1st Test
Day 1 (NZ 409/8)
The two batsmen who struggled most during New Zealand's recent tour of Australia rediscovered their form on the first day of the home summer in Dunedin: Martin Guptill made his third Test hundred, his first in 40 innings since November 2011, and then Brendon McCullum raced to a bruising half-century.
The bridge between those innings was Kane Williamson, who made his 88 look effortless against wayward bowling. Guptill added 173 runs for the second wicket with Williamson, to build on his half-century opening stand with Tom Latham, and then he watched McCullum blitz 75 off 57 balls in a partnership of 89 for the fourth wicket. New Zealand's run rate of 4.54 ensured they held the edge at stumps, though Sri Lanka took six wickets after tea to significantly redress the imbalance.
Angelo Mathews had chosen to bowl on a sunny morning at University Oval, to give his seamers first use of any assistance in the pitch, and perhaps to protect his inexperienced batsmen from the potent swing of Tim Southee and Trent Boult, the leaders of New Zealand's four-pronged pace attack in this Test. Having lost Dhammika Prasad to an injury and Kusal Perera to a banned substance, Sri Lanka had three raw batsmen in their XI - opener Udara Jayasundera was making a debut, 20-year old batsman Kusal Mendis was playing his second Test, and allrounder Milinda Siriwardana his third.
In their futile search for seam and swing, the new-ball bowlers pitched too full, and after a maiden over to begin from Suranga Lakmal, there were a flurry of straight drives, both openers using the vertical bat to guard against any lateral movement. Guptill was strong off the pads too, flicking through square leg for boundaries, and New Zealand racked up 51 in the first hour. Latham fell soon after - caught and bowled on the second attempt by Lakmal - but that made barely a dent in the home team's progress.
Williamson's first ball was on the pads from Nuwan Pradeep and he glanced for four, before pouncing on width offered by Lakmal to punch and cut either side of point. He had three fours in his first 15 deliveries. He punished width from Mathews and Dushmantha Chameera too, cutting with confidence to collect three more fours in his next 15 balls. When the delivery demanded it though, Williamson left outside off and was solid in defence.
Guptill also attacked Chameera when the 23-year old quick offered width, slapping a short one through point and flaying a fuller one through cover in the same over. He got to his half-century off 74 balls. New Zealand went to lunch on 114 for 1 in 27 overs, and the pace did not abate after the break. They scored 61 in the next hour. Mathews brought on his experienced fast bowlers again but Lakmal and Pradeep were loose. The pitch had a tinge of green on it but offered no lateral movement. Guptill passed 2000 Test runs in his 38th match - the sixth slowest for New Zealand - with a cut off Pradeep, and Williamson steered him between two gullies twice to get to his half-century off 53 balls.
When Mathews turned to spin, Guptill stepped out and lofted Rangana Herath to the long-on boundary to not let him settle, and later slapped two short and wide offerings fiercely through cover. The only uncertain moments Guptill faced were during a brief surge of pace from Chameera, when he survived two lbw appeals in the 39th over. The second not-out decision would have been overturned had Mathews chosen to use the DRS. Guptill shrugged that off and was soon celebrating a hundred off 147 balls.
Williamson was also purring towards a hundred before he fell in the last over before tea, edging a short and wide ball from Pradeep to slip, entirely against the run of play. Sri Lanka had their foot in the door when Ross Taylor was lbw cheaply to Pradeep after tea, but McCullum slammed the door on it.
Playing his 98th consecutive Test since his debut - a record he shares with AB de Villiers - McCullum scored three off his first 11 balls before treating the small crowd to unrestrained use of his scything blade. No matter who bowled at him, McCullum attacked: he slashed, charged, slogged, hooked, upper-cut and drove to a half-century off 39 balls. Often the boundaries came in clusters of two and three, and Sri Lanka were in danger on conceding close to 500.
McCullum fell top-edging a slog off the spinner Siriwardana, and his dismissal led to a spate of wickets. Chameera struck in his last over with the old ball and in his first with the new: bowling above 140kph, he drew edges from Mitchell Santner and BJ Watling during a spell that was more hostile that any of his previous ones.
Guptill did not survive the day either, edging a Mathews delivery that seamed away, but New Zealand had Doug Bracewell, who had batted impressively in the day-night Test in Adelaide, counterattacking once again. His unbeaten 32 off 39 balls took New Zealand past 400, a total their seamers will be thrilled with on a surface that was beginning to exhibit more bounce late in the day.
Day 2
New Zealand 431
Sri Lanka 197/4 (81 ov)
Sri Lanka trail by 234 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
Where runs had flowed and wickets tumbled as a result of New Zealand's assertive batting approach on the first day, the cricket was played at a slower pace on the second at University Oval, but was no less intense. The change in tempo was brought about by a battle of patience between New Zealand's attack, which moved the ball in both directions from accurate lines and lengths, and two Sri Lankan top-order batsmen determined to cut out risk. At stumps, Brendom McCullum's team had edged ahead on the day, consolidating their advantage in the match.
Sri Lanka lost Kusal Mendis, playing his second Test, and the debutant Udara Jayasundera early to inexperience in alien conditions, but their relatively older hands Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal - both playing their 24th Tests - had kept New Zealand wicketless in the second session. Their partnership spanned 48.5 overs but produced only 122 runs, because for large swathes of time they were given extremely few hittable balls. Sri Lanka had only 17 fours in the day - New Zealand had that many in their first 23 overs - and though Chandimal finished unbeaten on 83, the fall of Karunaratne and Angelo Mathews in the final session left the lower order with a lot to do.
That Karunaratne got as far as 84 was because of a little luck and a lot of skill in the morning. In the first over of the innings, he left his bat raised while ducking a bouncer from Trent Boult, the ball pinging off the periscope over the wicketkeeper's head. In the third, he edged consecutive outswingers but crucially played with soft hands so the catches did not carry to first slip.
Mendis, however, did not use soft hands and a delivery from Boult slanted away from the right-hander and took the edge through to BJ Watling, who collected his 100th dismissal and the first of four catches in the innings.
Tim Southee tested Karunaratne with two consecutive yorkers that hooped into the left-hander and homed in on his boot. Karunaratne inside-edged the first on to his pad, and blocked out the second confidently. Jayasundera also got a similar delivery as his first ball in Test cricket and survived.
Jayasundera scored his first run by tucking Boult off his pads, but did not make another. He had watched Karunaratne slash a wide ball from Neil Wagner over the slips for four, but when he reached out to cut, he only managed a toe end to Watling. Boult's first spell read 6-2-16-1 and Southee's 5-1-6-0. That pressure was maintained by Doug Bracewell, who conceded only five runs in four overs before lunch.
The scoring stayed slow after the break, the difference being the growing assuredness of Sri Lanka's batsmen. Runs came via compact punches, dabs and crisp flicks off the pads - nothing extravagant. Karunaratne played the pull confidently, getting on top of the bounce and rolling his wrists to keep the ball down. With the ball not doing much for the seamers, McCullum brought on Mitchell Santner in the 30th over and the left-arm spinner was economical as well, conceding only 12 runs in his first ten overs. Sri Lanka made only 24 runs in the first hour after lunch.
After 80 deliveries of restraint, Chandimal attacked, charging Santner and aiming a heave down the ground. The outside edge flew over slip. Two balls later he cut Santner for his first boundary. Karunaratne began to score more freely towards tea, thumping consecutive half-volleys from Wagner to the long-on and straight boundaries, and glancing a rare poor ball from Bracewell off his pads as well. The slight loosening of New Zealand's purse strings was reward for diligent batting.
Wagner was the weak link in the New Zealand attack, and in the first hour of the final session his economy was touching five an over while the innings run rate was around two. He bowled too full and was driven often by Karunaratne and Chandimal through the off side and down the ground. With his seamers ineffective despite the ball showing a tendency to reverse - Boult's pace was down between 125-130kph - McCullum gave it to Santner.
The wicket came against the run of play, when Karunaratne went back to cut a rather cut-able ball but edged it to Watling. Sri Lanka were still trailing by 280 but their captain took only two runs off that deficit: Angelo Mathews was caught down the leg side off Southee, the not-out decision on the field overturned by the faintest of Hot-Spots.
Chandimal had got to his 50 off 143 deliveries with three boundaries, but he was less conservative in the final session, striking six more fours after raising his half-century. For company, he had the last specialist batsman Kithuruwan Vithanage, whose hard but airborne drive had been put down by Kane Williamson at short cover.
Sri Lanka were 234 runs behind with six wickets in hand at the end of the day, and they will have to face the danger of a ball that is only an over old on the third morning.
Day 3
New Zealand 431 & 171/1
Sri Lanka 294
New Zealand lead by 308 runs with 9 wickets remaining
In stark contrast to the previous two days in Dunedin, the third was overcast, cold and windy - conditions that were as familiar to New Zealand as they were foreign to Sri Lanka. The visitors struggled to cope: their batsmen succumbed to the moving ball, their bowlers toiled in the strong breeze, and their fielders put down catches in the chilly weather. The upshot was an ever-widening distance between the two teams, exemplified by New Zealand's 308-run lead with nine wickets in hand and two days remaining.
Sri Lanka's troubles began in the first over, when Tim Southee dismissed Dinesh Chandimal with his second ball. The delivery swerved into the right-hander from over the wicket, landed on a good length around middle and off stump, and seamed away. Chandimal was squared up in his crease as he tried to defend, and Martin Guptill dived across first slip from second to catch the edge.
In his second over, Southee swung two consecutive balls on to Kithuruwan Vithanage's pads and the batsman glanced both to the fine-leg boundary. The next delivery slanted away from the left-hander with a scrambled seam, and Vithanage chased it with a cover drive, giving BJ Watling his fifth catch. Sri Lanka had lost both overnight batsmen in the first 15 minutes.
From 209 for 6, Sri Lanka were lifted briefly by a plucky stand of 43. Milinda Siriwardana, playing in only his third Test, attacked the fast bowlers - driving through cover and down the ground, pulling and cutting too. Herath batted cautiously after successfully reviewing a catch down the leg side that had gone off his boot, and took 22 balls to get off the mark.
With around 30 minutes to lunch, New Zealand began bowling short, aiming at the batsman's ribs with catchers on the leg side. Herath was the primary target, and was hit on the gloves by Wagner and on the helmet by Southee. When New Zealand came at Siriwardana with short balls, he pulled. He was caught on the long-leg boundary by Doug Bracewell, who fell over the rope because he had been back-pedalling and could not control his momentum. But three balls later, Wagner sent down another short delivery and Siriwardana fended it to Ross Taylor at slip.
Brendon McCullum continued the short-ball attack after lunch, often placing no fielders in front of the wicket on the offside. Wagner began the 100th over with a bouncer, Herath ducked. The second ball was also short, Herath was beaten on the pull. The third was short too, and Herath top-edged towards long leg, where Trent Boult ran in at speed to take the catch. He had made 15 off 74 balls, and was the only batsman to not be caught by the wicketkeeper or the slip cordon.
Sri Lanka were eventually dismissed for 294 in 117.1 overs - a commendable period of time for such a raw batting line-up - having added 97 for 6 on the third day, conceding a first-innings lead of 137.
Like they had done while batting, Sri Lanka sought to take time out of the Test in the field too, by slowing New Zealand down with more accurate bowling and defensive fields - Angelo Mathews had men out at deep point and square leg early on. It worked for the hour before tea, when Guptill and Tom Latham minimised risk against the new ball.
