward to a delivery that under normal circumstances would have come up about waist-high. But in Cape Town, on a surface that spent an entire day under the covers, something crazy happened. The ball banged into the deck, it trampolined up to take the top glove even as the batsman recoiled from the line of fire, and settled in the wicketkeeper's waiting gloves.
As elated as India would have been at that point, they would have known their batsmen would have to tackle those kinds of deliveries at a much higher frequency. They did start rather well, cruising to 28 for 0 in seven overs and in that time, M Vijay had already bested two jaffas, ruled out on both of them, but using DRS to continue his innings. Philander made sure the opener wasn't third time lucky.
Given the new ball from the other end, Morne Morkel bounced out Shikhar Dhawan and then had Cheteshwar Pujara caught behind with a snorter that the batsman had no choice but to play. India were in the mire and in walked their captain.
Kohli's stay at the crease was purposeful. He half seemed in one-day mode, turning dots into ones and ones into twos. He knew India wouldn't get too many opportunities to score and so he tried to give himself a leg up - literally. In the hour that he was out there, he made a conscious effort to thrust his front foot down the pitch and in his eagerness to do so, it often slid too far across on off stump. One of his leg glances was played right around his pad. South Africa sensed an opportunity.Philander converted it brilliantly.
The game changed from that moment on. Kagiso Rabada came charging in next over and roughed up Rohit Sharma with a ferocious bouncer. The batsman was beaten for pace and would have been out if not for a bit of casual fielding at long leg by Keshav Maharaj - he did not have his shades on and the sun blinded him from even putting a hand on the catch. If India read anything into that moment of fortune, Philander got rid of Rohit five balls later, a loose push away from the body forced an inside edge to crash into his stumps.
Hardik Pandya was caught at gully - the same position he was dropped at in the first innings - for 1 with AB de Villiers securing a fine catch and indulging in a loud send-off. In the pre-match presser, South Africa made no pretense that they have a score to settle with India. Come the time to back it up, they were absolutely relentless.
A man playing his second Test since January 2016 found a way to perform at his peak. De Villiers batted at a level beyond the rest to take the lead above 200. There was a flick through midwicket for four that bowlers might petition to be taken out of the game. Then, a man who was meant to be in a moon boot walked out to bat. Steyn may not be able to play the sport he loves for four weeks, but when his team was nine down and needed him, he shrugged off the pain and put on the pads. South Africa are highly invested in winning this series and they've made a near-perfect start to it.
2nd Test
South Africa 269/6
India
SA Won toss & will bat
After all the talk of the pace and bounce of the Highveld, Centurion ended up providing India the most subcontinental conditions they could have expected on this tour. The skies were blue, the pitch was brown, and R Ashwin bowled the bulk of India's overs.
That could have been the extent of India feeling at home. For the first 80.4 overs of the day, South Africa's batsmen had pitched tents on this flat, friendly surface and pinned family photographs onto the canvas. Aiden Markram had fallen narrowly short of a hundred, but Hashim Amla looked all set to stroll past that milestone, and South Africa were 246 for 3.
And then, Centurion 2018 turned into Kolkata 2010. Amla and Alviro Petersen had scored centuries that day, only for South Africa to collapse from 218 for 1 to 296 all out, in a typically Eden Gardens post-tea collapse.
Here, South Africa lost three wickets for the addition of five runs, two of them to run-outs, and India, out of nowhere, were back in the game. They hardly deserved to be: Ashwin and Ishant Sharma apart, their frontline bowlers had been poor.
Deserve, however, has nothing to do with Test cricket; a few overs is all it takes, sometimes, for a match to swing 180 degrees.
It began, as it often can, with a moment of brilliance on the field. Amla got on his toes, rode the bounce of a short ball from Hardik Pandya, and tucked it gently into the on side. Faf du Plessis called for one, and Amla, after a moment's hesitation, responded. That moment was enough; Pandya sprinted across in his follow-through, swooped on the ball, spun around, and fired a direct hit at the bowler's end. Amla was gone, for 82.
In walked Quinton de Kock, a left-hander. Ashwin, from round the wicket, greeted him with a quick-turning offbreak in the channel outside off stump. New to the crease, de Kock pushed at it without really moving his feet and edged to slip.
All the swirling excitement and anxiety of the moment got to Vernon Philander, who ten minutes earlier would not have expected to put on his pads. A bunt into the leg side, and a mad dash to the other end despite his captain yelling at him to stay put cost him his wicket. South Africa were 251 for 6 and India flooded the stump mic with yelps of delight.
For most of the first eight-ninths of this day, India's voices had been muted. The first four South African wickets had added 85, 63, 51 and 47, indicative of an attack that seldom applied pressure from both ends, and a top order that batted with a great degree of comfort.
Playing only his seventh Test innings, Markram passed 50 for the fourth time, and looked a natural fit at this level. Taking guard on off stump, he stood tall and stood still at the crease, making no trigger movement and as a result remaining perfectly balanced. Time and again India's seamers slipped in the full, straight lbw ball in vain; Markram's head refused to fall across to the off side, and he punched and drove handsomely through the V, the area wide of mid-on proving particularly productive.
When the quicks dropped short, he punished them with punches and slaps through the covers and, on one occasion, a dismissive pull. The Saturday crowd at Centurion got to see all these shots frequently, since the fast bowlers, Ishant apart, kept feeding him boundary balls.
Jasprit Bumrah showed control with the new ball, but sprayed it around in all his subsequent spells, while Mohammed Shami, much like day one in Cape Town, was wayward and below top-pace with the new ball. Just when he seemed to be finding some rhythm and reverse-swing around an hour after lunch, Shami went off the field, looking a little under the weather. India's team management later clarified it was a "mild headache".
Bounce apart, there wasn't a whole lot of help for the seam bowlers, and perhaps this was why India went in with Ishant ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had picked up 4 for 87 and 2 for 33 in Cape Town. Ishant responded impressively, coming on as first change and testing Dean Elgar's footwork and judgment with his angle, a bit of seam movement, and a fullish length that drew the left-hander forward.
Having fought his way through this spell, Elgar survived a testing period against Ashwin just before lunch, getting beaten twice in 10 balls, with India unsuccessfully reviewing for caught-behind on one occasion. Soon after lunch, Elgar stepped out and drove Ashwin back over his head - perhaps the shot of an anxious batsman looking to hit his tormentor off his length - but the next time he tried stepping out, he didn't reach the pitch of the ball and ended up stabbing a catch to silly point.
This was India's best period of play all day, with Ashwin finding dip and bounce at one end and Ishant bowling tightly at the other. These two couldn't keep bowling forever, however, and South Africa soon returned to free-scoring ways, with Amla turning the clock back with the wristwork on his flicks and back-foot punches. It took a change of angle for India to effect their next breakthrough, Markram edging Ashwin behind when he went around the wicket. The ball, angled across Markram, didn't spin back as much as he expected, but it was the length that did him, pinning him awkwardly to the crease - rather than going neither forward nor back, he was trying to do both at the same time - and making him jab away from his body.
AB de Villiers was busy right from the time he came in, unveiling the reverse-sweep to pick up a boundary off Ashwin when he was still in single figures, but there was a touch of looseness to his game as well. A jab away from his body at Bumrah resulted in an inside-edge that nearly trickled onto his stumps, and when he tried the same shot against Ishant after tea, he chopped on for 20. The ball had begun to keep low every now and then and this was a shot he could have avoided.
At that point, though, South Africa were still in too dominant a position to worry unduly. Amla was looking at his serene best, putting Shami away disdainfully when he kept dropping short in a brief post-tea spell, driving Ashwin against the turn with a twirl of his wrists, and, on 79, keeping out a shin-high shooter from Bumrah as if it was a perfectly normal delivery. Just when he looked set to coast to a century and beyond, however, a moment's hesitation brought India roaring back to life.
Day 2
South Africa 335
India 182/5
India trail by 152 runs with 5 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
An aggressive unbeaten 85 from Virat Kohli led India's response to South Africa's 335, but South Africa kept chipping away at the other end to end the second day firmly in front. Fighting against a five-man attack that hardly ever let up the pressure, India went to stumps trailing by 152, with only five wickets in hand. Kohli was still at the crease, and with him was the combative Hardik Pandya, their sixth-wicket partnership worth 19.
On a pitch that didn't offer a great deal of bounce or seam movement, Kohli put South Africa under pressure by trusting in his subcontinental method of taking a big stride forward and trying to score quickly off good-length balls. According to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data, he scored 47 runs off 51 "good-length" balls from the fast bowlers. His cover drives, as always stood out, but there were a couple of gorgeous straight-bat punches past the bowler too.
For all that, he did not succeed in shifting South Africa away from their length. To Kohli, the four quicks bowled 41 balls just short of a good length, conceding 14 runs off them, and only eight balls that were either "full" or "short". Those numbers summed up how well they bowled.
Yet, the conditions were the most subcontinental India could have hoped for on this tour, and a couple of sizeable top-order partnerships could have put South Africa under serious pressure. Instead, India gifted them a couple of soft early wickets, back-to-back, and a third after their only major partnership, 79 between Kohli and M Vijay for the third wicket.
In a series notable for the volume of the stump mics in the TV broadcast, two Kohli comments and their aftermath summed up India's day.
First, as tea approached, he yelled out to Vijay, in chaste and not-entirely-repeatable Hindi, that South Africa would be extremely worried if their partnership were to extend deep into the evening. This was true. Vijay was batting with a certain degree of comfort against the fast bowlers, and, having overcome a slightly iffy start, was defending and leaving vigilantly.
Then, after tea, he grew a little loose against the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj. It's a feature of Vijay's game, a tendency to drop his guard against spin after focusing hard against pace. Time and again, he kept trying to cut balls from Maharaj that were neither short enough nor wide enough. On 46, the inevitable happened, and a top-edged cut settled inside Quinton de Kock's gloves.
Given India were only playing five specialist batsmen, the difference between 107 for 2 and 107 for 3 was significant. Especially when South Africa's attempts to find reverse-swing were beginning to bear fruit.
Kagiso Rabada came back into the attack immediately after Vijay's dismissal, and his first ball was a sign of what was to come - a back-of-a-length ball in the corridor that reared up and seamed away to beat Kohli's outside edge.
Over after over, Rabada kept hanging the ball outside off stump, getting it to move away from the right-hander, testing their patience, and making them wonder when the inswinger would come. Towards the end of the fourth over of his spell, Kohli yelled out to Rohit Sharma, "Aur nahin dalega, chautha over hai! [he won't bowl any more, it's his fourth over!]"
Rabada kept going, eventually sending down two more overs. The inswinger arrived twice either side of Kohli's yell, both delivered at the perfect moment, with perfect control, after dragging his prey across the crease. Both produced big lbw shouts. Kohli was adjudged not out, and South Africa lost a review on height; Rohit was given out, and India retained a review but lost a wicket, with ball-tracking returning an umpire's call verdict on height.