They lifted the tempo in the final session, though, with Guptill taking charge. He could have been caught on 19 and 42, but Kusal Mendis put down a fierce cut at cover, and Suranga Lakmal failed to catch a drive on his follow-through. It was the first time New Zealand had two half-century opening partnerships in a Test since December 2009.
New Zealand targeted Herath once again, Guptill charging down the pitch to hit powerfully to and over the long-on boundary in the same over. He looked good for a second 50-plus score in the Test until he was bowled by a delivery that shot through at ankle height, an aberration on this surface. It was scant consolation for Herath, who conceded 39 runs in eight overs.
Williamson and Lathan built on the opening stand of 79, by raising their half-century stand in 61 balls, rapidly building the lead. Williamson passed 1000 runs at an average of more than 90 for the year by stepping out and lofting Herath to the wide long-on boundary, while Latham finally looked to be shaking his tendency to give away a start.
He ended the day unbeaten on 72, Williamson on 48, their partnership of 92 coming at 4.27 an over. New Zealand will aim to continue at similar pace on the fourth morning, to give themselves five sessions to dismiss Sri Lanka to take a lead in the series.
Day 4
New Zealand 431 & 267/3d
Sri Lanka 294 & 109/3 (50.1 ov)
Sri Lanka require another 296 runs with 7 wickets remaining
For the second time in the Test, Sri Lanka's inexperienced batting line-up offered more resistance than expected, but New Zealand's persistent fast bowlers supported by the safe gloves of BJ Watling ensured the home side made strides towards victory despite a bad-weather day in Dunedin. Rain and hail halted play three times at University Oval, and at stumps Sri Lanka had seven wickets left and 296 runs to get, with a better forecast for the final day.
Brendon McCullum had given his attack 405 to defend and a little more than five sessions to dismiss Sri Lanka by declaring New Zealand's second innings on 267 for 3 half an hour before lunch on the fourth day. The highlights of their quick run accumulation - 96 in 17.4 overs- was Tom Latham's third Test hundred and McCullum's record-equalling 100th six.
New Zealand's bowlers had to toil harder for wickets than their batsmen had done for runs. Play was halted either side of lunch soon after Sri Lanka began their chase but the openers' approach was not affected. Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis batted with more confidence than they had done at the start of the first innings.
Their partnership could have ended on 28, though, but Martin Guptill dropped a straightforward chance off Mendis at first slip, leaving the bowler Doug Bracewell in anguish. In Bracewell's last over, Mendis had played a perfect straight drive and then was beaten on an expansive cover drive. Having been dropped on 13, Mendis had another reprieve on 25, when Watling could not catch a tough chance down the leg side off a gloved sweep against Mitchell Santner. Mendis collected two fours off the left-arm spinner, punishing long-hops to the leg-side boundary.
Like in his first innings, Karunaratne was dismissed against the run of play, when he tried to upper-cut Southee but edged to Watling. McCullum had held Neil Wagner back until the 29th over, and the left-arm quick broke through in his third. Udara Jayasundera ended a poor debut by fending a short ball off his ribs to Watling. Sri Lanka had gone from 54 for 0 to 64 for 2.
Dinesh Chandimal took his chances against Wagner after tea, slashing and driving outside the off stump. He middle some balls, was beaten on others, and edged a couple over the cordon. Wagner countered by targeting the body with a short-pitched attack from around the wicket, forcing defence from Chandimal.
Mendis took fewer risks, his attacking drives through cover and past Bracewell involving straight bats, as he approached his maiden half-century. He did not get there, though. Three balls after surviving a run-out chance, Mendis pushed at an outswinger from Southee that pitched on a perfect length and moved just enough to draw the edge. Watling took his ninth catch, and moved within two of the record for most dismissals in a Test. It began to rain and hail immediately after the wicket, bringing an early end to the day.
Play had begun under sunny skies on the fourth day, with New Zealand ahead by 308 and two batsmen approaching milestones. Kane Williamson got to his half-century off the second ball of the day, dabbing to square leg and sprinting the second, an indication of the urgency with which New Zealand would bat against little pressure from Sri Lanka.
Latham was playing at balls wide outside off, looking to score swiftly, and on 73 he edged Nunwan Pradeep between the wicketkeeper and first slip. It was Chandimal's catch but he did not move. Latham drove frequently through cover but a lot of his shots found fielders. Then he found the gap at extra cover off Suranga Lakmal to move into the 90s and pulled Pradeep to the long-leg boundary.
Williamson fell before Latham got to his hundred. He had lofted Pradeep to the midwicket boundary, and charged and hit Jayasundera in the same direction, but when he attempted the shot off Dushmantha Chameera, the ball nipped in, hit his pad and bowled him. Williamson's partnership of 141 with Latham had come at 4.36 an over.
Ross Taylor glanced his second ball, from Chameera, for four and hit two more boundaries in his next eight deliveries as New Zealand sped ahead. Latham drove Rangana Herath through midwicket and celebrated a Test hundred for the first time since November 2014, ending a run of seven double-figure scores without making more than 50.
After Taylor was bowled, aiming to hit Herath to deep midwicket, McCullum charged at his first ball and smashed it over the straight boundary. Five balls later, he swiped Herath over deep midwicket to equal Adam Gilchrist's record for most sixes in Test cricket, but decided he did not have to break it in this innings and declared.
Day 5
New Zealand 431 and 267 for 3 dec beat Sri Lanka 294 and 282 by 122 runs
In conditions where the old ball did nothing and New Zealand's three first-choice quicks produced innocuous medium-pace, Neil Wagner ran in relentlessly with tremendous stamina, sending down a barrage of short deliveries, harrying the batsmen at around 140 kph and broke Sri Lanka's resistance. Until Wagner came on, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews had been untroubled and scored freely, but once he broke through his one wicket quickly led to many, and New Zealand completed a 122-run victory after lunch on the final day in Dunedin.
Before Brendon McCullum turned to Wagner, Sri Lanka made 45 runs in 15.5 overs, and Mitchell Santner and Doug Bracewell had just begun to control a previously brisk run rate. Wagner immediately resorted to a short-pitched attack from over the wicket - like he had done on the third day - targeting the right-hand batsman's ribs with men catching close on the leg side.
Chandimal had been cover-driving and cutting Trent Boult and Tim Southee, his fierce punishment of anything loose taking him swiftly to a half-century. Mathews had played with softer hands and a straighter bat, batting with calm. Wagner gave them no width, no opportunity to get on the front foot, hustling them with pace, forcing hurried evasive actions and awkward fends off the body.
Wagner's method of attack had become so ingrained in the batsman's psyche that they expected little else from him. And so Mathews, after moving hurriedly towards the off side to let two consecutive short balls whizz past his ribs, began to play the third delivery in a similar manner. Except that this time Wagner bowled a full length. The ball crashed into the inside of his front pad, shot between his legs and flattened middle stump. Mathews had not even played a shot, and was the first Sri Lankan batsman to not be caught in this Test.
Chandimal had to shelve his cavalier approach against Wagner. He had got to 50 off 90 balls - scoring 19 off 26 this morning - but made only eight off his next 41 deliveries. Subdued into a defensive mind-set, he padded up to a ball from the left-arm spinner Santner that went on with the arm, and was adjudged lbw not offering a shot. After a partnership of 56, Mathews and Chandimal had fallen with the score on 165.
Wagner now went around the wicket to aim at the ribs of the two left-handers - Kithuruwan Vithanage and Milinda Siriwardana. He pinned them to the crease with his length, and then bowled a fast full-toss at Siriwardana, who was hit on the back pad as he squared up in his crease. The umpire Nigel Llong gave him lbw but Siriwardana successfully reviewed the decision, replays surprisingly suggesting the ball would have missed off stump, perhaps because Wagner had delivered from extremely wide of the crease.
Wagner was given the second new ball for the last delivery of his first spell, which comprised eight overs at speeds that did not ebb.
Southee took two deliveries to strike with the new ball, swinging it back into Vithanage from over the wicket, hitting the left-hander's pads. Vithanage had played an enterprising innings, a run-a-ball 38 full of shots.
The slide was swift after lunch. Boult struck in the third and fifth over of the second session - drawing an edge from Rangana Herath and having Siriwardana caught at short cover, both batsmen not bothering with defence.
Sri Lanka went down swinging, and were bowled out for 282. However, the fact that an inexperienced batting line-up had lasted 95.2 overs after playing 117.1 in the first innings will be some consolation for a team rebuilding from the retirements of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.
Monday, 21 December 2015
Big Bash 2015 Match 6
Adelaide Strikers 6 for 152 (Jayawardene 42, Ross 38) beat Perth Scorchers 6 for 151 (Shaun Marsh 47, Voges 45*, Rashid 2-21) by four wickets
Defending champions Perth Scorchers began their BBL 2015-16 campaign with a loss, going down by four wickets against the Adelaide Strikers in Perth. It was a bad day for the Scorchers who have now bizarrely lost every one of their BBL openers. The Scorchers could only muster 6 for 151, which the Strikers reeled in with four wickets in hand and five balls to spare.
Incumbent Australia Test batsman Shaun Marsh's innings promised to make a resounding case for selection but, despite a brief tease, failed to land a decisive punch for Scorchers. One day after Usman Khawaja seemingly won a recall for the Boxing Day Test, Marsh looked set to replicate Khawaja's centurion deeds. However, just when he seemed set for an imposing score, Marsh miscued a short delivery from Michael Neser and was caught on the boundary. Marsh underlined his abundance of talent during a belligerent 47 from 35 deliveries, but it wasn't quite the score he would have been hoping for.
Compounding the Scorchers' woes, Test hopeful Nathan Coulter-Nile, the only fast bowler in Australia's squad cleared to play in the BBL ahead of the MCG Test, left the field in the 12th over with a shoulder injury. Coulter-Nile slipped after a misfield and landed awkwardly. Coulter-Nile, who was in the frame for the Boxing Day Test, had impressed with an all-round performance that included a belligerent 8-ball 18 and impressive returns of 1 for 18 from 3 overs.
The Strikers started their chase briskly with Tim Ludeman hitting emerging pacer Joel Paris for three consecutive boundaries to open the innings. The Scorchers, however, clawed their way back into the contest with probing bowling and brilliant fielding.
The game was in the balance with the Strikers at 3 for 67 in the ninth over but veteran Mahela Jayawardene calmly restored the initiative with a 40-ball 42 before Alex Ross - labeled as "probably the most improved player in Australia" by national selector Mark Waugh - sealed the deal with a hard-hitting 38.
After the Scorchers captain Adam Voges won the toss and elected to bat on a flat pitch baking under sweltering Perth conditions, Marsh continued on from his rich Test form, plundering a hapless Strikers attack.
He drove superbly against the quicks, and used his feet perfectly to smash the Strikers spinner Jon Holland for two sixes in three deliveries in the eighth over, much to the delight of a near-capacity WACA crowd, many of whom were draped in partisan orange.
Marsh's opening partner Michael Klinger started swiftly with consecutive cover drives in the opening over and, despite eventually falling for 19, became the second player after Aaron Finch to score more than 1000 BBL runs.
While the pitch was flat, WACA traditionalists would have had a lump in the throat watching the ball rear from the surface, a characteristic that was notably lacking during last month's Test match against New Zealand. Paris and the Strikers pacer Kane Richardson notably produced several searing deliveries that evoked images of the WACA's golden era.
The pick of the Strikers' bowling, however, was import spinner Adil Rashid, who finished with 2 for 21 and snared the key wickets of a scratchy Michael Carberry (5) and an impatient Mitchell Marsh (1 from 2 balls). The Scorchers lost 4 for 28 between overs 10 and 16 to stifle their early momentum.