There was no real pressure release when Rabada's spell ended. Lungi Ngidi, the debutant, replaced him with no major loss in pace or wicket threat. An inside-edge saved Kohli when a full ball pinged him on the front pad, mid-shuffle, but Parthiv Patel, who scored 19 in a fifth-wicket stand of 32, had no such luck when he nicked a lifter in the corridor - an excellent way for Ngidi to pick up his first Test wicket.
It wasn't Ngidi's first major intervention of the day. In the tenth over of India's innings, he had moved swiftly to his right from mid-on, picked up, turned around, and fired a direct hit at the bowler's end to find a diving Cheteshwar Pujara short of his crease while going for a suicidal single off the first ball he faced. This ball came right after Morne Morkel had dismissed KL Rahul, whose leaden-footed push at a full ball only succeeded in spooning a return catch. India had gifted South Africa two early wickets.
In the morning session, a half-century from Faf du Plessis had helped South Africa add 66 to their overnight total for the loss of their four remaining wickets. A rash of missed chances - including two dropped catches off R Ashwin off successive balls to let off Rabada - frustrated India somewhat during a 42-run eighth-wicket stand between du Plessis and Rabada, but they created enough chances in an improved bowling performance for the let-offs to not cost them too much. Ishant Sharma ended up with three wickets, and Ashwin - who wrapped up the innings with the wicket of Morkel for the sixth time in six Tests - with four.
Day 3
South Africa 335 & 90/2 (29 ov)
India 307
South Africa lead by 118 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Virat Kohli's 21st Test hundred and two early wickets from Jasprit Bumrah kept India's bid for a series-levelling win alive, but AB de Villiers' skill and enterprise ensured South Africa remained in control of the Centurion Test. Having secured a 28-run first-innings lead, South Africa were 90 for 2 when bad light ended play ten overs into the post-tea session, with de Villiers having just brought up a fluent half-century. Dean Elgar was at the other end, on an ungainly but undefeated 36.
A tendency for indifferent bounce had been apparent even on day two of this Test match, and it grew pronounced when South Africa began their second innings. Bumrah, with his hit-the-deck style and exaggerated angle into the right-hander, accentuated the effect of this low bounce, and by the sixth over of the innings had sent back Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla in near-identical fashion: both times, he pitched the ball short of a good length, got it to skid through at knee height, and jam into pad with the batsman in midair, their muscle memory conditioning them to expect far more bounce.
It left South Africa 3 for 2, effectively 31 for 2, and with R Ashwin - who took the new ball - continually threatening both edges of the left-handed Elgar at the other end, India were piling on the pressure. The situation called for a clear-headed batsman with supreme eye and technique, and South Africa happened to have one in de Villiers.
Putting the misbehaving pitch out of his mind, he batted with great clarity and put away all the loose and marginally loose balls India offered him - they usually erred on the full side, or fed him on his pads in the quest for lbw - to race away at close to a run a ball. By tea, he had moved to 33 off 42 balls.
The post-tea session was brief and stop-start, with a short, sharp shower sending the players off the field for an hour, and the light turning murky 5.1 overs after resumption. In between, India missed a chance to send Elgar back on 29, when Bumrah, returning for his second spell, found his edge with extra bounce in the corridor. The ball flew a couple of feet to the left of the wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, and he remained unmoved, despite Cheteshwar Pujara standing unusually wide at first slip.
Starting the day trailing by 152, India's last five wickets added 124 before Kohli was last man out in the eighth over after lunch, chipping Morne Morkel to long-on in a bid to score quick runs with only the No. 11 Bumrah for company.
The bulk of India's runs came in a rollicking seventh-wicket partnership between Kohli and Ashwin. The two came together after Hardik Pandya lost his wicket in a moment of carelessness in the seventh over of the day, and added 71 at close to five an over to put the pressure back on South Africa. The second new ball broke the partnership four overs before lunch, and the last three wickets added a further 26 runs before Kohli's dismissal.
Pandya began the day looking comfortable against the pace of Lungi Ngidi and then Kagiso Rabada from one end and the swing of Vernon Philander, bowling with the keeper up to the stumps, at the other. With Kohli quickly moving from his overnight 85 to bring up his 21st Test hundred in the sixth over of the day, the sixth-wicket partnership was beginning to worry South Africa when they were gifted a wicket out of the blue.
Sent back by Kohli after he pushed one to mid-on, Pandya was run out by a direct hit - he was past the crease when the throw hit the stumps, but he was in midair, having failed to ground either his bat or his feet. At that point, India were still trailing by 126.
In walked Ashwin. South Africa had targeted his body in Cape Town as well, and Rabada had greeted him to the crease by hitting him on the index finger of his right hand. This time, Rabada smacked his left glove off the third ball he faced, and followed up with another bouncer.
Ashwin's response was to go after Rabada in his next over, whenever he pitched anything remotely in his half of the pitch. Three fours flew through the off side, all off shots hit on the up, and Ashwin was suddenly batting on 22. An edge in Rabada's next over fell just short of the diving AB de Villiers at gully - the decision went up to the third umpire - and India could breathe again.
With Rabada losing his radar somewhat in an all-out search for wickets, he ended up conceding 40 in a seven-over spell. There was a low full-toss, which Kohli clipped away to the midwicket boundary, and a short, wide one that Ashwin cut for another four. Boundaries came off the other bowlers too, the pick of them a sweetly-timed chip over mid-off by Ashwin off Keshav Maharaj's left-arm spin.
South Africa took the second new ball at the start of the 82nd over, and Kohli, correctly guessing that Philander's first ball would be a fullish outswinger, sashayed forward and drove it to the cover boundary. He would play a similar shot in Philander's next over too, but by then India had lost two more wickets; Ashwin drove away from his body and nicked a Philander outswinger to second slip, and Mohammed Shami edged a steeply bouncing Morne Morkel delivery to first slip.
Ishant Sharma added 25 with Kohli before Morkel sent him back with a perfectly directed bouncer from round the wicket. With two balls left in the over, Jasprit Bumrah ducked awkwardly into a short ball, which ricocheted off the shoulder of his bat and into the grille of his helmet, and only just managed to keep another lifter off his ribcage.
Kohli had already been farming the strike with Ishant for company, and had brought up 150 with a fierce pull to the midwicket boundary off Morkel. Given how uncomfortable Bumrah was now looking, Kohli had to expand his risk-taking, and an attempted loft off Morkel brought his and India's innings to a close.
Day 4
South Africa 335 & 258
India 307 & 35/3 (23 ov, target: 287)
India require another 252 runs with 7 wickets remaining
With one day left to play at SuperSport Park, South Africa are seven wickets from taking an unassailable 2-0 lead, and India are a distant 252 runs from levelling the Test series. Having bowled South Africa out for 258 in their second innings, India were left with the task of chasing 287 with the best part of four sessions remaining. They ended day four 35 for 3, with two of their top-order batsmen already lost to treacherous low bounce, and another out to a loose shot.
The new ball had shown a definite tendency to keep low at the start of South Africa's second innings on day three, and Jasprit Bumrah had removed Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla with shooters pitching short of a good length. India lost M Vijay and Virat Kohli in the same manner; Vijay played on to one from Rabada that shot through at just above ankle height; Kohli was lbw to a nip-backer from Lungi Ngidi that went through at knee height.
Given that the older ball did not misbehave quite as much in South Africa's innings, India might have accepted it if they had only lost those two wickets in the 23 overs they played until stumps. They lost one more, however, to a ball that didn't deserve a wicket; Ngidi bowled it short and wide, and perhaps it stopped slightly on KL Rahul - he shaped to cut, checked his shot as he played it, and ended up slicing it straight into backward point's hands.
At stumps, Cheteshwar Pujara was batting on 11 and with him was Parthiv Patel - promoted ahead of Rohit Sharma to No. 5, possibly since he's the only left-hander in India's XI - on 5.
South Africa were bowled out in the tenth over after tea, with Mohammed Shami's four wickets playing a key role in keeping India in the contest. Shami's key interventions came when he took three wickets in a seven-over spell before lunch, after AB de Villiers and Dean Elgar had put on 141 for the third wicket.
Bumrah and Ishant Sharma were also among the wickets, finishing with 5 for 110 between them, while R Ashwin toiled wicketless for 29.2 overs before ending the innings by getting last man Ngidi caught in the deep.
Thanks to the slowness of the pitch, low bounce was a manageable threat for South Africa's batsmen once the ball became older and softer. Even so, de Villiers breathed a sigh of relief when Bumrah got one to keep low in the fourth over of the morning as well, but this time the line was just outside off stump.
Conditions were otherwise reasonably good to bat in, and with India also offering de Villiers release balls every now and then - width the most frequent culprit - South Africa's lead was beginning to trouble India, and their worries were compounded by Elgar's stay. He never looked comfortable at the crease, particularly against Ashwin's offspin but kept fighting cussedly, bringing up his half-century with a drive through extra-cover off Ishant.
The breakthrough arrived thanks to extra bounce, Shami getting one to rear at de Villiers in the corridor to find a bit of glove through to Parthiv Patel. Then, Shami dropped one short to Elgar, who had pulled a similar ball to the boundary at the start of his spell, but this time he hit it in the air and within range of KL Rahul patrolling the square-leg boundary.
Ashwin, who kept getting the ball to dip into awkward areas and turn sharply, nearly had a wicket in the over after Elgar's dismissal. Faf du Plessis, stretching forward, failed to get to the pitch of an offbreak and flicked it in the air. Rahul, diving full-length to his right at leg gully, only got his fingertips to it.
There was more frustration waiting for India in the next over. Shami kept hitting a good length outside off stump, and finding just a bit of seam movement. De Kock, seemingly unaware of the option of leaving the ball, kept throwing his hands at it. Three successive edges flew to the boundary, two wide of the slips and one just beyond Parthiv's reach as he dived to his left. The next ball produced another poke from de Kock; this time, it was close enough to Parthiv for him to take the catch.
The game had rattled along in the morning session; it nearly came to a standstill after tea, with both sides sitting back and waiting for a mistake from the other. It was understandable, given how delicately poised the Test match was. Bowling in tandem, Hardik Pandya and Ishant kept bowling just short of a good length, often sending down cutters, and conceded only 14 runs in 11 overs, discomfiting both du Plessis and Vernon Philander with movement or inconsistent bounce but without creating a chance.
It took a short, harmless-looking ball to end the seventh-wicket partnership at 46, Philander unbalanced on the pull and caught at square leg. Then, in his next over, Ishant got one to lift unexpectedly in the fifth-stump channel, and Keshav Maharaj nicked to Parthiv off the shoulder of the bat.
Du Plessis remained at the crease, forever a thorn in India's flesh; when he pulled the returning Shami for four off the last ball before tea, he had moved to 37 off 122 balls. He survived a dropped chance on 46 when Bumrah put down a return catch, but fell to a near-replay in his next over, two short of his second fifty of the match. In between, Shami sent back Kagiso Rabada with bounce and seam movement in the corridor, Virat Kohli taking a good, low catch at second slip.