Voges' white-hot form continued as he made an unbeaten 45 from 32 balls, and looked unruffled while wickets regularly fell at the other end.
Defending champions Perth Scorchers began their BBL 2015-16 campaign with a loss, going down by four wickets against the Adelaide Strikers in Perth. It was a bad day for the Scorchers who have now bizarrely lost every one of their BBL openers. The Scorchers could only muster 6 for 151, which the Strikers reeled in with four wickets in hand and five balls to spare.
Incumbent Australia Test batsman Shaun Marsh's innings promised to make a resounding case for selection but, despite a brief tease, failed to land a decisive punch for Scorchers. One day after Usman Khawaja seemingly won a recall for the Boxing Day Test, Marsh looked set to replicate Khawaja's centurion deeds. However, just when he seemed set for an imposing score, Marsh miscued a short delivery from Michael Neser and was caught on the boundary. Marsh underlined his abundance of talent during a belligerent 47 from 35 deliveries, but it wasn't quite the score he would have been hoping for.
Compounding the Scorchers' woes, Test hopeful Nathan Coulter-Nile, the only fast bowler in Australia's squad cleared to play in the BBL ahead of the MCG Test, left the field in the 12th over with a shoulder injury. Coulter-Nile slipped after a misfield and landed awkwardly. Coulter-Nile, who was in the frame for the Boxing Day Test, had impressed with an all-round performance that included a belligerent 8-ball 18 and impressive returns of 1 for 18 from 3 overs.
The Strikers started their chase briskly with Tim Ludeman hitting emerging pacer Joel Paris for three consecutive boundaries to open the innings. The Scorchers, however, clawed their way back into the contest with probing bowling and brilliant fielding.
The game was in the balance with the Strikers at 3 for 67 in the ninth over but veteran Mahela Jayawardene calmly restored the initiative with a 40-ball 42 before Alex Ross - labeled as "probably the most improved player in Australia" by national selector Mark Waugh - sealed the deal with a hard-hitting 38.
After the Scorchers captain Adam Voges won the toss and elected to bat on a flat pitch baking under sweltering Perth conditions, Marsh continued on from his rich Test form, plundering a hapless Strikers attack.
He drove superbly against the quicks, and used his feet perfectly to smash the Strikers spinner Jon Holland for two sixes in three deliveries in the eighth over, much to the delight of a near-capacity WACA crowd, many of whom were draped in partisan orange.
Marsh's opening partner Michael Klinger started swiftly with consecutive cover drives in the opening over and, despite eventually falling for 19, became the second player after Aaron Finch to score more than 1000 BBL runs.
While the pitch was flat, WACA traditionalists would have had a lump in the throat watching the ball rear from the surface, a characteristic that was notably lacking during last month's Test match against New Zealand. Paris and the Strikers pacer Kane Richardson notably produced several searing deliveries that evoked images of the WACA's golden era.
The pick of the Strikers' bowling, however, was import spinner Adil Rashid, who finished with 2 for 21 and snared the key wickets of a scratchy Michael Carberry (5) and an impatient Mitchell Marsh (1 from 2 balls). The Scorchers lost 4 for 28 between overs 10 and 16 to stifle their early momentum.
Voges' white-hot form continued as he made an unbeaten 45 from 32 balls, and looked unruffled while wickets regularly fell at the other end.
Sunday, 20 December 2015
Big Bash 2015 Matches 4 and 5
Sydney Sixers 186/7 (20/20 ov)
Hobart Hurricanes 91 (15.5/20 ov)
Sydney Sixers won by 95 runs
Nathan Lyon obliterated the Hobart Hurricanes at the SCG, as part of the Sydney Sixers' fierce response to suffering a first loss to the Sydney Thunder in five years of the Big Bash League.
Two wickets for Lyon in as many balls in the first over of the Hurricanes' chase was followed up by three more when he returned for a second spell, making an overwhelming case for his consideration as part of Australia's World Twenty20 squad to India next year. Kumar Sangakkara's BBL debut was marked by a golden duck at Lyon's hands, much as the spinner had claimed his wicket with his very first ball in Test cricket, in Galle four years ago.
Shaun Tait's first-over dismissal of Michael Lumb was just about the only moment of ascendancy the Hurricanes enjoyed all afternoon. Brad Haddin flayed a carefree 72 and was helped by contributions from Nic Maddinson and Jordan Silk, before the Hurricanes' reply disintegrated in the face of neat and tidy bowling by Lyon, Doug Bollinger, Steve O'Keefe and Sean Abbott.
The Sixers' largely homegrown combination contrasts with Hurricanes' collection of players hailing from across Australia and the world. It is possible they will settle with the benefit of time, but it is certain that Darren Sammy (0 for 32 in two overs, 2 runs) and Sangakkara in particular will expect better of themselves in future.
Sangakkara's unceremonious exit on BBL debut arrived courtesy of a presumptuous attempt to loft Lyon down the ground, the ball after Tim Paine had flicked the same bowler to midwicket. Lyon had also deceived and dismissed Sangakkara with his first delivery in Test matches - the Sri Lankan champion would not be alone in wondering why Lyon is still considered a Test match only proposition by Australia's selectors.
"He was outstanding, no secret I think he's the premier spinner in Australia no matter what ball he's got in his hand and over the last 48 months he's just getting better and better every time he bowls," Haddin said of Lyon. "That wicket was perfect for him tonight, it had a bit of bounce and turn, so it was good to watch.
"He's a clever bowler now, you only have to look at the results he's produced in Test cricket. I think he's got to just keep improving like he is. Selections are the easy part, they'll take care of themselves, he's just got to keep performing every time he gets the opportunity, and with Test cricket you don't often get the opportunity to play white-ball cricket, but every time he has he's done really well.
"I think you just pick your best bowlers. He can't do anything more Nathan at the moment, he's doing all the right things when he gets the opportunity to play white ball cricket, so it's up to them [the selectors]."
Lyon's web grew more enveloping when he resumed later in the innings, the Hurricanes having been curtailed from building any sort of momentum by regular wickets. These included Doug Bollinger summoning a screeching yorker to splay the stumps of Ben Dunk, and Sammy failing to ride the bounce on a dry surface that nevertheless offered something for the pacemen.
Lyon's loop was to account for Joe Mennie, Sam Rainbird and Tait, leaving him with the handsome figures of 5 for 23. Only the Hurricanes' senior batsman George Bailey was able to put an innings together, his 62 serving mainly to ensure his side avoided the ignominy of posting the most meagre tally in all BBL matches - a record still held by the Melbourne Renegades' 57 all out last season.
Haddin's earlier free-swinging display had allowed the Sixers to set a steep target, while also demonstrating the benefits of retirement from international cricket. Haddin's intentions were brazen but his head was clear, and eight fours scorched from his blade in addition to a pair of sweetly struck sixes.
Maddinson and Silk each offered sturdy support, the former skating to 21 in a matter of minutes, the latter working the ball around intelligently but also clearing the ropes twice. Cameron Boyce and Dan Christian each bowled tightly for the Hurricanes, but their efforts were to be totally overshadowed by Lyon, much to the delight of the 20,072 in attendance.
The Sixers' only minor concern was an apparent leg twinge for Haddin when batting. He was able to keep wicket without too much trouble, but will need to see how the injury cools down ahead of the next match against the Melbourne Renegades on Wednesday. "I went to turn and I was just a bit short, my spikes caught and I went to go again and something just caught at the back of my leg," he said. "It felt all right keeping ... just getting old probably."
Sydney Thunder 178/6 (20/20 ov)
Melbourne Stars 177/5 (20/20 ov)
Sydney Thunder won by 1 run
Has Usman Khawaja really just missed a month of cricket? The apparent ease with which he compiled a match-winning BBL century for the Sydney Thunder suggested a man who was in rare form, which Khawaja had been in early November when he scored hundreds in back-to-back Tests against New Zealand. Australia's selectors will be thrilled that his time on the sidelines with a hamstring injury has not affected his touch.
Khawaja is expected to walk back into Australia's team for the Boxing Day Test against West Indies after his unbeaten 109 from 70 deliveries for the Thunder, an innings in which he showed no fitness concerns after a month out of the game. He batted through the Thunder innings for his first Twenty20 century as they posted 6 for 178, and in the end it proved enough for the team's second consecutive win at the start of the BBL - though only just.
Kevin Pietersen nearly led the Melbourne Stars to a remarkable heist at the MCG, where he struck a highly entertaining 76 from 42 deliveries that pushed the Stars close to their target. They needed 51 from the final four overs but Pietersen drastically reduced the required rate by plundering three sixes off a Gurinder Sandhu over that brought 27 in total, and left the Stars needing just 27 off the final three overs.
However, in the penultimate over Pietersen skied a pull off Clint McKay and was well caught at fine leg by Fawad Ahmed, which gave the Thunder a sniff once again after Pietersen seemed to take the match out of their hands. But the renowned finisher James Faulkner remained at the crease and with 10 needed off the last over, Thunder captain Michael Hussey entrusted the responsibility to his most experienced bowler, Jacques Kallis.
Kallis dug the ball in rather than giving Faulkner length, and two runs came from each of the first three deliveries of the over. But a pair of dot balls followed, including one that Faulkner missed as he tried to scoop Kallis over the wicktekeeper's head, and he could manage only two runs from the last ball as the Stars finished one run short of the Thunder, on 5 for 177, with Faulkner on 45.
Andre Russell had given the Thunder a good start to their bowling innings by removing both openers, Luke Wright and Marcus Stoinis, in the sixth over, and he finished with 2 for 28 from his four overs. But the key to the Thunder's win was unquestionably Khawaja, who was playing his first match in any format since the second Test against New Zealand at the WACA in mid-November, when he suffered his hamstring injury.
He scored runs all around the wicket and his placement was exquisite. He struck 12 fours and three sixes, mostly from regulation cricket shots but also with the occasional touch of T20 flair, such as when he scooped John Hastings for a boundary over the head of the wicketkeeper. Khawaja brought up his hundred - the first of this BBL summer - from his 62nd delivery, and he was pleased with how his hamstring fared.
"I'm really happy with the way it felt," Khawaja said. "The test was how it would feel when I went back into the field, backing up, and it felt really good. The longer I was out there the more I started trusting my body. I was a little bit anxious at the start but the further on I got through the more happy I felt. I'll keep trying to tick all the boxes and … fingers crossed I'll be right for the rest of the summer."
Hobart Hurricanes 91 (15.5/20 ov)
Sydney Sixers won by 95 runs
Nathan Lyon obliterated the Hobart Hurricanes at the SCG, as part of the Sydney Sixers' fierce response to suffering a first loss to the Sydney Thunder in five years of the Big Bash League.
Two wickets for Lyon in as many balls in the first over of the Hurricanes' chase was followed up by three more when he returned for a second spell, making an overwhelming case for his consideration as part of Australia's World Twenty20 squad to India next year. Kumar Sangakkara's BBL debut was marked by a golden duck at Lyon's hands, much as the spinner had claimed his wicket with his very first ball in Test cricket, in Galle four years ago.
Shaun Tait's first-over dismissal of Michael Lumb was just about the only moment of ascendancy the Hurricanes enjoyed all afternoon. Brad Haddin flayed a carefree 72 and was helped by contributions from Nic Maddinson and Jordan Silk, before the Hurricanes' reply disintegrated in the face of neat and tidy bowling by Lyon, Doug Bollinger, Steve O'Keefe and Sean Abbott.