Day 5
South Africa 335 & 258
India 307 & 151 (50.2 ov, target: 287)
South Africa won by 135 runs
It was a brown banana peel for South Africa. Morne Morkel said it was 100% like bowling in India. Virat Kohli batted as if he was in India. However, in the end South Africa not only dodged a bullet, they caught the bullet and shred it into pieces with their determined batting, ruthless bowling and sensational fielding, beating India by 135 runs and winning back the Freedom Trophy.
South Africa fined for slow over-rate
South Africa have been fined 20% of their match fees for their slow over-rate in the second Test against India. Match referee Chris Broad found them to be two overs short of their target with time allowances taken into consideration. Captain Faf du Plessis pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the sanctions. He was fined 40% of his match fee - double that of his team, in accordance with the ICC's rules.
South Africa began the day needing seven wickets, but closed the match even before the lunch break. Lungi Ngidi ended his impressive debut with a six-for, but the start of the final collapse was self-inflicted. When he was under pressure to keep his place in the XI in the West Indies, Cheteshwar Pujara ran himself out. In Centurion, he became only the 23rd player to be run out twice in the same Test.
As with the first-ball duck in the first innings, Pujara's mouth wrote a cheque his knees couldn't cash. With AB de Villiers and Ngidi chasing after a ball, Pujara overestimated his speed and was caught short. The other overnight batsman, Parthiv Patel, batting ahead of Rohit Sharma, soon hooked Kagiso Rabada in the air, and Morne Morkel took a splendid diving catch after running to his right at fine leg.
Hardik Pandya and R Ashwin have provided resistance with the bat earlier in the series, but this time they couldn't. Pandya repepated his first innings dismissal from Cape Town, edging when looking to ramp a wide bouncer. Ashwin fell on the loose drive. Seven down, India still needed 200 to win.
Rohit and Mohammed Shami then added 54 runs to delay the inevitable and bring India to the brink of the lunch. However, in the last over before the scheduled lunch break, de Villiers pulled off a sensational catch diving forward at deep fine leg. Rohit had got enough bat on his pull shot, which resulted in a low flat offering. Given only a split second, de Villiers judged it perfectly, took the required paces, threw himself at the ball and caught it smoothly. Not for a moment did he look like dropping the chance. Usually these low catches go to the third umpire; there was no need here
Lunch was now delayed, and moments later, Ngidi had Shami caught at mid-on, his fifth wicket. The crowd wasn't big given it was Wednesday morning, but the appreciation was whole-hearted and Ngidi soaked it all in, kissing the badge on his shirt and then walking back to fine leg to an even bigger applause. He went on to make it one better in the next over and end the Test.
3rd Test
Day 1
India 187
South Africa 6/1 (6 ov)
South Africa trail by 181 runs with 9 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Virat Kohli attacked, Cheteshwar Pujara defended and defended solidly and Bhuvneshwar Kumar applied himself in the end to score 134 runs between them. But the rest - extras included - added only 53 more as India went from 144 for 4 to 187 all out on the first day of the Wanderers Test. India were not out of it yet on the evidence of the tumultuous six overs South Africa faced before stumps, losing Aiden Markram to Bhuvneshwar.
When India made the bold move of batting first on a green pitch with a lot of seam movement, despite all the pressure their batting has been under, they would have hoped for a lot of grit and a bit of luck to ride out these tough conditions. On what was not the prettiest day of Test cricket, Pujara and Kohli showed plenty of grit, some luck followed through dropped catches and a missed review, but India handed back the advantage with some ordinary batting from the lower middle order, which was missing R Ashwin as they decided to play an all-seam attack.
If India were still in the contest, it was down to fielding lapses from South Africa. Kohli was dropped on 11 and 32, Pujara was on nought when the hosts appealed half-heartedly for an lbw and chose not to review a not-out call that would have been overturned. There was more general sloppiness in the field, and comeback man Ajinkya Rahane was on 3 when he was caught behind off a Vernon Philander no-ball.
Philander was in the thick of the action all day. He began the Test with a spell of 8-7-1-1, the most economical first eight overs for a South Africa bowler in all Tests since readmission. His victim was KL Rahul, with a ball that seamed back in and took the inside edge to become one of Quinton de Kock's five catches, but there was a moment when he could have supported his fellow fast bowler a bit better. Kagiso Rabada drew a Kohli top edge with a surprise bouncer, which would have been a sitter had Philander from mid-off or Markram from cover decided early enough to go for it. Neither of them did, and eventually it was too late for Philander to make up with a dive.
While Philander could be accused of being a little too short through the day, his first spell, with the ball seaming both ways, was still a testing one. Pujara took 31 of those 48 balls, which means 31 of the 41 balls Philander bowled while he was at the wicket.
There was nothing loose on offer even though South Africa didn't do enough to make India play and edge balls. With so much seam movement available, you had to either wait for a rank delivery or take the risk of going after decent ones. Pujara took the first route. He just kept playing the line, making sure he didn't follow the ball when it seamed away, and hoping he got an inside edge or that the ball did too much when it seamed back in. There were ironic cheers when Pujara set off for a run off the 45th ball he faced only for the umpire to call it a leg-bye. There was another big cheer when he faced his 50th ball, still on zero. When the run finally came, 81 minutes into his innings, having refused to play a loose shot, Pujara had made the bowlers bowl on his pads.
India's captain took the other route. He showed more urgency, nailing drives every time a ball presented itself for the shot. There was nothing half-hearted - as with M Vijay's drive to get out - about Kohli's innings. This 84-run third-wicket partnership couldn't have done without him at the other end. You couldn't just stand there and not score. Kohli backed his eye to pick errors in length early and punish them. There were two cracking cover drives, one moments after he had been dropped by Philander. Rabada tried the one-two trick by threatening his outside edge repeatedly and then going for the lbw ball, but he never really got it right, and Kohli kept clipping him away.
The shots didn't stop; he had to keep playing them on this pitch even though they meant a slightly higher risk than usual. Post lunch, Kohli went to cut Morne Morkel, the ball was too wide, took the toe end, but this time AB de Villiers put him down at third slip as the ball dipped on him rather late. Just as the partnership was getting into the realm of the dangerous, Ngidi finally drew the edge from Kohli, a solid one on the drive. The catch nearly blew de Villiers off his feet, but he hung on, injuring his finger in the process.
Rahane couldn't make the most of his break as Morkel soon trapped him lbw with a full straight ball. Apart from the fielding, South Africa could look back at the wide lines and lengths that kept beating the bat but were not full enough to take the edge. However, the run-rate always hovered around two, which meant they could get India out cheaply if they got their act together.
It needed a change in plans for that to happen. There was debate if South Africa would have been better served by a proper batsman and not an allrounder in Andile Phehlukwayo. What can the fifth bowler do on such a pitch that the main four can't? Take an edge from Pujara, maybe. All day long, Pujara had been playing inside the line of balls that seamed away, but this one was perhaps slower, perhaps it seamed less, and took the edge through.
The lower-middle order then capitulated. Parthiv Patel nicked off, Hardik Pandya top-edged a ball that was not there for the pull, Mohammed Shami hit straight to mid-off, and South Africa were right back. The only application and resistance from the tail came from Bhuvneshwar, whose 30 helped give India something to bowl at.
Day 2
India 187 & 49/1 (17 ov)
South Africa 194
India lead by 42 runs with 9 wickets remaining
The Wanderers Test is now a one-innings shootout on a treacherous surface, and India have their noses well ahead, ending day two 42 ahead with nine wickets in hand. Hashim Amla put on a clinic on how to bat on a tough pitch, he got support in the form of 30s from nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander, but Japsrit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar combined to keep the first-innings deficit down to seven. If South Africa had a slender lead, they were also looking at the prospect of having to bat last on a pitch getting increasingly uneven to go with the seam movement.
Awed with some of Virat Kohli's stroke-play, the other half-centurion for India, Cheteshwar Pujara, said Kohli played some shots not many could have played on this pitch with extravagant bounce and seam movement. On day two, Amla batted with the control of Pujara and the flair of Kohli. While Amla's control percentage according to ESPNcricinfo's logs was marginally under Pujara's, a lot of time Pujara was only leaving balls. Nobody scored more in-control runs in this Test than Amla's 49 such runs.
Pujara also said if anybody got a hundred on this track, it would have been a brilliant innings. It would need more than individual brilliance: partners to bat with him. When Amla fell for 61, he was the seventh wicket. After his 64-run partnership with Rabada, this seventh-wicket stand with Philander was only the second time Amla had some support in the innings. For a while it did seem Bhuvneshwar, too, was going to run out of support, especially when Rabada and Amla followed up a 23-run first hour with 52 in the second.
In Bhuvneshwar's first spell of 6-5-1-1, a wicket seemed likelier to arrive than a run. One wicket did arrive too, after 17 balls of toying around with Dean Elgar's edge, Bhvuneshwar finally hit the willow. Parthiv Patel was switched on in this Test, diving to his left to complete the catch. Rabada and Amla then rode through the tough period before targeting Mohammed Shami and Bumrah. Rabada even played the Amla-in-the-mirror flick from the line of off for a four to square leg.
Not for the first time on the tour, Shami let India down. The first overs of each of his spells brought a release of pressure: he began with five wides in his first, and short and wide in his second and third. In a Test in which scoring runs has involved a lot of risk, Shami went at 3.83 an over, and yet bowled only two overs fewer than the much more impressive Ishant Sharma.
It was Ishant who broke the threatening partnership between Amla and Rabada minutes before lunch. It was Ishant who supported Bhuvneshwar in his first spell after lunch. This was a spell in which Bhuvneshwar cleaned up AB de Villiers, five runs after he had survived an lbw shout from Ishant where a review could have sent him on his way. This is when India needed a good follow-up act.
When Bumrah was introduced in the middle of the afternoon, South Africa were 97 for 4. Amla was batting like a dream, and India were still behind the game. They couldn't have afforded a repeat of the hour Bumrah and Shami had given them in the morning. Bumrah made sure it didn't happen. He bowled with pace and he hit the pitch hard, extracting all the unevenness out of the pitch. Faf du Plessis was gone shouldering arms, Quinten de Kock looking to drive on the up, repeating the mistake de Villiers had made. At 125 for 6, India were ahead now, but there was still Amla.
Batting here remained a game of heightened awareness and concentration, with a higher level of risk than usual, plus a lot of luck. On such a track Amla was going at better than a run every two balls. His shuffle was even more pronounced in this innings, getting closer to balls seaming away and also giving him access to the leg side. On more than a few occasions India tried to go behind his legs, but Amla kept hitting those balls to fine leg and square leg. Driving here has been the most difficult shot but Amla is somebody who can do so without having to come forward to drive. He kept punching off the back foot.