The Sixers' largely homegrown combination contrasts with Hurricanes' collection of players hailing from across Australia and the world. It is possible they will settle with the benefit of time, but it is certain that Darren Sammy (0 for 32 in two overs, 2 runs) and Sangakkara in particular will expect better of themselves in future.
Sangakkara's unceremonious exit on BBL debut arrived courtesy of a presumptuous attempt to loft Lyon down the ground, the ball after Tim Paine had flicked the same bowler to midwicket. Lyon had also deceived and dismissed Sangakkara with his first delivery in Test matches - the Sri Lankan champion would not be alone in wondering why Lyon is still considered a Test match only proposition by Australia's selectors.
"He was outstanding, no secret I think he's the premier spinner in Australia no matter what ball he's got in his hand and over the last 48 months he's just getting better and better every time he bowls," Haddin said of Lyon. "That wicket was perfect for him tonight, it had a bit of bounce and turn, so it was good to watch.
"He's a clever bowler now, you only have to look at the results he's produced in Test cricket. I think he's got to just keep improving like he is. Selections are the easy part, they'll take care of themselves, he's just got to keep performing every time he gets the opportunity, and with Test cricket you don't often get the opportunity to play white-ball cricket, but every time he has he's done really well.
"I think you just pick your best bowlers. He can't do anything more Nathan at the moment, he's doing all the right things when he gets the opportunity to play white ball cricket, so it's up to them [the selectors]."
Lyon's web grew more enveloping when he resumed later in the innings, the Hurricanes having been curtailed from building any sort of momentum by regular wickets. These included Doug Bollinger summoning a screeching yorker to splay the stumps of Ben Dunk, and Sammy failing to ride the bounce on a dry surface that nevertheless offered something for the pacemen.
Lyon's loop was to account for Joe Mennie, Sam Rainbird and Tait, leaving him with the handsome figures of 5 for 23. Only the Hurricanes' senior batsman George Bailey was able to put an innings together, his 62 serving mainly to ensure his side avoided the ignominy of posting the most meagre tally in all BBL matches - a record still held by the Melbourne Renegades' 57 all out last season.
Haddin's earlier free-swinging display had allowed the Sixers to set a steep target, while also demonstrating the benefits of retirement from international cricket. Haddin's intentions were brazen but his head was clear, and eight fours scorched from his blade in addition to a pair of sweetly struck sixes.
Maddinson and Silk each offered sturdy support, the former skating to 21 in a matter of minutes, the latter working the ball around intelligently but also clearing the ropes twice. Cameron Boyce and Dan Christian each bowled tightly for the Hurricanes, but their efforts were to be totally overshadowed by Lyon, much to the delight of the 20,072 in attendance.
The Sixers' only minor concern was an apparent leg twinge for Haddin when batting. He was able to keep wicket without too much trouble, but will need to see how the injury cools down ahead of the next match against the Melbourne Renegades on Wednesday. "I went to turn and I was just a bit short, my spikes caught and I went to go again and something just caught at the back of my leg," he said. "It felt all right keeping ... just getting old probably."
Sydney Thunder 178/6 (20/20 ov)
Melbourne Stars 177/5 (20/20 ov)
Sydney Thunder won by 1 run
Has Usman Khawaja really just missed a month of cricket? The apparent ease with which he compiled a match-winning BBL century for the Sydney Thunder suggested a man who was in rare form, which Khawaja had been in early November when he scored hundreds in back-to-back Tests against New Zealand. Australia's selectors will be thrilled that his time on the sidelines with a hamstring injury has not affected his touch.
Khawaja is expected to walk back into Australia's team for the Boxing Day Test against West Indies after his unbeaten 109 from 70 deliveries for the Thunder, an innings in which he showed no fitness concerns after a month out of the game. He batted through the Thunder innings for his first Twenty20 century as they posted 6 for 178, and in the end it proved enough for the team's second consecutive win at the start of the BBL - though only just.
Kevin Pietersen nearly led the Melbourne Stars to a remarkable heist at the MCG, where he struck a highly entertaining 76 from 42 deliveries that pushed the Stars close to their target. They needed 51 from the final four overs but Pietersen drastically reduced the required rate by plundering three sixes off a Gurinder Sandhu over that brought 27 in total, and left the Stars needing just 27 off the final three overs.
However, in the penultimate over Pietersen skied a pull off Clint McKay and was well caught at fine leg by Fawad Ahmed, which gave the Thunder a sniff once again after Pietersen seemed to take the match out of their hands. But the renowned finisher James Faulkner remained at the crease and with 10 needed off the last over, Thunder captain Michael Hussey entrusted the responsibility to his most experienced bowler, Jacques Kallis.
Kallis dug the ball in rather than giving Faulkner length, and two runs came from each of the first three deliveries of the over. But a pair of dot balls followed, including one that Faulkner missed as he tried to scoop Kallis over the wicktekeeper's head, and he could manage only two runs from the last ball as the Stars finished one run short of the Thunder, on 5 for 177, with Faulkner on 45.
Andre Russell had given the Thunder a good start to their bowling innings by removing both openers, Luke Wright and Marcus Stoinis, in the sixth over, and he finished with 2 for 28 from his four overs. But the key to the Thunder's win was unquestionably Khawaja, who was playing his first match in any format since the second Test against New Zealand at the WACA in mid-November, when he suffered his hamstring injury.
He scored runs all around the wicket and his placement was exquisite. He struck 12 fours and three sixes, mostly from regulation cricket shots but also with the occasional touch of T20 flair, such as when he scooped John Hastings for a boundary over the head of the wicketkeeper. Khawaja brought up his hundred - the first of this BBL summer - from his 62nd delivery, and he was pleased with how his hamstring fared.
"I'm really happy with the way it felt," Khawaja said. "The test was how it would feel when I went back into the field, backing up, and it felt really good. The longer I was out there the more I started trusting my body. I was a little bit anxious at the start but the further on I got through the more happy I felt. I'll keep trying to tick all the boxes and … fingers crossed I'll be right for the rest of the summer."
Saturday, 19 December 2015
Big Bash 2015 Match 3
Brisbane Heat 180/5 (20/20 ov)
Melbourne Renegades 184/3 (19.3/20 ov)
Melbourne Renegades won by 7 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)
A powerful union between Aaron Finch and Cameron White was augmented by some late fireworks from Dwayne Bravo to push the Melbourne Renegades to a valuable away victory over the Brisbane Heat at the Gabba.
Bravo's bat went flying as he lost grip of the blade in the penultimate over, but the Renegades never looked likely to do the same with the match, achieving both the first win for a team on the road and the first successful chase of BBL-05, after the Thunder and the Strikers each prospered defending a score.
For that the Renegades had to be grateful to Chris Tremain, Nathan Rimmington, Xavier Doherty and Bravo, who all bowled exemplary spells on a Brisbane surface offering typical bounce and pace to keep batsmen and bowlers alike in the contest. Tremain's early swing contributed to a cautious start by the Heat, who tallied only 33 from the Powerplay.
Even so, some strong late hitting by James Hopes and Ben Cutting meant the visitors still required 181 to win, the sort of task seldom achieved without a major partnership. It was to arrive via the bats of Finch and White after Chris Gayle's brief, and exciting, appearance at the top of the order with his gold bat.
Finch was in fluent touch, piercing the field frequently. White took more time to get going after a scratchy start, but found his range as the innings went on, and passed fifty with a towering six down the ground.
Their departures granted the Heat a narrow window, but Bravo's combination of a free bat swing and deft placement backward of square left Hopes with only five to defend from the final over, too few even for a bowler of his precision.
The Heat had begun shakily, as Jimmy Person struggled to lay a bat on the well-directed outswingers of Tremain, who was rightly rewarded with the opener's wicket and bowled tidily throughout.
Doherty, discarded from the national team earlier this year, followed up with a similarly parsimonious spell, and accounted for Lendl Simmons just as the West Indian was starting to look dangerous.
Joe Burns, walking out to bat under an arguably unfair level of pressure due to Usman Khawaja's impending return to the Test team for Boxing Day, was also to fall to Doherty's wiles, trying to power the left-arm spinner over the rope - as he had done to reach three figures in the Gabba Test - but taken at long-off.
From that uncertain beginning a mediocre score seemed likely, but Chris Lynn and Nathan Reardon were able to steady proceedings though neither quite gave full bent to their hitting power. Reardon was annoyed to sky a catch behind square leg after Lynn had arrowed a Bravo full toss to deep square leg.
However the Lynn-Reardon stand had set something of a platform, allowing Hopes and Cutting to tee off successfully in the closing overs. Together they added 51 from the last 22 balls of the innings, setting a steep target the Renegades would prove more than equal to.
Melbourne Renegades 184/3 (19.3/20 ov)
Melbourne Renegades won by 7 wickets (with 3 balls remaining)
A powerful union between Aaron Finch and Cameron White was augmented by some late fireworks from Dwayne Bravo to push the Melbourne Renegades to a valuable away victory over the Brisbane Heat at the Gabba.
Bravo's bat went flying as he lost grip of the blade in the penultimate over, but the Renegades never looked likely to do the same with the match, achieving both the first win for a team on the road and the first successful chase of BBL-05, after the Thunder and the Strikers each prospered defending a score.
For that the Renegades had to be grateful to Chris Tremain, Nathan Rimmington, Xavier Doherty and Bravo, who all bowled exemplary spells on a Brisbane surface offering typical bounce and pace to keep batsmen and bowlers alike in the contest. Tremain's early swing contributed to a cautious start by the Heat, who tallied only 33 from the Powerplay.
Even so, some strong late hitting by James Hopes and Ben Cutting meant the visitors still required 181 to win, the sort of task seldom achieved without a major partnership. It was to arrive via the bats of Finch and White after Chris Gayle's brief, and exciting, appearance at the top of the order with his gold bat.
Finch was in fluent touch, piercing the field frequently. White took more time to get going after a scratchy start, but found his range as the innings went on, and passed fifty with a towering six down the ground.
Their departures granted the Heat a narrow window, but Bravo's combination of a free bat swing and deft placement backward of square left Hopes with only five to defend from the final over, too few even for a bowler of his precision.
The Heat had begun shakily, as Jimmy Person struggled to lay a bat on the well-directed outswingers of Tremain, who was rightly rewarded with the opener's wicket and bowled tidily throughout.
Doherty, discarded from the national team earlier this year, followed up with a similarly parsimonious spell, and accounted for Lendl Simmons just as the West Indian was starting to look dangerous.
Joe Burns, walking out to bat under an arguably unfair level of pressure due to Usman Khawaja's impending return to the Test team for Boxing Day, was also to fall to Doherty's wiles, trying to power the left-arm spinner over the rope - as he had done to reach three figures in the Gabba Test - but taken at long-off.
From that uncertain beginning a mediocre score seemed likely, but Chris Lynn and Nathan Reardon were able to steady proceedings though neither quite gave full bent to their hitting power. Reardon was annoyed to sky a catch behind square leg after Lynn had arrowed a Bravo full toss to deep square leg.
However the Lynn-Reardon stand had set something of a platform, allowing Hopes and Cutting to tee off successfully in the closing overs. Together they added 51 from the last 22 balls of the innings, setting a steep target the Renegades would prove more than equal to.
Friday, 18 December 2015
Big Bash 2015 Matches 1 and 2
Match 1: Sydney Thunder 4 for 158 (Hussey 80*) beat Sydney Sixers 122 (Lumb 34, Russell 3-13, Watson 3-13) by 36 runs
Michael Hussey will be a coaching consultant with Australia at the World Twenty20 in India next year, but the first night of the 2015-16 Big Bash League showed that he still has plenty to offer as a T20 batsman as well. Hussey scored an unbeaten 80 from 59 balls to lead Sydney Thunder to their first win over their cross-town rivals Sydney Sixers in the eight meetings between the teams, a convincing 36-run victory at Sydney's Showground Stadium.