The support Amla needed came from Philander. The two added 44 for the seventh wicket. Philander pulled the short ball with authority, and played the push-drive well. Shami was again their victim, but eventually Bumrah's attempt to go behind Amla's legs succeeded. Not in the desired manner, though. Amla had this straight ball covered, but it stopped a touch and the flick went in the air and straight to square leg three-fourths of the way to the boundary.
Philander soon fell to the hook off the bowling of Shami, and Bumrah took the wickets of Andile Phehlukwayo and Lungi Ngidi to complete his five-for. India would have noticed South Africa didn't survive much better than them, but went at close to three an over as opposed to India's 2.42. They followed the lead, and snuck in a quick 16 from Parthiv Patel in the second innings even before the openers came together. KL Rahul and M Vijay then batted assuredly, adding 32 in 12 overs as South Africa continued to miss their targets: bowling too wide and too short to take the edges.
Day 3
India 187 & 247
South Africa 194 & 17/1 (8.3 ov, target: 241)
South Africa require another 224 runs with 9 wickets remaining
On their most glorious day of cricket on this tour of South Africa, India closed in on a rare Test win in conditions that required courage, skill and some luck, but one blow too many to the batsmen forced the umpires to take the players off the field with South Africa 17 for 1 chasing an improbable 241.
South Africa were scheduled to bat for 65 minutes before stumps, but the day's play did not get that far, with the umpires taking the players off after Dean Elgar was struck on the grille of his helmet by a short, steeply rising ball from Jasprit Bumrah. It was the fourth time Elgar had been hit on the body in his brief innings. The captains met the match referee after the incident, but the future of the match remained unclear.
In the post-match press conference, India manager Sunil Subramaniam said the match officials would make a call on the match on the fourth morning. He said India had no complaints about the pitch, contending that it had behaved the same way on all three days, and that they would want the game to continue.
This may have had a lot to do with the match situation, engineered by some brilliant batting. Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and M Vijay batted out of their skins, putting behind them the blows they took from the inconsistent and exaggerated bounce, going through periods of excessive seam movement, putting every scoring opportunity away. The lower order, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a composed 33 and Mohammed Shami with a whirlwind 27, then all but put the matter beyond South Africa, setting the hosts 241 to win.
Vijay was hit five times in the first session, Kohli wore one length ball on his glove, and by the time Rahane was hit on his bare back elbow India were in such a good position that Rahane sent back the physio, who had been kept busy earlier. India didn't want to risk giving a suggestion that this pitch was dangerous; they were desperate to win, they didn't mind a bruised rib or finger, and probably didn't imagine or think of worse.
Before you talk about padding and arm guards and helmets, you must watch a net session and watch from up close these Test cricketers face bouncers chucked at them by the sidearm. It takes half a second to leave the bowler's hand and reach the batsman. Facing accurate short-pitched fast bowling on true pitches or in the nets is hard enough; here the bounce was unpredictable. Sometimes it jumped off a length, and also seamed back in, leaving the batsmen nowhere to go. Umpires chatted often, looking worriedly at some of the good-length areas, and a piece or two of the pitch that had come off.
India, they were not bothered. They had their eye on the prize. They began the day effectively 42 for 1, having lost only their pinch-hitter Parthiv Patel. Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel took out KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara in the first five overs of the day, and South Africa sensed an opportunity here. Then Vijay and Kohli then did what Pujara and Kohli did in the first innings.
What a day it was for India to find the Vijay that had gone missing in the first five innings of this series. The pitch has usually been at its worst in the first hour of each day; on the third day it was also dangerous. Vijay bore most of the brunt. However, his judgement didn't waver. This was a proper dig-in: he left judiciously, drove only when the ball was too full, and was always on the lookout for a single. He scored only 25 off 127 balls, but he weathered the new ball and the pitch. The pitch was never going to get flat, but he made the job of those following him a little easier.
Kohli, at the other end, got into better positions to attack. There was one drive ball in the first whole first hour, and Kohli nailed the drive for four. That hour produced just 18 runs and two wickets. His reaction to counter the excessive seam movement was to get as far forward as possible, never mind the high pace of bowlers other than Philander. What Kohli did was exceptional because he scored at a rate of more than three an over.
For the bowlers there was a difficulty too: it seamed too much, and the ball often missed the edges. Like with India's change bowlers in the second hour of day two, the half-volleys began to arrive, and Kohli was in no mood to miss any. It eventually took a big seaming delivery from Kagiso Rabada to snake past Kohli's inside edge and hit the top of off stump. Rabada had earlier bowled Vijay with a yorker than proved to be the last ball before lunch.
The most impressive part of Kohli's innings, though, was his leaving outside off stump, which he didn't do enough of in Cape Town. He didn't follow with his hands balls that seamed away. If he did on the odd occasion, he went back and looked at the imaginary line he had given himself to stay in, to not play outside of.
Just like the leave, Kohli might have wished he had incorporated Rahane into his plans in Cape Town and Bhuvneshwar in Centurion. Rahane's counterattack at the other end was nothing short of sensational. Just like in Melbourne in 2014-15, Rahane was there by his captain when South Africa began to bowl better to him. A flurry of boundaries either side of Kohli's dismissal took him to 27 off 25 at one point.
Rahane drove on the up, waved off help when hit, ran like a gazelle, cut over the infield, and shepherded Bhuvneshwar. This must have been a bittersweet partnership for Kohli: on the one hand, it was swiftly taking the Test away from South Africa, but it was taking a dead rubber away after the duo at the crease had been left out of the last Test. After Rahane finally fell to a strangle down the leg side, Mohammed Shami swung his bat wildly, hitting the first six of the match, then the second, and taking India to an extremely comfortable position.
Day 4
India 187 & 247
South Africa 194 & 177 (target: 241)
India won by 63 runs
India couldn't dismiss Dean Elgar at all, but found a way around him to complete their third Test win in South Africa. He was ridiculed on the third evening for a short ball that hit him in the face and caused an interruption in the play, but Elgar tried his darnedest - in vain - to deny India. The visitors were efficient and ruthless even as Elgar and Hashim Amla went more than half the day without losing a wicket and added 119 of the 241 required for the second wicket. India waited and waited for the first breakthrough without giving away free runs, and once the wicket came they swooped in on the kill. The last nine wickets fell for 53 runs.
As at Lord's 2014, Ishant Sharma began the slide with a mid-afternoon spell of 7-2-15-2, but here the load was shared. His victims were big: Amla and Faf du Plessis. Jasprit Bumrah was equally impressive in his nine-over spell that followed up with wickets of AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock. Once the two were taken off, Mohammed Shami came back from an average morning with quick, full and accurate bowling to run through the tail.
This was one of India's great wins in Test cricket as they came here beleaguered, having lost the series, and were presented with a treacherous surface. They got most of their selections right, made the bold move of batting first, batted with extreme courage and determination with contributions all around, including a couple of 30s from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Having set South Africa 241, they would have looked at an easy job, but there were hiccups. Play was suspended 19 minutes before stumps on the third evening as the umpires were concerned about the players' safety. After meetings, it was decided the pitch would be given a chance on the fourth morning, but overnight and early-morning rain pushed India's quest for a win back by an hour.
The pitch did show signs it had settled down a little with the uneven bounce becoming a lesser concern for the batsmen than the seam movement. Elgar took eight blows on the body, including four on the third evening. Amla was rapped on the gloves by length balls a couple of times. Between them they were beaten 26 times, but they kept batting on. Elgar had to keep getting attention on his forearm. Amla wore reinforced gloves. Inch by inch they took South Africa closer.
Elgar showed a lot of ticker in not getting perturbed by the number of blows he took. He showed great judgement in leaving the ball, didn't follow the ones that seamed away from him, and kept nudging away ones and twos. There were a few lucky runs between the slips and the gullies, but you need that in these highly unusual circumstances and conditions.
Amla was more in control of what he was doing, shuffling well across to know what lines to leave and then also opening up the leg side for runs. India tried going behind his legs, but his bat kept coming down in time. The punch to balls higher than his waist, a shot almost unique to Amla, continued to be his friend. In his 40s, when Amla got stuck and scored just two runs off 39 balls, the punch came to his rescue and saw him through to a second fifty in the match.
Elgar's method was different. When India put together a spell of 25 balls for just two runs, he ended it with a hoick over square leg. Elgar was not there to look pretty. He was there to just be. As long as he could be. When he reached his fifty, after accepting congratulations from Amla and the crowd, he quietly knocked the left side of his chest, then his thigh pad twice, and again his chest, his heart. He had shown enough of it.
India played the waiting game. This was a mature spell of play. When not much was happening they sought to shut down the scoring. Hardik Pandya did a job too, bowling six overs for 15. If the worst happened, India wanted to be in the game by the time the new ball was taken.
By the time Ishant was brought back about 25 minutes before tea, South Africa needed 117 runs and the second new ball would be available in 28 overs. Having looked to get Ama behind his legs because of his shuffle, India now had a short midwicket in place. Ishant, the rare bowler pitching balls on a good length, was now rewarded. For the second time in the Test, Amla failed to keep a clip to leg down, and Pandya at short midwicket accepted the catch.
As it happens in fourth innings, more so on pitches like these, the new batsmen find it incredibly difficult to bat. This was India's moment. They couldn't afford another partnership. South Africa needed one more man to bat out of his skin to add to the efforts of Elgar and Amla. De Villiers was the man who could run away with it. Bumrah, though, oproduced a ball that only a settled batsman could have avoided. It reared off a length, and held its line, and the edge was taken at gully.
On the other side of tea, Ishant and Bumrah did their one-two again. Ishant got one to nip back in and stay low too to hit du Plessis' stumps. Quinton de Kock grabbed a golden duck with Bumrah bowling quick and straight at his stumps. The pace and efficiency of this four-pronged attack was too much for the rest. Elgar, who carried his bat with 86 not out off 240 balls of pure grit, and Lungi Ngidi fought hard with the last-wicket stand of 16, but they were only delaying the inevitable.
Friday 19 January 2018
ODI series NZ 5-0 PAK
1st ODI
New Zealand 315/7
Pakistan 166/6
New Zealand win by 61 runs (D/L method)
A masterful hundred from Kane Williamson and world-class new ball bowling by Tim Southee and Trent Boult saw New Zealand get off to a winning start against Pakistan. They secured a 61-run win on the basis of the DLS method, though in truth, had the match not been cut short by rain, the margin of victory would have been even more decisive.
Any hopes Pakistan might have had of making a fist of a daunting chase were dashed in the first over. Tim Southee trapped Azhar Ali and Babar Azam off successive deliveries to reduce the visitors to 7 for 2. Replays showed that Babar's dismissal would have been overturned on review, but Azhar had unwisely used up the referral when he was dismissed. That one was plumb, which meant, five balls into the chase, Pakistan had lost arguably their two best batsmen and their only review.