Hussey ensured that the Thunder posted a competitive 4 for 158 after he won the toss and chose to bat, and regular wickets throughout the Sixers innings, including three each to Andre Russell and Shane Watson, kept the Thunder on top throughout. The innings petered out and the Sixers were dismissed for 122 in the 20th over, opener Michael Lumb (34) the only batsman who made it past the teens.
In his first match for the Thunder, having played with Melbourne Renegades last summer, Russell was especially key with the ball. He delivered two quick, accurate yorkers that lit up the bails and bowled Brad Haddin and Nic Maddinson to leave the Thunder at 2 for 37, and from there they never really recovered. His economy was also outstanding, his four overs earning him 3 for 13.
Watson also chipped in with 3 for 13 from two overs; having had Jordan Silk caught in the deep he added Sean Abbott, who was caught and bowled, and Trent Lawford, who was bowled. While Russell and Watson picked up three wickets each, Jacques Kallis had also made an important breakthrough by trapping Lumb lbw, although the ball appeared to have pitched outside leg stump.
That ended Lumb's chances of helping the Sixers to victory after he earlier dropped one of the easiest chances imaginable on a cricket field. Watson was on 8 when he chipped a sitter off the bowling of Abbott; Lumb, at mid-off, had only to watch the ball into his hands, but somehow allowed the ball to bounce off his abdomen and could not grasp it. He was lucky the drop cost only eight runs as Watson was bowled by Nathan Lyon for 16.
But there was enough batting in the Thunder line-up to post a strong total. Batting at No.3 and having walked to the crease in the second over, Hussey seemed to set himself the task of batting through the innings, and he did so with class. He lofted Jackson Bird over wide long-off for the first six of the tournament and added three more through his innings.
Twenty runs came off the 17th over of the innings as Hussey and Ben Rohrer (30 off 20) lifted the tempo towards the end. Hussey's efforts proved more than adequate to end a run of seven straight victories for the Sixers over his side and ensured a perfect start for the Thunder, who have yet to finish above the bottom two in any BBL tournament.
Match 2: Adelaide Strikers 5 for 187 (Ross 65, Hodge 56*, Boland 2-55) beat Melbourne Stars 7 for 168 (Stoinis 50, Richardson 3-22) by 19 runs
A record partnership between Brad Hodge and Alex Ross ensured Adelaide Strikers' coach Jason Gillespie enjoyed a fairy-tale homecoming. The pair complemented each other perfectly during a record BBL fifth-wicket stand of 115 to punctuate Striker's 19-run win over the fancied Melbourne Stars at the Adelaide Oval.
Defending 187, Strikers overcame a nervous start in the field to restrict the power-packed Stars batting line-up to 7 for 168. Assisted by a pitch offering turn, English import Adil Rashid menaced with figures of 2 for 27, including the prized scalp of Glenn Maxwell who threatened to seal the deal for the Stars.
Strikers fluffed as many as five chances early in the chase, most notably Craig Simmons' dropped sitter at first slip when Marcus Stoinis was on 2, but they recovered to grasp the initiative. The bowling attack stepped up to curb Stars' batting line-up with discipline highlighted by the visitor's inability to hit a six until the 14th over.
Stars seemed on track to overhaul the target when they reached 1 for 90 after 11 overs, but Ben Laughlin changed the complexion of the match, taking the key wickets of Stoinis and Kevin Pietersen in the next over. Apart from a brief whirlwind partnership between Maxwell and captain David Hussey, the total appeared beyond Stars.
Amid sweltering conditions where temperatures hovered at 38 degrees when the match started, Hodge and Ross starred and rescued Strikers from early trouble, after being sent in by Hussey.
When Travis Head (16) fell to a questionable caught-behind decision, despite replays showing the ball appearing to land in front of wicketkeeper Peter Handscomb, Strikers slumped to 4 for 64 in the 10th over, and were in serious peril of posting a competitive total on a flat pitch.
Hodge, the Strikers' new captain, showcased his experience and composure during a stabilising period of batting where he was content in rotating the strike with clever singles. Juxtaposing this was Ross' audacious batting complete with a plethora of bold sweep shots, which accounted for two of his three sixes in the innings.
Fittingly, Ross notched his maiden BBL half century, off just 25 balls, when he swept pacer Scott Boland for a massive six. Boland then got his revenge by trapping Ross lbw in the last over of the innings, but the damage had been done.
Showcasing his class, Hodge timed his innings to perfection scoring 29 off as many balls before accelerating towards the end to finish unbeaten on 56 from 41 deliveries. The Strikers plundered 67 runs in the final four overs.
The Hodge and Ross brilliance came after Strikers' top order had failed to fire, despite a tease from openers Craig Simmons and Tim Ludeman, who hit two sixes each. However, they were unable to produce scores of substance. Mahela Jayawardene, a replacement into the Strikers' squad for the injured Kieron Pollard, seemed likely to try to bat throughout the innings but looked out of touch. Jayawardene was dropped by Handscomb before he had scored, but soon perished attempting a rash slash off James Faulkner, who was the pick of the Stars' bowlers finishing with 1 for 21.
It eventually turned out to be a satisfying start for the Strikers' new leadership combination of Gillespie and Hodge.
Michael Hussey will be a coaching consultant with Australia at the World Twenty20 in India next year, but the first night of the 2015-16 Big Bash League showed that he still has plenty to offer as a T20 batsman as well. Hussey scored an unbeaten 80 from 59 balls to lead Sydney Thunder to their first win over their cross-town rivals Sydney Sixers in the eight meetings between the teams, a convincing 36-run victory at Sydney's Showground Stadium.
Hussey ensured that the Thunder posted a competitive 4 for 158 after he won the toss and chose to bat, and regular wickets throughout the Sixers innings, including three each to Andre Russell and Shane Watson, kept the Thunder on top throughout. The innings petered out and the Sixers were dismissed for 122 in the 20th over, opener Michael Lumb (34) the only batsman who made it past the teens.
In his first match for the Thunder, having played with Melbourne Renegades last summer, Russell was especially key with the ball. He delivered two quick, accurate yorkers that lit up the bails and bowled Brad Haddin and Nic Maddinson to leave the Thunder at 2 for 37, and from there they never really recovered. His economy was also outstanding, his four overs earning him 3 for 13.
Watson also chipped in with 3 for 13 from two overs; having had Jordan Silk caught in the deep he added Sean Abbott, who was caught and bowled, and Trent Lawford, who was bowled. While Russell and Watson picked up three wickets each, Jacques Kallis had also made an important breakthrough by trapping Lumb lbw, although the ball appeared to have pitched outside leg stump.
That ended Lumb's chances of helping the Sixers to victory after he earlier dropped one of the easiest chances imaginable on a cricket field. Watson was on 8 when he chipped a sitter off the bowling of Abbott; Lumb, at mid-off, had only to watch the ball into his hands, but somehow allowed the ball to bounce off his abdomen and could not grasp it. He was lucky the drop cost only eight runs as Watson was bowled by Nathan Lyon for 16.
But there was enough batting in the Thunder line-up to post a strong total. Batting at No.3 and having walked to the crease in the second over, Hussey seemed to set himself the task of batting through the innings, and he did so with class. He lofted Jackson Bird over wide long-off for the first six of the tournament and added three more through his innings.
Twenty runs came off the 17th over of the innings as Hussey and Ben Rohrer (30 off 20) lifted the tempo towards the end. Hussey's efforts proved more than adequate to end a run of seven straight victories for the Sixers over his side and ensured a perfect start for the Thunder, who have yet to finish above the bottom two in any BBL tournament.
Match 2: Adelaide Strikers 5 for 187 (Ross 65, Hodge 56*, Boland 2-55) beat Melbourne Stars 7 for 168 (Stoinis 50, Richardson 3-22) by 19 runs
A record partnership between Brad Hodge and Alex Ross ensured Adelaide Strikers' coach Jason Gillespie enjoyed a fairy-tale homecoming. The pair complemented each other perfectly during a record BBL fifth-wicket stand of 115 to punctuate Striker's 19-run win over the fancied Melbourne Stars at the Adelaide Oval.
Defending 187, Strikers overcame a nervous start in the field to restrict the power-packed Stars batting line-up to 7 for 168. Assisted by a pitch offering turn, English import Adil Rashid menaced with figures of 2 for 27, including the prized scalp of Glenn Maxwell who threatened to seal the deal for the Stars.
Strikers fluffed as many as five chances early in the chase, most notably Craig Simmons' dropped sitter at first slip when Marcus Stoinis was on 2, but they recovered to grasp the initiative. The bowling attack stepped up to curb Stars' batting line-up with discipline highlighted by the visitor's inability to hit a six until the 14th over.
Stars seemed on track to overhaul the target when they reached 1 for 90 after 11 overs, but Ben Laughlin changed the complexion of the match, taking the key wickets of Stoinis and Kevin Pietersen in the next over. Apart from a brief whirlwind partnership between Maxwell and captain David Hussey, the total appeared beyond Stars.
Amid sweltering conditions where temperatures hovered at 38 degrees when the match started, Hodge and Ross starred and rescued Strikers from early trouble, after being sent in by Hussey.
When Travis Head (16) fell to a questionable caught-behind decision, despite replays showing the ball appearing to land in front of wicketkeeper Peter Handscomb, Strikers slumped to 4 for 64 in the 10th over, and were in serious peril of posting a competitive total on a flat pitch.
Hodge, the Strikers' new captain, showcased his experience and composure during a stabilising period of batting where he was content in rotating the strike with clever singles. Juxtaposing this was Ross' audacious batting complete with a plethora of bold sweep shots, which accounted for two of his three sixes in the innings.
Fittingly, Ross notched his maiden BBL half century, off just 25 balls, when he swept pacer Scott Boland for a massive six. Boland then got his revenge by trapping Ross lbw in the last over of the innings, but the damage had been done.
Showcasing his class, Hodge timed his innings to perfection scoring 29 off as many balls before accelerating towards the end to finish unbeaten on 56 from 41 deliveries. The Strikers plundered 67 runs in the final four overs.
The Hodge and Ross brilliance came after Strikers' top order had failed to fire, despite a tease from openers Craig Simmons and Tim Ludeman, who hit two sixes each. However, they were unable to produce scores of substance. Mahela Jayawardene, a replacement into the Strikers' squad for the injured Kieron Pollard, seemed likely to try to bat throughout the innings but looked out of touch. Jayawardene was dropped by Handscomb before he had scored, but soon perished attempting a rash slash off James Faulkner, who was the pick of the Stars' bowlers finishing with 1 for 21.
It eventually turned out to be a satisfying start for the Strikers' new leadership combination of Gillespie and Hodge.
Thursday, 17 December 2015
3 day tour match ENG XI V SA XI Day 3
England XI 470/7d & 190
SAf Invit XI 188 & 5/0 (2.0 ov)
Match drawn
England's hopes of narrowing down their bowling options ahead of the Boxing Day Test were thwarted by a spectacular thunderstorm that wiped out the final afternoon of their opening warm-up game at Potchefstroom.
After a wicket-laden morning session in which England lost their seven remaining wickets to be bowled out for 190 in their second innings, the South Africa Invitational XI's reply was limited to two overs - one apiece for James Anderson and Mark Footitt - before the heavens opened to wash out the remaining two sessions.