Boult was looking sharp from the other end, the only bowler from either side who got the ball to move. He got rid of Mohammad Hafeez with a well-targeted bouncer that the batsman unconvincingly fended away to fine leg. He couldn't have picked out Southee any better if he had walked over and placed the ball in his grateful hands.
New Zealand were surging, and Southee removed Shoaib Malik soon after, before Astle trapped Sarfraz Ahmed lbw as he clumsily tried to sweep. Pakistan were 54 for five, the Champions Trophy winners looking no better than the West Indies side the hosts had hammered over the past few weeks.
Sent in to bat, New Zealand had gotten off to an excellent start, the opening partnership producing 83 as Colin Munro continued his fine form with a 35-ball 58. The scoring rate slowed slightly after his dismissal, but none of Pakistan's bowlers looked particularly incisive as Williamson and Martin Guptill took control of the middle overs. They were masterful at judging Pakistan's levels, quick to capitalise when they dropped even slightly.
On 26, Sarfraz dropped Williamson, a diving chance to his right when he edged Faheem Ashraf behind. The reprieve came at a time when New Zealand were slowly setting themselves up for a total over 300. It left Sarfraz rather red-faced; the Pakistan captain had just given one of his fielders an earful for sloppiness.
But as Guptill began to loosen his arms, Pakistan found a breakthrough in the unlikely form of Fakhar Zaman snaring his first international wicket. Hasan Ali returned to nip a budding partnership between Williamson and Ross Taylor, knocking over the latter's off stump before it got out of hand. Latham lobbed Faheem - who was impressive on a quick pitch - next over, as Pakistan finally began to dominate a passage of play.
However, any thoughts of derailing New Zealand were firmly put to rest by a superb counter-attacking partnership between Williamson and Henry Nicholls. As Williamson approached his hundred, it was Nicholls who took control, manipulating the fielders with clever shotmaking, using both the reverse sweep and scoop to good measure. The running between the wickets, too, was sharp, as Pakistan's tardiness in the field began to show.
Pakistan may be able to get satisfaction from their death bowling, which never really allowed New Zealand to tee off in the final overs. Rumman Raees, expensive in his first spell, returned and bowled far better, confounding the batsmen with changes of pace and other variations, while Mohammad Amir - though not at his best - is not the sort of bowler who goes for big runs often. The last five overs went for 38 runs as Pakistan managed to keep the total from getting too far out of hand.
The only Pakistan player who could emerge from the game with any credit was Fakhar, who had spent the first hour of the chase watching his partners come and go. He tried to take the attack to the bowlers, using his feet to the spin, striking sixes off consecutive Mitchell Santner deliveries and bringing up his 50 in 63 balls. Shadab Khan gave the opener capable support in the face of hostile fast bowling from Lockie Ferguson, who sent the speed gun north of 150 on several occasions. With the intensity from the hosts having dropped slightly, Fakhar and Shadab continued to battle on, putting on 78 before Boult returned to remove Shadab.
Fakhar continued to go for his shots, hurtling towards what could have been a gutsy hundred. Faheem Ashraf was good for a few lusty blows too, but the rain began to get heavier. New Zealand were streets ahead on DLS, the early wickets ensuring they kicked off the tour with a convincing win.
2nd ODI
Pakistan 246/9 (50 ov)
New Zealand 151/2 (23.5/25 ov, target: 151)
New Zealand won by 8 wickets (with 7 balls remaining) (D/L method)
For the second time this series, rain intervened before the match was finished with New Zealand in front. This time, it subsided early enough for further play to be possible, and for Martin Guptill to storm back to form. An explosive innings from the opener - who scored 86 off 71 balls - ensured New Zealand carried a 2-0 lead into into the third ODI at Dunedin with an eight-wicket win.
After a two-hour delay, New Zealand's target was revised from 247 to 151 in 25 overs, with a further 87 required in 11 overs after the resumption. Guptill made it look supremely straightforward, smashing Hasan Ali for consecutive sixes in his first over back. The sixes were hit at will for Guptill - five of them in total - while Ross Taylor provided suitable support. Pakistan fell apart spectacularly in the field, and New Zealand completed the chase with seven balls to spare.
Before the interruption, New Zealand spent much of the game enjoying the upper hand, and barring the salvo of a 49-ball 70 run partnership between Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan, Pakistan couldn't quite lay claim on any passage of play.
Sarfraz Ahmed might have made a different decision at the toss, but that didn't change how the innings panned out. Pakistan, batting first, turned in another limp batting performance. All five regular bowlers chipped in with wickets, and it was left to Pakistan's lower order to respond with a magnificent rearguard action as half-centuries from Hasan and Shadab took Pakistan - once tottering at 141 for 7 - to a more presentable 246.
The surface in Nelson looked dry, and even Kane Williamson admitted he would have much preferred to bat first, but his opening bowlers didn't leave him wistful for too long. Tim Southee and Trent Boult were at the openers straightaway, Azhar Ali and Imam-ul-Haq - in for the injured Fakhar Zaman - struggling against generous early swing. At the same time, Boult was dangerous with the short ball, with Azhar survived a caught behind after a review showed it was in fact his helmet that had grazed the ball on the way through to the keeper.
Boult wasn't to be denied in his next over, though. It was the short ball that brought the breakthrough, as Imam was unable to get on top of the bounce, and the pull shot went straight to Colin Munro at square leg.
Azhar followed him in the next over. Tim Southee got the wicket in almost identical fashion to the first ODI, Azhar falling over to off stump and missing a straight one that thudded into his pads.
Babar Azam played a loose shot unbecoming of the reputation and class to leave Pakistan wobbling at 39 for 3, and it was up to old hands Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez to regroup. A 45-run partnership provided some hope of a Pakistan revival, as the pair began to rotate the strike regularly and use their feet to the spinners. But just as the momentum was shifting, Malik danced down the wicket and hit one straight to long-on.
Sarfraz and Hafeez were Pakistan's last recognised batsmen, but both fell to indifferent shots. Sarfraz's was shocking, coming down the wicket to a short ball from Todd Astle and getting himself stumped. A few overs later, Hafeez, after compiling 60 classy runs, charged Mitchell Santner in similarly unseemly fashion, only succeeding in chipping to short cover.
The innings looked to be petering out well under 200, and it took a whirlwind partnership between Shadab and No. 9 Hasan to restore some competitiveness to the contest. Hasan took charge in their stand, striking four boundaries and four sixes, beginning his assault with successive sixes off Mitchell Santner. Ferguson struck him with a vicious bouncer around the neck, but he wasn't dissuaded, taking the attack to the quicks as well as New Zealand lost their discipline. Astle went for 21 runs in an over, while Boult bowled two full tosses around waist height - only one of which was called - as the runs began to flow freely.
Southee was smashed for 12 in three balls to bring up a 30-ball fifty, but the bowler dismissed Hasan off the next ball. Shadab continued to attack, as Pakistan took 13 off Southee's final over. Boult wasn't spared either as a gorgeous cover drive off the left-armer brought up Shadab's half-century.
New Zealand started their chase shakily, Mohammad Amir - looking near his fearsome best - forcing a false shot from Munro to send him back for a duck. Williamson and Guptill restored some order, before a superb diving catch at point from Shadab left New Zealand at 47 for 2.
Pakistan may have felt they were right back in the game, before the rain break. By the time the rain subsided, Guptill appeared to be a different batsman, one against whom a lackadaisical Pakistan stood no chance.
3rd ODI
New Zealand 257
Pakistan 74
New Zealand win by 183 runs
They might be the current Champions Trophy holders, but over the last two years, Pakistan have conceded the highest score in the format's history - 444 at Edgbaston. Today, in Dunedin, they came perilously close to posting the lowest ODI score; it was very much on the cards when they reeled at 32 for 8. In a batting performance so listless that even New Zealand appeared to be embarrassed by the ease with which Pakistan's innings crumbled, the home side rubberstamped their superiority by bowling Pakistan out for 74, winning by a mammoth 183 runs.
Any semblance of a contest was blown to pieces by a sensational opening spell from Trent Boult, who made a mockery of the notion that it was a slow pitch on which bounce was difficult to extract. Azhar Ali was the first to fall. Granted a life two balls earlier, when Santner dropped one at cover, Azhar poked at one outside the off stump and gave first slip a straightforward grab.
Trent Boult's early strikes set the template for Pakistan's listless collapse Getty Images
Fakhar Zaman had been trying to cut Boult for much of an innings that was destined to be ephemeral. He eventually dragged on. With Hafeez then edging a catch to Ross Taylor at first slip, the contest was over, but the potential for humiliation had only just begun.
The records began to tumble; only on three other occasions since 2006 had a side made less than ten runs in the first Powerplay (Pakistan made 9 for 3 today); only once before had Pakistan lost six wickets for fewer than the 16 they managed today.
Suddenly, the lowest-ever ODI total - 35 - began to be threatened, as batsmen came - each appearing as clueless, as amateur as the last - and met the same fate.
Pakistan's ineptitude could spawn much cricketing literature, but New Zealand's magnificence is far worthier of attention. After Boult and Southee's brilliance, the change-up bowlers backed them up, their foot never leaving Pakistan's throat. There was excellent fielding to run out Babar Azam, whose bat got stuck in the pitch as he attempted to drag it over - an appropriate metaphor for the rut Pakistan have found themselves in since reaching New Zealand shores.
The captain Kane Williamson, whose "ugly" innings of 73 began to look prettier by the minute, also took a splendid catch, diving to his right to hold on with one hand. Sarfraz, who was forlornly going down with his ship, remained till the bitter end, watching as his partners came and went. Mohammad Amir flashed at a few deliveries, but the defeat was too chastening for any Pakistan fan to draw entertainment out of it.
The contest ended in the only way that was appropriate, Boult returning to clean up Hasan Ali with an excellent yorker to complete his five-wicket haul. It put Pakistan out of their misery, and gave New Zealand the series with two games remaining.
At the start of the game, the pitch had played far slower than most expected. In scrappy, turgid conditions for batting, New Zealand's batsmen showed patience and temperament, stringing together several excellent partnerships to put up 257.
Colin Munro and Martin Guptill began like they usually do, each striking a six within the first eight balls. But it soon became evident that that strategy wouldn't be sustainable.
Munro fell in the second over, having misjudged the pace and bounce of a delivery, lobbing it straight up to Sarfraz.
That brought Williamson and Guptill together, and the run rate came steadily down. It was a difficult surface to get one's eye in, and the two batsmen rotated the strike instead of taking risks, aware of the importance of kicking on from a start. Williamson occasionally used his feet to the fast bowlers - with some success - but timing proved elusive for both batsmen, and the innings was becoming a grind.
When Taylor came in after Guptill's run out, he found it far easier to settle in. He was able to manoeuvre the gaps more effectively than any other batsman, two early boundaries through the covers off Shadab Khan setting the tone of the partnership.
Given the nature of the surface, Pakistan unsurprisingly turned to Shoaib Malik to get through some overs. While he didn't bowl poorly, it meant Pakistan were somewhat anodyne through the middle overs, not looking for wickets as much as they might have done. Williamson survived an lbw shout that was overturned after review, but besides that, New Zealand picked up the scoring rate, with the captain looking much more assured after passing a gritty half-century.
Pakistan were beginning to look desperate for a wicket, and it arrived two balls after the drinks break. Williamson came down the wicket in an attempt to clear mid-off against Raees' bowling, but didn't quite find the timing, and Hafeez held on to peg New Zealand back.
Taylor and Tom Latham built another intelligent partnership, but two in two balls from Shadab triggered a New Zealand collapse that restricted their final total. Taylor was the first to go, uncharacteristically missing a straight, short one from Shadab, and Nicholls was dismissed off a golden duck thanks to a stunning catch by Shadab - not for the first time this series.
From that point on, Pakistan's fast bowlers smelled blood. No one from the lower order was allowed to settle, and a clever mix of length and pace kept the batsmen regularly off-balance. Santner, Astle and Southee could make no real impression, and only a final over rearguard from Boult took his side past 250. That might have felt slightly below par a few hours ago. But the manner of Pakistan's reply rendered any such notions comically redundant.
4th ODI
Pakistan 262/8 (50 ov)
New Zealand 263/5 (45.5/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 25 balls remaining)
It was a contest between the sophistication of Pakistan's bowling attack and the raw power of two New Zealand batsmen named Colin. But as with all other games on this tour, it was the home side who emerged victorious, chasing down 263 with five wickets and four overs to spare.
Colin Munro wreaked havoc at the top of the order, while Colin de Grandhomme outdid him towards the end, bludgeoning Pakistan into submission with 74 of 40 balls, just when it looked like they may finally get off the mark this series. Pakistan may take heart from the fact that this was, by some distance, the most competitive game thus far. Equally, however, they will be disappointed not to emerge with a win, having reduced New Zealand to 154 for 5, with just the lower order to bowl at.
New Zealand began the chase in typically brash fashion. Munro attacked the opening bowlers, particularly Hasan Ali, the decision to open the bowling with him backfiring. He was often a touch too short and Munro was excellent punching off the back foot. An example of his front foot play was the six he struck off Mohammad Amir; the ball disappeared over cover.
After leaking 86 runs in 13 overs, Pakistan finally turned to Shadab Khan and things started happening. He deceived Munro in the flight in his first over, and the left-hander was caught at deep midwicket. A googly took care of Martin Guptill, and for the first time, Zealand began to look a little unsure. Rumman Raees exploited that superbly when he trapped Ross Taylor, playing his 200th ODI today, lbw for 1. Tom Latham was caught at slip off Shadab, a victim of extra bounce, and New Zealand were reeling from the loss of four wickets for 11 runs.
The only one thinking clearly in the mayhem was the unflappable Williamson, who set about restoring the innings with Henry Nicholls. The pair bided their time, rotating the strike when they could, and quietly built up a 55-run partnership.
But Haris Sohail struck just as New Zealand crossed 150, snaring Williamson in the most unexpected fashion. Having looked comfortable all innings, a sudden rush of blood prompted him to launch the left-arm spinner into the air. It was agonisingly close to being a six, but Raees positioned himself inches from the boundary, leaned back with both hands over his head and took one of the coolest catches. At the time, it looked the decisive moment.
But out came de Grandhomme, playing his first match since returning from Zimbabwe following the death of his father. Any notions of rust were brushed aside as they took the sledgehammer to a Pakistan attack that had looked impregnable for the previous hour. Haris was the first to feel the allrounder's might, consecutive sixes setting the stage for the astonishing assault that was incoming.
De Grandhomme lifted Amir majestically over midwicket to clear the rope, then Shadab was dispatched over extra cover with an even classier shot. This was no feat of pinch-hitting, it was an extraordinary display of power combined with technique that belied his batting position, reputation and match fitness as he took New Zealand towards their target in delightfully uncomplicated fashion.
Pakistan were shellshocked; there simply wasn't a response coming from them. The errors in the field mounted and the shoulders began to sag. Henry Nicholls brought up an understated but fully-deserved half-century to level the scores, and just like that, Pakistan found themselves 4-0 down.
They might now think back to those familiar problems at the top, which showed no signs of abating on Tuesday. It took fifties from Fakhar Zaman and Haris Sohail, and a late onslaught to spare their blushes. From 130 for 5, a 98-run partnership between Mohammad Hafeez and captain Sarfraz Ahmed prevented their innings from falling apart in the middle overs as they finished with 262. New Zealand put in a disciplined bowling performance and the pick of their bowlers was, surprisingly, Williamson himself, taking two wickets in his 10 overs.
The allrounder Faheem Ashraf, who was sent in to open the batting, fell in the third over, and Babar Azam followed suit. That, though, was when Pakistan's resistance began. Haris - who looked so good one wondered why he wasn't playing the previous three ODIs - and Zaman took the attack to the bowlers. They rode their luck somewhat; Fakhar was dropped early and a top edge carried for six, but the pair applied themselves well, bringing up the fifty partnership in 47 balls.
Santner broke through with a carrom ball Zaman failed to read, and with that partnership ending, normal service seemed to resume. Haris had played beautifully to reach a half-century in his first ODI in three years, but threw it away next ball, driving Williamson straight into deep extra cover's hands.
At 130 for 5, it looked bleak for Pakistan again, but for the second time in the innings, the batsmen dug in. Sarfraz and Hafeez went about rebuilding the innings once more, pacing their fightback quite well, but the pitch began to slow down towards the end, making it difficult to hit the ball cleanly.
New Zealand used seven bowlers during their innings, which meant they had plenty of overs left from their frontline seamers. Trent Boult wasn't quite on the money, and Pakistan cashed in on that, Hafeez picking him up beautifully and, on four occasions, sending him into the stands. Pakistan scored 62 runs in the last five overs - and 22 off Boult's final over - as Hafeez finished with a vital 81 off 80 balls.
It might have been the decisive knock of the game, had de Grandhomme not had other ideas.
5th ODI
New Zealand 271/7 (50 ov)
Pakistan 256 (49/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 15 runs
At five matches, this ODI series may have seemed excessively lengthy, but only because it appeared to have been one interminable match stretched out over a fortnight. It didn't need five games for anyone to find out that Pakistan have serious trouble facing the new ball in conditions that New Zealand offers. But the home side hammered that point home ad nauseam, sealing it with a 15-run win that was more comprehensive than the scorecard suggests, and delivering just their second whitewash in a five-match series.
The chase, as on every other occasion, was effectively over before it began. Matt Henry, coming in for the rested Trent Boult, made full use of his opportunity, taking three wickets in his first four overs. Fakhar Zaman was harassed, hit on the helmet, dropped and finally caught at extra cover. With no movement on offer, Henry bowled a steady off stump line, cleverly waiting for Pakistan's batsmen to make their own mistakes. Ever the gentlemen, they didn't keep him waiting long. Umar Amin and Babar Azam edged behind and Pakistan were reduced to 31 for 3. Azam may still average over 50, but his dismissal on Friday was an act of mercy, releasing him from a series in which he scored 31 runs at 6.20.
Three wickets soon became five, thanks to a pair of sharp catches in the infield, and it was left to Haris Sohail and Shadab Khan to do the face-saving again. They showed the fight they have demonstrated whenever given the chance, putting on a century-partnership without ever really threatening a result. That wasn't their fault - it merely illustrated the extent to which the top order has let the visitors down all series.
Both fell after scoring half-centuries, looking to pick up the scoring rate to meet an ever-rising asking rate. Mohammad Nawaz and Aamer Yamin put on an entertaining little partnership that briefly called the result into question, riding their luck as Pakistan took the game to the penultimate over. However, New Zealand had just enough runs, and had inflicted just enough damage at the top of the innings, to ensure their winning streak - now eight ODIs - remained intact.
Earlier, a 112-run partnership between Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor guided New Zealand through the middle overs and steered them to 271 on a tricky surface. Guptill scored a hundred - the 13th of his ODI career - while Taylor recorded his 58th 50-plus score, surpassing the record for a New Zealand batsman. Run-scoring through the middle overs was harder work than it had seemed in the first ODI at the Basin Reserve, but that could at least partially be put down to a solid bowling performance by Pakistan, complemented by their best day in the field this series. A late implosion from New Zealand, combined by fabulous end-overs bowling, meant the innings fell away after flattering to deceive for most of the first 40 overs.
For a series involving Pakistan, it was surprisingly predictable in some respects. To nobody's surprise, New Zealand, batting first, set about taking advantage of the opening Powerplay. As usual, it was Colin Munro doing the early damage, complemented by the occasional destructively elegant shot from Guptill - a straight six off Rumman Raees the pick of the bunch. Yamin bore the brunt of the aggression but neither opening bowler was spared the heat as New Zealand brought up fifty inside six overs. Munro perished as he had thrived, top-edging Raees while looking to slog across the line, but the platform had been set. Kane Williamson and Guptill built on it, the early onslaught giving them the space and time to construct the partnership at their own pace. Pakistan began to come back into the contest, too, with Shadab and Nawaz bowling tight lines to choke the batsmen.
It might have accounted for the second wicket. With the partnership on 49, the New Zealand captain lifted Yamin into the leg side, looking to clear deep midwicket. Amin took the catch to dismiss Williamson in the strangest of ways. Pakistan took control through the middle overs, the bowlers varying their pace and length adeptly as Taylor and Guptill struggled for timing. The ground fielding improved too, as New Zealand were starved of the singles they usually take for granted, and the run rate dipped below five at the 30-over mark. However, what Pakistan didn't manage was more wickets, and with the duo getting their eye in, New Zealand were gearing up for a big finish.
It didn't quite materialise that way as they fell within a few overs of each other. Colin de Grandhomme couldn't get going with the fluency with which he had devastated Pakistan in Hamilton. Other wickets fell as Pakistan began to strangle the New Zealand middle and lower order; Henry Nicholls was caught in the deep trying to get Raees away, while Faheem Ashraf got rid of Tom Latham as he attempted a scoop. The innings turned sloppy - Mitchell Santner was run out off the first ball he faced, and a total that had looked to push past 300 fizzled out.
As it turned out, though, the ineptitude of Pakistan's top order ensured they wouldn't have to pay for their profligacy.
New Zealand 315/7
Pakistan 166/6
New Zealand win by 61 runs (D/L method)
A masterful hundred from Kane Williamson and world-class new ball bowling by Tim Southee and Trent Boult saw New Zealand get off to a winning start against Pakistan. They secured a 61-run win on the basis of the DLS method, though in truth, had the match not been cut short by rain, the margin of victory would have been even more decisive.