The lost overs were particularly unfortunate for Footitt, who still hopes to make his Test debut at Durban next week but struggled for rhythm in the first innings of the match. He and Chris Woakes appear to be in contention for a solitary berth as the third seamer, although their team-mate James Taylor appeared to favour the left-arm line and 90mph pace that Footitt can offer.
"What an exciting bowler he is," he said. "Anyone who can swing it consistently at 90mph is a great asset to have and he showed in glimpses what he can do in this game. He's a great asset and I'm sure he'll play a big part in the series.
"Unfortunately we couldn't get a few more overs into the bowlers but that's the way it is when you come to places like the Highveld and the weather kicks in,'' Taylor added. "We've come straight off the back of the UAE and the boys have hit plenty of balls out there. It's just about getting used to the surfaces we're playing on and the different conditions."
England's morning collapse wasn't ideal preparation either, although with an overnight lead of 381 runs, it was not a major concern for the management, especially given that most of their batsmen had enjoyed good time in the middle in the first innings of the game.
The pick of the attack was once again Junior Dala, the Zambia-born seamer whose twin dismissals of Alex Hales had already been the main talking point of the match. He finished his good work to return figures of 5 for 34 in 12 overs.
His victims today included Gary Ballance, another batsman who failed to advance his case for inclusion in the first Test. He made 25 from 46 balls in a 50-run stand for the fourth wicket with Joe Root, but gave away his start with an unconvincing pull to Thandolwethu Mynaka.
In the very next over, Jonny Bairstow was adjudged caught behind for a golden duck off Dieter Klein, before Root, whose Test position at No.4 is one of the few to have been rubber-stamped, was caught feathering an edge down the leg side to give Dala his second wicket of the morning.
That collapse of three wickets in eight balls put the skids under England's innings, and the tail did little to arrest the slide. Woakes pulled Dala straight to midwicket for 4 before Stuart Broad completed the bowler's five-for by snicking an attempted leave to the keeper.
Moeen Ali (20) and Ben Stokes (27) hung around for a while, adding 34 for the ninth wicket before falling in quick succession to Andile Phehlukwayo, leaving Taylor, making an improbable appearance at No.11, high and dry on 0 not out from five balls.
Taylor, who made 114 in England's rather more successful first innings of 470 for 5, warned his team afterwards that there was no room for any more collective failures as the intensity builds towards the Boxing Day Test, starting with Sunday's second and final warm-up against South Africa A at Potchefstroom.
"It's definitely a habit we need to get out of, you don't want to get into those habits of losing clumps of wickets and in the past that has happened," he said. "We're disappointed with how many wickets we lost in that first session but it happens, especially early in a tour, and it's a good thing for us to learn from - as long as we are learning from it and don't keep making those mistakes.
"The intensity is going to get ramped up in the next game against South Africa A, which is going to be a good challenge. But whatever opposition you're playing you don't want those collapses and for whatever reason it happened we've got to focus as a batting unit for that not to happen on this trip."
SAf Invit XI 188 & 5/0 (2.0 ov)
Match drawn
England's hopes of narrowing down their bowling options ahead of the Boxing Day Test were thwarted by a spectacular thunderstorm that wiped out the final afternoon of their opening warm-up game at Potchefstroom.
After a wicket-laden morning session in which England lost their seven remaining wickets to be bowled out for 190 in their second innings, the South Africa Invitational XI's reply was limited to two overs - one apiece for James Anderson and Mark Footitt - before the heavens opened to wash out the remaining two sessions.
The lost overs were particularly unfortunate for Footitt, who still hopes to make his Test debut at Durban next week but struggled for rhythm in the first innings of the match. He and Chris Woakes appear to be in contention for a solitary berth as the third seamer, although their team-mate James Taylor appeared to favour the left-arm line and 90mph pace that Footitt can offer.
"What an exciting bowler he is," he said. "Anyone who can swing it consistently at 90mph is a great asset to have and he showed in glimpses what he can do in this game. He's a great asset and I'm sure he'll play a big part in the series.
"Unfortunately we couldn't get a few more overs into the bowlers but that's the way it is when you come to places like the Highveld and the weather kicks in,'' Taylor added. "We've come straight off the back of the UAE and the boys have hit plenty of balls out there. It's just about getting used to the surfaces we're playing on and the different conditions."
England's morning collapse wasn't ideal preparation either, although with an overnight lead of 381 runs, it was not a major concern for the management, especially given that most of their batsmen had enjoyed good time in the middle in the first innings of the game.
The pick of the attack was once again Junior Dala, the Zambia-born seamer whose twin dismissals of Alex Hales had already been the main talking point of the match. He finished his good work to return figures of 5 for 34 in 12 overs.
His victims today included Gary Ballance, another batsman who failed to advance his case for inclusion in the first Test. He made 25 from 46 balls in a 50-run stand for the fourth wicket with Joe Root, but gave away his start with an unconvincing pull to Thandolwethu Mynaka.
In the very next over, Jonny Bairstow was adjudged caught behind for a golden duck off Dieter Klein, before Root, whose Test position at No.4 is one of the few to have been rubber-stamped, was caught feathering an edge down the leg side to give Dala his second wicket of the morning.
That collapse of three wickets in eight balls put the skids under England's innings, and the tail did little to arrest the slide. Woakes pulled Dala straight to midwicket for 4 before Stuart Broad completed the bowler's five-for by snicking an attempted leave to the keeper.
Moeen Ali (20) and Ben Stokes (27) hung around for a while, adding 34 for the ninth wicket before falling in quick succession to Andile Phehlukwayo, leaving Taylor, making an improbable appearance at No.11, high and dry on 0 not out from five balls.
Taylor, who made 114 in England's rather more successful first innings of 470 for 5, warned his team afterwards that there was no room for any more collective failures as the intensity builds towards the Boxing Day Test, starting with Sunday's second and final warm-up against South Africa A at Potchefstroom.
"It's definitely a habit we need to get out of, you don't want to get into those habits of losing clumps of wickets and in the past that has happened," he said. "We're disappointed with how many wickets we lost in that first session but it happens, especially early in a tour, and it's a good thing for us to learn from - as long as we are learning from it and don't keep making those mistakes.
"The intensity is going to get ramped up in the next game against South Africa A, which is going to be a good challenge. But whatever opposition you're playing you don't want those collapses and for whatever reason it happened we've got to focus as a batting unit for that not to happen on this trip."
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
3 day tour match ENG XI V SA XI Day 2
England XI 470/7d & 99/3 (30.0 ov)
SAf Invit XI 188
England XI lead by 381 runs with 7 wickets remaining
England's bowlers enjoyed a productive work-out on the second day at Senwes Park but Alex Hales missed a second opportunity to make his case at opener. Hales, who is at the head of the queue to become Alastair Cook's eighth Test opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, made another underwhelming contribution, although the stand did reach double figures on this occasion.
Hales was uncharacteristically subdued in grafting for 8 off 42 balls - the same number of runs he made in the first innings - before playing on to his stumps trying to defend off the back foot. Cook was far more fluent during a partnership of 46 but he followed Hales back to the dressing room an over later, for 37 off 47 balls with seven fours, after playing around a straight delivery from Andile Phehlukwayo.
Cook would doubtless have preferred a longer stint in the middle but he could reflect with satisfaction on England's earlier efforts with the ball. Stuart Broad took 3 for 18 and all of the seamers bar James Anderson - who only bowled four overs during the afternoon - were among the wickets as the SA Invitational XI were dismissed for 188.
Mark Footitt was a touch wild and woolly on his first appearance in an England shirt, taking 2 for 52 from 12 overs. Ben Stokes also picked up two wickets as his comeback from injury continued to go well, and Moeen Ali produced tidy figures with his offspin, while also accounting for SA XI top-scorer, Heinrich Klaasen.
Centuries from Stokes and James Taylor on the first day had already put England in charge and they opted for further batting practice during the final session.
Nick Compton followed up his first-innings half-century at No. 3 by making 15 before chipping to long-off and his dismissal allowed Gary Ballance - another batsman returning to the England fold - some time at the crease. Alongside Joe Root, he helped the tourists to 99 for 3 and a lead of 381 with one day left in the game.
After Cook had declared England's first innings on their overnight score of 470 for 5, Broad struck with the fourth ball of the morning, Aiden Markram edging to first slip. Broad also removed Luthando Mnyanda in his fourth over, a thick inside edge helping to uproot off stump, and was then given a rest until just before tea, when he returned to end a last-wicket stand of 51 between Thandolwethu Mnyaka and Johannes Diseko.
Left-armer Footitt is generally regarded as one of the fastest bowlers around the county circuit and he began at full tilt. SA XI opener Simon Khomari, also a lefty, found the pace to his liking and struck a boundary in each of Footitt's first three overs; when the bowler responded with a bouncer, it flew high and wide of wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow for four byes.
Despite the heat pushing up towards 35C, Cook kept Footitt on for a six-over spell and he finally hit his mark with the penultimate ball before the drinks break, sliding a delivery across the right-handed Zubayr Hamza to take the edge, Bairstow completing a low catch to his right. In Footitt's second spell, Klaasen took him for three fours in an over, as runs continued to flow, but another breakthrough followed soon after as Qaasim Adams was adjudged lbw.
Klaasen and Adams had helped repair some of the damage done during the morning session, after the SA XI had slipped to 56 for 5. Chris Woakes, seemingly contesting the third seamer slot for the Durban Test with Footitt, removed Khomari with a back-of-a-length delivery that was quicker than it looked and Stokes had Somila Seyibokwe caught behind off the glove, also trying to pull.
Klaasen was the more aggressive during a 62-run stand but, after Adams' dismissal by Footitt, he fell two runs short of a half-century, edging a drive off Moeen to slip. Stokes picked up his second wicket, Phehlukwayo bowled attempting to leave, and Moeen deflected a shot from Mnyaka into the stumps at the non-striker's end to run out Ruben Claassen and leave the SA XI 137 for 9.
SAf Invit XI 188
England XI lead by 381 runs with 7 wickets remaining
England's bowlers enjoyed a productive work-out on the second day at Senwes Park but Alex Hales missed a second opportunity to make his case at opener. Hales, who is at the head of the queue to become Alastair Cook's eighth Test opening partner since the retirement of Andrew Strauss, made another underwhelming contribution, although the stand did reach double figures on this occasion.
Hales was uncharacteristically subdued in grafting for 8 off 42 balls - the same number of runs he made in the first innings - before playing on to his stumps trying to defend off the back foot. Cook was far more fluent during a partnership of 46 but he followed Hales back to the dressing room an over later, for 37 off 47 balls with seven fours, after playing around a straight delivery from Andile Phehlukwayo.
Cook would doubtless have preferred a longer stint in the middle but he could reflect with satisfaction on England's earlier efforts with the ball. Stuart Broad took 3 for 18 and all of the seamers bar James Anderson - who only bowled four overs during the afternoon - were among the wickets as the SA Invitational XI were dismissed for 188.
Mark Footitt was a touch wild and woolly on his first appearance in an England shirt, taking 2 for 52 from 12 overs. Ben Stokes also picked up two wickets as his comeback from injury continued to go well, and Moeen Ali produced tidy figures with his offspin, while also accounting for SA XI top-scorer, Heinrich Klaasen.
Centuries from Stokes and James Taylor on the first day had already put England in charge and they opted for further batting practice during the final session.
Nick Compton followed up his first-innings half-century at No. 3 by making 15 before chipping to long-off and his dismissal allowed Gary Ballance - another batsman returning to the England fold - some time at the crease. Alongside Joe Root, he helped the tourists to 99 for 3 and a lead of 381 with one day left in the game.
After Cook had declared England's first innings on their overnight score of 470 for 5, Broad struck with the fourth ball of the morning, Aiden Markram edging to first slip. Broad also removed Luthando Mnyanda in his fourth over, a thick inside edge helping to uproot off stump, and was then given a rest until just before tea, when he returned to end a last-wicket stand of 51 between Thandolwethu Mnyaka and Johannes Diseko.
Left-armer Footitt is generally regarded as one of the fastest bowlers around the county circuit and he began at full tilt. SA XI opener Simon Khomari, also a lefty, found the pace to his liking and struck a boundary in each of Footitt's first three overs; when the bowler responded with a bouncer, it flew high and wide of wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow for four byes.
Despite the heat pushing up towards 35C, Cook kept Footitt on for a six-over spell and he finally hit his mark with the penultimate ball before the drinks break, sliding a delivery across the right-handed Zubayr Hamza to take the edge, Bairstow completing a low catch to his right. In Footitt's second spell, Klaasen took him for three fours in an over, as runs continued to flow, but another breakthrough followed soon after as Qaasim Adams was adjudged lbw.
Klaasen and Adams had helped repair some of the damage done during the morning session, after the SA XI had slipped to 56 for 5. Chris Woakes, seemingly contesting the third seamer slot for the Durban Test with Footitt, removed Khomari with a back-of-a-length delivery that was quicker than it looked and Stokes had Somila Seyibokwe caught behind off the glove, also trying to pull.
Klaasen was the more aggressive during a 62-run stand but, after Adams' dismissal by Footitt, he fell two runs short of a half-century, edging a drive off Moeen to slip. Stokes picked up his second wicket, Phehlukwayo bowled attempting to leave, and Moeen deflected a shot from Mnyaka into the stumps at the non-striker's end to run out Ruben Claassen and leave the SA XI 137 for 9.
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
3 day tour match ENG XI V SA XI Day 1
England XI 470/5 (88.0 ov)
SAf Invit XI
England XI won the toss and elected to bat (Maximum 100 overs)
Centuries from James Taylor and Ben Stokes helped England recover from a shaky start to post an imposing 470 for 5 on the first day of their opening warm-up match in South Africa. Despite the failure of their newest opening partnership, England's day could not have gone much better, with Nick Compton also contributing a half-century from No,3.
The star of the show, however, with 158 from 131 balls, was Stokes, who has been recovering from an injury to his collarbone joint sustained in the field during the Sharjah Test against Pakistan. In addition to his forceful batting, he has provided encouragement over his availability as an allrounder for the first Test at Durban by bowling in the nets in Potchefstroom.
A domineering display with the bat suggested he has lost none of his edge in the meantime, even if the latter part of his onslaught came against a selection of part-time bowlers. He struck 23 fours and cleared the boundary ropes five times at Senwes Park, doing his best to hit the "Hit Me" target painted on the roof of one of the outbuildings, and helped England past 400 at a scoring rate of almost 5.5 runs per over before retiring.
Taylor also retired his innings after making a more sedate century, allowing England's lower-middle order valuable time in the middle. Moeen Ali reached the close unbeaten on a breezy 33 from 30 balls with Chris Woakes alongside him on 10, while Jonny Bairstow, who has been confirmed by the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, as England's wicketkeeper for Durban, reached a fluent 35 from 46 balls, including five fours. He was eventually bowled by the pick of the South African bowlers, Thandolwethu Mnyaka, who returned the respectable figures of 3 for 66 in 18 overs.
The first of Mnyaka's wickets had come from the first ball of the day's third over, when he jagged one back from round the wicket to trap Alastair Cook lbw for 2, and 6 for 1 quickly became 10 for 2 when Alex Hales, another man whose starting place for Durban has already been confirmed, left one from Junior Dala that came back a fraction to hit the top of off stump.
England's recovery came first through Compton, who shared stands of 46 with Joe Root and 99 with Taylor. Installed as the likely successor to Ian Bell at No. 3, Compton left judiciously on his way to a 107-ball half-century - though he was given a life when dropped in the slips on 49 - and picked up nine fours before being pinned lbw for 58 to give Mnyaka his second wicket of the day.
Root made a typically punchy start, scoring all of his runs in boundaries during an innings of 28 off 26, but was caught behind off former South Africa Under-19 quick Andile Phehlukwayo while trying to force another back-foot drive. While Compton accumulated steadily, Taylor continued with the busy approach and, after England had gone to lunch on 90 for 3, both moved past fifty in the afternoon session.
Mnyaka's strike left England 155 for 4 but that merely brought Stokes to the crease to begin his destructive intervention. Taylor recorded England's first century on tour, from 137 balls with 13 fours, a six and an all-run five (thanks to an overthrow), and Stokes followed him to three figures a few overs later, despite Taylor having a 52-run head start.
England, who will mix and match their players in the course of the three-day fixture, were set to give opportunities to Woakes and Mark Footitt with the ball, as they look to settle on a third seamer for the Boxing Day Test in Durban. Gary Ballance and James Anderson were also named as part of a 13-man side and will play some part in the later stages of the match.
SAf Invit XI
England XI won the toss and elected to bat (Maximum 100 overs)
Centuries from James Taylor and Ben Stokes helped England recover from a shaky start to post an imposing 470 for 5 on the first day of their opening warm-up match in South Africa. Despite the failure of their newest opening partnership, England's day could not have gone much better, with Nick Compton also contributing a half-century from No,3.
The star of the show, however, with 158 from 131 balls, was Stokes, who has been recovering from an injury to his collarbone joint sustained in the field during the Sharjah Test against Pakistan. In addition to his forceful batting, he has provided encouragement over his availability as an allrounder for the first Test at Durban by bowling in the nets in Potchefstroom.
A domineering display with the bat suggested he has lost none of his edge in the meantime, even if the latter part of his onslaught came against a selection of part-time bowlers. He struck 23 fours and cleared the boundary ropes five times at Senwes Park, doing his best to hit the "Hit Me" target painted on the roof of one of the outbuildings, and helped England past 400 at a scoring rate of almost 5.5 runs per over before retiring.
Taylor also retired his innings after making a more sedate century, allowing England's lower-middle order valuable time in the middle. Moeen Ali reached the close unbeaten on a breezy 33 from 30 balls with Chris Woakes alongside him on 10, while Jonny Bairstow, who has been confirmed by the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, as England's wicketkeeper for Durban, reached a fluent 35 from 46 balls, including five fours. He was eventually bowled by the pick of the South African bowlers, Thandolwethu Mnyaka, who returned the respectable figures of 3 for 66 in 18 overs.
The first of Mnyaka's wickets had come from the first ball of the day's third over, when he jagged one back from round the wicket to trap Alastair Cook lbw for 2, and 6 for 1 quickly became 10 for 2 when Alex Hales, another man whose starting place for Durban has already been confirmed, left one from Junior Dala that came back a fraction to hit the top of off stump.
England's recovery came first through Compton, who shared stands of 46 with Joe Root and 99 with Taylor. Installed as the likely successor to Ian Bell at No. 3, Compton left judiciously on his way to a 107-ball half-century - though he was given a life when dropped in the slips on 49 - and picked up nine fours before being pinned lbw for 58 to give Mnyaka his second wicket of the day.
Root made a typically punchy start, scoring all of his runs in boundaries during an innings of 28 off 26, but was caught behind off former South Africa Under-19 quick Andile Phehlukwayo while trying to force another back-foot drive. While Compton accumulated steadily, Taylor continued with the busy approach and, after England had gone to lunch on 90 for 3, both moved past fifty in the afternoon session.
Mnyaka's strike left England 155 for 4 but that merely brought Stokes to the crease to begin his destructive intervention. Taylor recorded England's first century on tour, from 137 balls with 13 fours, a six and an all-run five (thanks to an overthrow), and Stokes followed him to three figures a few overs later, despite Taylor having a 52-run head start.
England, who will mix and match their players in the course of the three-day fixture, were set to give opportunities to Woakes and Mark Footitt with the ball, as they look to settle on a third seamer for the Boxing Day Test in Durban. Gary Ballance and James Anderson were also named as part of a 13-man side and will play some part in the later stages of the match.
Monday, 7 December 2015
4th Test IND V SA (IND won by 337 runs)
Day 1
India 231/7 (84 ov)
South Africa
Considering they were effectively operating with a three-man attack, South Africa did incredibly well to take seven wickets on a pitch that was better for batting than the one in Nagpur. However, the surface was not docile enough to afford India the luxury of facing an inept fourth bowler, and the lack of support for South Africa's frontline meant the batsmen could score freely when the first-choice bowlers were taken off or were tiring.
India ended the day on 231 for 7, the highest total of the series, but they might have struggled to make 200 had Imran Tahir not been in awful form. The two new bowlers in South Africa's XI, offspinner Dane Piedt and seamer Kyle Abbott, were incisive and displayed impressive stamina, taking four and three wickets apiece, and though Morne Morkel did not strike he offered control. Tahir, however, was bowled for only seven overs on the first day because he conceded 36 runs, serving up a buffet of full tosses and long-hops. The real damage to South Africa was in the overs Tahir could not bowl, because the rest were less threatening to face and easier to score off as they tired: Piedt bowled 34 overs, Morkel 17, and Abbott 17 for only 23 runs.
The only Indian batsman good enough to battle through the hard periods and cash in on the good times was Ajinkya Rahane, who achieved his maiden half-century in India in his seventh innings and was approaching a fifth Test hundred, when bad light ended play six overs before stumps. His brisk partnership of 70 with Virat Kohli steadied India after a top-order wobble, and his rear-guard stands with Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin ensured India survived the day. A first-innings total of 250 will prove challenging on this surface, especially if a team has four reliable bowlers to defend it.
Batting was difficult in the morning, when the ball was new and there was some moisture in the pitch, but Shikhar Dhawan managed to anchor India through the first session for the loss of only one wicket. He took 18 balls to score his first run. India scored only 6 in the first 30 minutes, and 16 in the first hour.
Abbott had figures of 8-3-11-0 in his first spell; the variable bounce made facing him trickier. One good-length ball to Dhawan passed the off stump a little above the knee. Another short-of-a-length delivery climbed on M Vijay and was collected by wicketkeeper Dane Vilas at head height, but the ball immediately after kept low, forcing a crouching defence from the batsman. Vijay was later smashed on the right elbow by one that rose from a length, and wrung his hand in pain.
Abbott had Vijay caught at slip in the 12th over but he had over-stepped, his foot erring by the smallest of margins. Vijay scored only two more runs, though, before he nicked a delivery from Piedt that drifted away from him but did not spin, to Hashim Amla at first slip.
In the third over after lunch, Piedt broke Dhawan's resistance with a classic one-two combo. The first ball drew Dhawan forward and spun away from the left-hander from around the wicket, passing the outside edge. The next delivery slid on with the arm, beating Dhawan's inside edge as he played for the turn, trapping him lbw. Abbott then found the gap between Pujara's bat and pad, the delivery angling in to uproot off stump after grazing the inside edge. India had gone from 60 for 1 to 66 for 3.
In the middle period of the second session, however, Rahane and Kohli batted superbly, putting away loose deliveries and taking frequent singles to ensure pressure did not build. Their 50-run partnership came off 67 deliveries and they looked set to cash in on South Africa's weak support bowlers, when Kohli suffered a freak dismissal.