Any hopes Pakistan might have had of making a fist of a daunting chase were dashed in the first over. Tim Southee trapped Azhar Ali and Babar Azam off successive deliveries to reduce the visitors to 7 for 2. Replays showed that Babar's dismissal would have been overturned on review, but Azhar had unwisely used up the referral when he was dismissed. That one was plumb, which meant, five balls into the chase, Pakistan had lost arguably their two best batsmen and their only review.
Boult was looking sharp from the other end, the only bowler from either side who got the ball to move. He got rid of Mohammad Hafeez with a well-targeted bouncer that the batsman unconvincingly fended away to fine leg. He couldn't have picked out Southee any better if he had walked over and placed the ball in his grateful hands.
New Zealand were surging, and Southee removed Shoaib Malik soon after, before Astle trapped Sarfraz Ahmed lbw as he clumsily tried to sweep. Pakistan were 54 for five, the Champions Trophy winners looking no better than the West Indies side the hosts had hammered over the past few weeks.
Sent in to bat, New Zealand had gotten off to an excellent start, the opening partnership producing 83 as Colin Munro continued his fine form with a 35-ball 58. The scoring rate slowed slightly after his dismissal, but none of Pakistan's bowlers looked particularly incisive as Williamson and Martin Guptill took control of the middle overs. They were masterful at judging Pakistan's levels, quick to capitalise when they dropped even slightly.
On 26, Sarfraz dropped Williamson, a diving chance to his right when he edged Faheem Ashraf behind. The reprieve came at a time when New Zealand were slowly setting themselves up for a total over 300. It left Sarfraz rather red-faced; the Pakistan captain had just given one of his fielders an earful for sloppiness.
But as Guptill began to loosen his arms, Pakistan found a breakthrough in the unlikely form of Fakhar Zaman snaring his first international wicket. Hasan Ali returned to nip a budding partnership between Williamson and Ross Taylor, knocking over the latter's off stump before it got out of hand. Latham lobbed Faheem - who was impressive on a quick pitch - next over, as Pakistan finally began to dominate a passage of play.
However, any thoughts of derailing New Zealand were firmly put to rest by a superb counter-attacking partnership between Williamson and Henry Nicholls. As Williamson approached his hundred, it was Nicholls who took control, manipulating the fielders with clever shotmaking, using both the reverse sweep and scoop to good measure. The running between the wickets, too, was sharp, as Pakistan's tardiness in the field began to show.
Pakistan may be able to get satisfaction from their death bowling, which never really allowed New Zealand to tee off in the final overs. Rumman Raees, expensive in his first spell, returned and bowled far better, confounding the batsmen with changes of pace and other variations, while Mohammad Amir - though not at his best - is not the sort of bowler who goes for big runs often. The last five overs went for 38 runs as Pakistan managed to keep the total from getting too far out of hand.
The only Pakistan player who could emerge from the game with any credit was Fakhar, who had spent the first hour of the chase watching his partners come and go. He tried to take the attack to the bowlers, using his feet to the spin, striking sixes off consecutive Mitchell Santner deliveries and bringing up his 50 in 63 balls. Shadab Khan gave the opener capable support in the face of hostile fast bowling from Lockie Ferguson, who sent the speed gun north of 150 on several occasions. With the intensity from the hosts having dropped slightly, Fakhar and Shadab continued to battle on, putting on 78 before Boult returned to remove Shadab.
Fakhar continued to go for his shots, hurtling towards what could have been a gutsy hundred. Faheem Ashraf was good for a few lusty blows too, but the rain began to get heavier. New Zealand were streets ahead on DLS, the early wickets ensuring they kicked off the tour with a convincing win.
2nd ODI
Pakistan 246/9 (50 ov)
New Zealand 151/2 (23.5/25 ov, target: 151)
New Zealand won by 8 wickets (with 7 balls remaining) (D/L method)
For the second time this series, rain intervened before the match was finished with New Zealand in front. This time, it subsided early enough for further play to be possible, and for Martin Guptill to storm back to form. An explosive innings from the opener - who scored 86 off 71 balls - ensured New Zealand carried a 2-0 lead into into the third ODI at Dunedin with an eight-wicket win.
After a two-hour delay, New Zealand's target was revised from 247 to 151 in 25 overs, with a further 87 required in 11 overs after the resumption. Guptill made it look supremely straightforward, smashing Hasan Ali for consecutive sixes in his first over back. The sixes were hit at will for Guptill - five of them in total - while Ross Taylor provided suitable support. Pakistan fell apart spectacularly in the field, and New Zealand completed the chase with seven balls to spare.
Before the interruption, New Zealand spent much of the game enjoying the upper hand, and barring the salvo of a 49-ball 70 run partnership between Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan, Pakistan couldn't quite lay claim on any passage of play.
Sarfraz Ahmed might have made a different decision at the toss, but that didn't change how the innings panned out. Pakistan, batting first, turned in another limp batting performance. All five regular bowlers chipped in with wickets, and it was left to Pakistan's lower order to respond with a magnificent rearguard action as half-centuries from Hasan and Shadab took Pakistan - once tottering at 141 for 7 - to a more presentable 246.
The surface in Nelson looked dry, and even Kane Williamson admitted he would have much preferred to bat first, but his opening bowlers didn't leave him wistful for too long. Tim Southee and Trent Boult were at the openers straightaway, Azhar Ali and Imam-ul-Haq - in for the injured Fakhar Zaman - struggling against generous early swing. At the same time, Boult was dangerous with the short ball, with Azhar survived a caught behind after a review showed it was in fact his helmet that had grazed the ball on the way through to the keeper.
Boult wasn't to be denied in his next over, though. It was the short ball that brought the breakthrough, as Imam was unable to get on top of the bounce, and the pull shot went straight to Colin Munro at square leg.
Azhar followed him in the next over. Tim Southee got the wicket in almost identical fashion to the first ODI, Azhar falling over to off stump and missing a straight one that thudded into his pads.
Babar Azam played a loose shot unbecoming of the reputation and class to leave Pakistan wobbling at 39 for 3, and it was up to old hands Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez to regroup. A 45-run partnership provided some hope of a Pakistan revival, as the pair began to rotate the strike regularly and use their feet to the spinners. But just as the momentum was shifting, Malik danced down the wicket and hit one straight to long-on.
Sarfraz and Hafeez were Pakistan's last recognised batsmen, but both fell to indifferent shots. Sarfraz's was shocking, coming down the wicket to a short ball from Todd Astle and getting himself stumped. A few overs later, Hafeez, after compiling 60 classy runs, charged Mitchell Santner in similarly unseemly fashion, only succeeding in chipping to short cover.
The innings looked to be petering out well under 200, and it took a whirlwind partnership between Shadab and No. 9 Hasan to restore some competitiveness to the contest. Hasan took charge in their stand, striking four boundaries and four sixes, beginning his assault with successive sixes off Mitchell Santner. Ferguson struck him with a vicious bouncer around the neck, but he wasn't dissuaded, taking the attack to the quicks as well as New Zealand lost their discipline. Astle went for 21 runs in an over, while Boult bowled two full tosses around waist height - only one of which was called - as the runs began to flow freely.
Southee was smashed for 12 in three balls to bring up a 30-ball fifty, but the bowler dismissed Hasan off the next ball. Shadab continued to attack, as Pakistan took 13 off Southee's final over. Boult wasn't spared either as a gorgeous cover drive off the left-armer brought up Shadab's half-century.
New Zealand started their chase shakily, Mohammad Amir - looking near his fearsome best - forcing a false shot from Munro to send him back for a duck. Williamson and Guptill restored some order, before a superb diving catch at point from Shadab left New Zealand at 47 for 2.
Pakistan may have felt they were right back in the game, before the rain break. By the time the rain subsided, Guptill appeared to be a different batsman, one against whom a lackadaisical Pakistan stood no chance.
3rd ODI
New Zealand 257
Pakistan 74
New Zealand win by 183 runs
They might be the current Champions Trophy holders, but over the last two years, Pakistan have conceded the highest score in the format's history - 444 at Edgbaston. Today, in Dunedin, they came perilously close to posting the lowest ODI score; it was very much on the cards when they reeled at 32 for 8. In a batting performance so listless that even New Zealand appeared to be embarrassed by the ease with which Pakistan's innings crumbled, the home side rubberstamped their superiority by bowling Pakistan out for 74, winning by a mammoth 183 runs.
Any semblance of a contest was blown to pieces by a sensational opening spell from Trent Boult, who made a mockery of the notion that it was a slow pitch on which bounce was difficult to extract. Azhar Ali was the first to fall. Granted a life two balls earlier, when Santner dropped one at cover, Azhar poked at one outside the off stump and gave first slip a straightforward grab.
Trent Boult's early strikes set the template for Pakistan's listless collapse Getty Images
Fakhar Zaman had been trying to cut Boult for much of an innings that was destined to be ephemeral. He eventually dragged on. With Hafeez then edging a catch to Ross Taylor at first slip, the contest was over, but the potential for humiliation had only just begun.
The records began to tumble; only on three other occasions since 2006 had a side made less than ten runs in the first Powerplay (Pakistan made 9 for 3 today); only once before had Pakistan lost six wickets for fewer than the 16 they managed today.
Suddenly, the lowest-ever ODI total - 35 - began to be threatened, as batsmen came - each appearing as clueless, as amateur as the last - and met the same fate.
Pakistan's ineptitude could spawn much cricketing literature, but New Zealand's magnificence is far worthier of attention. After Boult and Southee's brilliance, the change-up bowlers backed them up, their foot never leaving Pakistan's throat. There was excellent fielding to run out Babar Azam, whose bat got stuck in the pitch as he attempted to drag it over - an appropriate metaphor for the rut Pakistan have found themselves in since reaching New Zealand shores.
The captain Kane Williamson, whose "ugly" innings of 73 began to look prettier by the minute, also took a splendid catch, diving to his right to hold on with one hand. Sarfraz, who was forlornly going down with his ship, remained till the bitter end, watching as his partners came and went. Mohammad Amir flashed at a few deliveries, but the defeat was too chastening for any Pakistan fan to draw entertainment out of it.
The contest ended in the only way that was appropriate, Boult returning to clean up Hasan Ali with an excellent yorker to complete his five-wicket haul. It put Pakistan out of their misery, and gave New Zealand the series with two games remaining.
At the start of the game, the pitch had played far slower than most expected. In scrappy, turgid conditions for batting, New Zealand's batsmen showed patience and temperament, stringing together several excellent partnerships to put up 257.
Colin Munro and Martin Guptill began like they usually do, each striking a six within the first eight balls. But it soon became evident that that strategy wouldn't be sustainable.
Munro fell in the second over, having misjudged the pace and bounce of a delivery, lobbing it straight up to Sarfraz.
That brought Williamson and Guptill together, and the run rate came steadily down. It was a difficult surface to get one's eye in, and the two batsmen rotated the strike instead of taking risks, aware of the importance of kicking on from a start. Williamson occasionally used his feet to the fast bowlers - with some success - but timing proved elusive for both batsmen, and the innings was becoming a grind.
When Taylor came in after Guptill's run out, he found it far easier to settle in. He was able to manoeuvre the gaps more effectively than any other batsman, two early boundaries through the covers off Shadab Khan setting the tone of the partnership.
Given the nature of the surface, Pakistan unsurprisingly turned to Shoaib Malik to get through some overs. While he didn't bowl poorly, it meant Pakistan were somewhat anodyne through the middle overs, not looking for wickets as much as they might have done. Williamson survived an lbw shout that was overturned after review, but besides that, New Zealand picked up the scoring rate, with the captain looking much more assured after passing a gritty half-century.
Pakistan were beginning to look desperate for a wicket, and it arrived two balls after the drinks break. Williamson came down the wicket in an attempt to clear mid-off against Raees' bowling, but didn't quite find the timing, and Hafeez held on to peg New Zealand back.
Taylor and Tom Latham built another intelligent partnership, but two in two balls from Shadab triggered a New Zealand collapse that restricted their final total. Taylor was the first to go, uncharacteristically missing a straight, short one from Shadab, and Nicholls was dismissed off a golden duck thanks to a stunning catch by Shadab - not for the first time this series.
From that point on, Pakistan's fast bowlers smelled blood. No one from the lower order was allowed to settle, and a clever mix of length and pace kept the batsmen regularly off-balance. Santner, Astle and Southee could make no real impression, and only a final over rearguard from Boult took his side past 250. That might have felt slightly below par a few hours ago. But the manner of Pakistan's reply rendered any such notions comically redundant.
4th ODI
Pakistan 262/8 (50 ov)
New Zealand 263/5 (45.5/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 5 wickets (with 25 balls remaining)
It was a contest between the sophistication of Pakistan's bowling attack and the raw power of two New Zealand batsmen named Colin. But as with all other games on this tour, it was the home side who emerged victorious, chasing down 263 with five wickets and four overs to spare.
Colin Munro wreaked havoc at the top of the order, while Colin de Grandhomme outdid him towards the end, bludgeoning Pakistan into submission with 74 of 40 balls, just when it looked like they may finally get off the mark this series. Pakistan may take heart from the fact that this was, by some distance, the most competitive game thus far. Equally, however, they will be disappointed not to emerge with a win, having reduced New Zealand to 154 for 5, with just the lower order to bowl at.
New Zealand began the chase in typically brash fashion. Munro attacked the opening bowlers, particularly Hasan Ali, the decision to open the bowling with him backfiring. He was often a touch too short and Munro was excellent punching off the back foot. An example of his front foot play was the six he struck off Mohammad Amir; the ball disappeared over cover.
After leaking 86 runs in 13 overs, Pakistan finally turned to Shadab Khan and things started happening. He deceived Munro in the flight in his first over, and the left-hander was caught at deep midwicket. A googly took care of Martin Guptill, and for the first time, Zealand began to look a little unsure. Rumman Raees exploited that superbly when he trapped Ross Taylor, playing his 200th ODI today, lbw for 1. Tom Latham was caught at slip off Shadab, a victim of extra bounce, and New Zealand were reeling from the loss of four wickets for 11 runs.
The only one thinking clearly in the mayhem was the unflappable Williamson, who set about restoring the innings with Henry Nicholls. The pair bided their time, rotating the strike when they could, and quietly built up a 55-run partnership.
But Haris Sohail struck just as New Zealand crossed 150, snaring Williamson in the most unexpected fashion. Having looked comfortable all innings, a sudden rush of blood prompted him to launch the left-arm spinner into the air. It was agonisingly close to being a six, but Raees positioned himself inches from the boundary, leaned back with both hands over his head and took one of the coolest catches. At the time, it looked the decisive moment.
But out came de Grandhomme, playing his first match since returning from Zimbabwe following the death of his father. Any notions of rust were brushed aside as they took the sledgehammer to a Pakistan attack that had looked impregnable for the previous hour. Haris was the first to feel the allrounder's might, consecutive sixes setting the stage for the astonishing assault that was incoming.
De Grandhomme lifted Amir majestically over midwicket to clear the rope, then Shadab was dispatched over extra cover with an even classier shot. This was no feat of pinch-hitting, it was an extraordinary display of power combined with technique that belied his batting position, reputation and match fitness as he took New Zealand towards their target in delightfully uncomplicated fashion.
Pakistan were shellshocked; there simply wasn't a response coming from them. The errors in the field mounted and the shoulders began to sag. Henry Nicholls brought up an understated but fully-deserved half-century to level the scores, and just like that, Pakistan found themselves 4-0 down.
They might now think back to those familiar problems at the top, which showed no signs of abating on Tuesday. It took fifties from Fakhar Zaman and Haris Sohail, and a late onslaught to spare their blushes. From 130 for 5, a 98-run partnership between Mohammad Hafeez and captain Sarfraz Ahmed prevented their innings from falling apart in the middle overs as they finished with 262. New Zealand put in a disciplined bowling performance and the pick of their bowlers was, surprisingly, Williamson himself, taking two wickets in his 10 overs.
The allrounder Faheem Ashraf, who was sent in to open the batting, fell in the third over, and Babar Azam followed suit. That, though, was when Pakistan's resistance began. Haris - who looked so good one wondered why he wasn't playing the previous three ODIs - and Zaman took the attack to the bowlers. They rode their luck somewhat; Fakhar was dropped early and a top edge carried for six, but the pair applied themselves well, bringing up the fifty partnership in 47 balls.
Santner broke through with a carrom ball Zaman failed to read, and with that partnership ending, normal service seemed to resume. Haris had played beautifully to reach a half-century in his first ODI in three years, but threw it away next ball, driving Williamson straight into deep extra cover's hands.
At 130 for 5, it looked bleak for Pakistan again, but for the second time in the innings, the batsmen dug in. Sarfraz and Hafeez went about rebuilding the innings once more, pacing their fightback quite well, but the pitch began to slow down towards the end, making it difficult to hit the ball cleanly.
New Zealand used seven bowlers during their innings, which meant they had plenty of overs left from their frontline seamers. Trent Boult wasn't quite on the money, and Pakistan cashed in on that, Hafeez picking him up beautifully and, on four occasions, sending him into the stands. Pakistan scored 62 runs in the last five overs - and 22 off Boult's final over - as Hafeez finished with a vital 81 off 80 balls.
It might have been the decisive knock of the game, had de Grandhomme not had other ideas.
5th ODI
New Zealand 271/7 (50 ov)
Pakistan 256 (49/50 ov)
New Zealand won by 15 runs
At five matches, this ODI series may have seemed excessively lengthy, but only because it appeared to have been one interminable match stretched out over a fortnight. It didn't need five games for anyone to find out that Pakistan have serious trouble facing the new ball in conditions that New Zealand offers. But the home side hammered that point home ad nauseam, sealing it with a 15-run win that was more comprehensive than the scorecard suggests, and delivering just their second whitewash in a five-match series.
The chase, as on every other occasion, was effectively over before it began. Matt Henry, coming in for the rested Trent Boult, made full use of his opportunity, taking three wickets in his first four overs. Fakhar Zaman was harassed, hit on the helmet, dropped and finally caught at extra cover. With no movement on offer, Henry bowled a steady off stump line, cleverly waiting for Pakistan's batsmen to make their own mistakes. Ever the gentlemen, they didn't keep him waiting long. Umar Amin and Babar Azam edged behind and Pakistan were reduced to 31 for 3. Azam may still average over 50, but his dismissal on Friday was an act of mercy, releasing him from a series in which he scored 31 runs at 6.20.
Three wickets soon became five, thanks to a pair of sharp catches in the infield, and it was left to Haris Sohail and Shadab Khan to do the face-saving again. They showed the fight they have demonstrated whenever given the chance, putting on a century-partnership without ever really threatening a result. That wasn't their fault - it merely illustrated the extent to which the top order has let the visitors down all series.
Both fell after scoring half-centuries, looking to pick up the scoring rate to meet an ever-rising asking rate. Mohammad Nawaz and Aamer Yamin put on an entertaining little partnership that briefly called the result into question, riding their luck as Pakistan took the game to the penultimate over. However, New Zealand had just enough runs, and had inflicted just enough damage at the top of the innings, to ensure their winning streak - now eight ODIs - remained intact.
Earlier, a 112-run partnership between Martin Guptill and Ross Taylor guided New Zealand through the middle overs and steered them to 271 on a tricky surface. Guptill scored a hundred - the 13th of his ODI career - while Taylor recorded his 58th 50-plus score, surpassing the record for a New Zealand batsman. Run-scoring through the middle overs was harder work than it had seemed in the first ODI at the Basin Reserve, but that could at least partially be put down to a solid bowling performance by Pakistan, complemented by their best day in the field this series. A late implosion from New Zealand, combined by fabulous end-overs bowling, meant the innings fell away after flattering to deceive for most of the first 40 overs.
For a series involving Pakistan, it was surprisingly predictable in some respects. To nobody's surprise, New Zealand, batting first, set about taking advantage of the opening Powerplay. As usual, it was Colin Munro doing the early damage, complemented by the occasional destructively elegant shot from Guptill - a straight six off Rumman Raees the pick of the bunch. Yamin bore the brunt of the aggression but neither opening bowler was spared the heat as New Zealand brought up fifty inside six overs. Munro perished as he had thrived, top-edging Raees while looking to slog across the line, but the platform had been set. Kane Williamson and Guptill built on it, the early onslaught giving them the space and time to construct the partnership at their own pace. Pakistan began to come back into the contest, too, with Shadab and Nawaz bowling tight lines to choke the batsmen.
It might have accounted for the second wicket. With the partnership on 49, the New Zealand captain lifted Yamin into the leg side, looking to clear deep midwicket. Amin took the catch to dismiss Williamson in the strangest of ways. Pakistan took control through the middle overs, the bowlers varying their pace and length adeptly as Taylor and Guptill struggled for timing. The ground fielding improved too, as New Zealand were starved of the singles they usually take for granted, and the run rate dipped below five at the 30-over mark. However, what Pakistan didn't manage was more wickets, and with the duo getting their eye in, New Zealand were gearing up for a big finish.
It didn't quite materialise that way as they fell within a few overs of each other. Colin de Grandhomme couldn't get going with the fluency with which he had devastated Pakistan in Hamilton. Other wickets fell as Pakistan began to strangle the New Zealand middle and lower order; Henry Nicholls was caught in the deep trying to get Raees away, while Faheem Ashraf got rid of Tom Latham as he attempted a scoop. The innings turned sloppy - Mitchell Santner was run out off the first ball he faced, and a total that had looked to push past 300 fizzled out.
As it turned out, though, the ineptitude of Pakistan's top order ensured they wouldn't have to pay for their profligacy.
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