Kohli slog-swept Piedt, making clean contact. Instead of racing to the boundary, though, the ball thudded into the thigh of the fielder at short leg and lobbed back up towards the pitch. The wicketkeeper Dane Vilas reacted quickly and dived forward, taking the catch at full length and ensuring that Temba Bavuma, who was hopping about in pain, had something to celebrate.
That wicket resulted in two more in quick time. Rohit Sharma was dropped at slip by Amla off Abbott on 0, but two balls later he tried to slog Piedt over deep midwicket, and got a leading edge to Tahir at long-on. Abbott then bowled Saha off the inside edge in the final over before tea, reducing India to 139 for 6. Rahane went into the break on 31 off 62 balls, having scored only one run off the 20 balls he faced since Kohli's dismissal.
India's best session was the one after tea, during which they scored 92 runs for the loss of Ravindra Jadeja. Rahane and Jadeja added 59 for the seventh wicket, and scored freely against a tiring Piedt. Rahane slog-swept and pulled the offspinner for a six and a four in one over to pass 50, while Jadeja punished loose deliveries from Tahir and Duminy.
South Africa had two moments of misfortune, too, after Jadeja was caught deftly by Dean Elgar at midwicket for 24. Ashwin was given not out when Piedt appealed for a bat-pad catch though the ball had brushed his glove, and then Rahane, on 78, was dropped by Amla at slip, capping a frustrating day in the field for the South African captain. Both those moments deprived Piedt of a fifth wicket, and allowed India to end the day in a far better position than they should have been.
Day 2
South Africa 121
India 334
South Africa followed defeat on a spin-friendly Mohali pitch with a batting failure on a normal Indian pitch in Bangalore. The pattern has repeated itself: Nagpur was treacherous to batsmen, Delhi offered close to 50-50 balance between bat and ball, but there was no change in South Africa's batting fortunes.
Responding to India's 334, they were bowled out for 121, 14 short of the follow-on mark. Play was called off for bad light soon after South Africa lost their final wicket, but only after India had confirmed they weren't going to make the visitors bat again.
The state of the match reflected how well India bowled as a unit, but also how poorly South Africa played. There was surely a psychological element to it, amply displayed in the dismissal of Faf du Plessis, who has had a horror tour. In Bangalore, he was out jumping down the pitch, premeditatedly, to the third ball he faced. Here, he attempted a lap-sweep off the second ball he faced and only managed to spoon the ball into the leg-slip region. Ajinkya Rahane had enough time to sprint across from slip and complete the catch. Whatever the conditions are, it must be hard to bat normally when you are an out-of-form batsman on the losing side at the tail-end of a long tour.
At tea, South Africa had been in a fairly decent position, 38 for 1. But they crumbled, as touring sides in India often do, in the final session, losing nine wickets for 83 runs. Most of the wickets were the result of poor footwork or judgment of length. Temba Bavuma and Hashim Amla were out cutting deliveries from Ravindra Jadeja that weren't short enough. JP Duminy and Dane Vilas were bowled by reverse-swinging deliveries with feet pinned to the crease.
But those two wickets - Umesh Yadav straightening one past Duminy's outside edge and Ishant Sharma bending one in between Vilas' bat and pad - also had a lot to do with the perfect length India's seamers bowled, and their ability to generate early reverse. As early as the 15th over, in fact, when Umesh broke South Africa's biggest opening stand of the series - 36 - by swinging one away from Dean Elgar to find the left-hander's outside edge from around the wicket.
The seamers took a little time finding their rhythm, with Ishant slanting the ball too wide to make Elgar play early on and Umesh drifting onto the openers' pads a couple of times in his first spell, but once they did, they were pinpoint accurate, attacking the stumps relentlessly.
R Ashwin bowled as he has right through the series, even if he didn't make the key breakthroughs for once. Jadeja used the crease and mixed up his release points - his arm slightly higher for one ball, more round-arm for the next - to keep the batsmen guessing in conditions that weren't too difficult as long as you looked to play straight.
Of all the South African batsmen, only AB de Villiers followed this maxim. While the rest fell around him, he just batted normally. But the situation prompted him to take a few risks, and Ishant's judgment on the boundary rope was spot-on. De Villiers came down the track and looked to hit Jadeja over long-off. The bat spun in his hand so the ball landed in Ishant's rather than beyond him and over the rope. Just like that, Jadeja had his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests.
The pace and tenor of South Africa's innings was in stark contrast to India's in the morning, when Ajinkya Rahane made the first century of the series, played its longest innings, and put on, with Ashwin, its highest partnership, of 98. Eventually, India stretched their total to 334 before Kyle Abbott ended their innings in the fifth over after lunch.
Abbott, who had pounded in, attacked the stumps, and been relentlessly accurate all through the innings, finished with figures of 5 for 40 in 24.5 overs.
South Africa took the second new ball at the start of play, in the 85th over of India's innings. There was less movement for Morne Morkel and Abbott than there had been with the first new ball, and definitely less inconsistent bounce. A few stopped on the batsmen, but there was not much else to worry about from the surface. South Africa could have struck early nonetheless, when Ashwin nicked Abbott to slip, only for Hashim Amla put down his third catch of the game. It was a harder chance than the first two, the ball dying on him and giving the umpires cause to think he may have grabbed it just before it hit the turf, but replays confirmed he had spilled it and picked it up again on the half-volley.
That apart, South Africa struggled to break the partnership. Ashwin, who had made a cautious start on the first afternoon, grew in confidence, and began timing his flicks and back-foot punches off the seamers. India reached their 250 in the ninth over of the morning, and Rahane, who began the day on 89, reached his hundred in the next over, getting there with a cracking boundary, a punch down the ground off Abbott.
The spinners came on after that, and Rahane went after them, skipping nimbly down the track to hit two sixes in three balls off Dane Piedt - one over cow corner, the other over long-off. He used his feet to Dean Elgar as well, lifting him for a clean, one-bounce four over extra cover, and was looking unstoppable when he failed to get the desired elevation with another lofted drive and picked out the cover fielder off Imran Tahir.
It was Tahir's first wicket, in only his tenth over. It was the 105th over of the Indian innings, reflecting both how erratic Tahir had been and how little faith Amla had shown in him to turn his performance around.
The wicket didn't stall India's progress. On the contrary, Ashwin grew more aggressive, farming the strike and playing his shots at every opportunity. In the eight overs between Rahane's dismissal and lunch, he struck three fours and a straight six off Tahir that brought up his half-century.
Day 3
India 334 & 190/4 (81 ov)
South Africa 121
India lead by 403 runs
An unbroken 133-run partnership between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane - the first century stand of the series - deflated South Africa after Morne Morkel had given them a sliver of hope with three early top-order wickets. India were 57 for 4 when Rahane joined Kohli early in the post-lunch session. They were still in command, their lead a healthy 270, but South Africa were eyeing the possibility of having less than 400 to chase. When bad light brought day three to a close with nine overs still to be bowled, Kohli and Rahane were still unbeaten, on 83 and 52 respectively, India's lead now a mighty 403.
Morkel took wickets off successive deliveries in the first session to leave India 8 for 2, yorked Shikhar Dhawan soon after lunch, and continued to threaten with pace and reverse-swing to end the day with figures of 3 for 29 from 17 overs. The rest of the attack did their job too, but their efforts seemed to have a tinge of futility to them, thanks to the disappointing performance of their batsmen on the second day. Getting bowled out for 121 and conceding a 213-run first-innings lead was always going to leave South Africa chasing the game.
Still, India had to fight hard. Dhawan had batted as cautiously as he had done in the first innings, leaving resolutely outside off stump, had taken a couple of blows, off awkwardly bouncing deliveries from Kyle Abbott and Imran Tahir, and had moved to 21 off 85 when Morkel speared a full, fast ball under his bat from around the wicket.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who had mirrored Dhawan's struggle at the other end, fell three overs later, bowled for the third time in successive innings. This time it was Tahir who rattled his stumps with a flatter, quicker legbreak that left Pujara going back rather than forward, playing the trajectory rather than the length. India were now 57 for 4.
Kohli and Rahane had looked the most assured batsmen in India's first innings, and they continued to bat fluently, timing their shots better than the top order had done. But South Africa's bowlers still made them work hard for their runs. Though their partnership run-rate of 2.66 was significantly better than the 1.97 achieved by the previous-highest stand in the innings, between Dhawan and Pujara, it was still slow going by their standards.
Even Tahir, erratic all through the tour, found his rhythm, bowling with accuracy and keeping the batsmen guessing with his variations. A big-spinning legbreak to Kohli seemed to have given him his second wicket when umpire Bruce Oxenford upheld the South Africans' caught-behind appeal, but a check for no-ball showed Tahir's heel to have landed marginally, but decisively, beyond the crease. Further replays also suggested Kohli hadn't edged the ball. Kohli survived, but might still face censure from the match referee for his reaction to the initial decision: he refused to walk off for a few seconds, glaring at the umpire and muttering under his breath.
M Vijay too might have gone into the match referee's notebook, when Kumar Dharmasena gave him out caught behind off Morkel. That wicket, in the fifth over of India's innings, came off a snorter of a bouncer, angling into the batsman and forcing him to lift his gloves and bat instinctively to shield his face. Given out, Vijay's first reaction was to point at his arm guard. He was right that the ball had struck him there, and therefore unlucky to be given out, but gesturing to the umpire was an ill-advised step.
That was the last ball of Morkel's third over. First ball of his fourth was pitched at a near-perfect spot, on an off-stump line and the fuller side of a good length, and it straightened to hit the top of off stump after beating the outside edge of India's No. 3. It was Rohit Sharma, rather than Cheteshwar Pujara, who occupied this slot.
Initially it seemed that the promotion came about because Pujara had suffered a bruised hand while fielding at short leg on day two, but then it seemed it might have been tactical, when Pujara walked out at No. 4. Either way, it ended a horrendous Test with the bat for Rohit - he holed out to long-on for 1 in the first innings, and followed that with a golden duck in the second.
Rahane had a couple of nervy moments against the spinners, preferring to play them off the back foot, as he had done in the first innings, but not playing as steadfastly straight. Looking to pull Tahir, low bounce forced him to bottom-edge the ball into the flap of his pad and balloon in the air. Only Rahane's own physical presence prevented Dane Vilas from diving forward from behind the stumps and completing the catch. A few overs later, sharp turn from Piedt made Rahane jam his bat down awkwardly and squeeze the ball into the on side, after initially looking to cut him against the turn.
But it was Morkel who continued to pose the most problems. Coming back for his third spell, he reversed a 45-over-old ball away from Rahane to produce a massive caught-behind appeal. It was turned down, rightly so, with replays showing the ball missing his outside edge and flicking his back pad. In his next over, he bent the ball into Rahane twice, and the batsman left the ball on both occasions. The first one narrowly missed the top of off stump, the second hit Rahane's front pad, height preventing another full-throated appeal from being upheld.
By tea, though, both Kohli and Rahane had settled in and were batting with a fair degree of comfort. Barring an inside-edge from Rahane off Abbott that narrowly missed leg stump, South Africa didn't pose too many problems to the pair in the middle.
Kohli scored at a fairly good clip, though not with his usual array of leg-side whips and cover drives; with the pitch throwing up occasionally uncertain bounce, he played later than he often does, letting the ball come on and picking up a number of boundaries with controlled dabs to the third-man region. Rahane was more sedate, scoring 9 runs off the first 42 balls he faced in the session before changing gears with a powerfully swept four off Tahir.
Starting with that shot, Rahane picked up three fours in five overs, and soon reached his half-century, completing an emphatic turnaround in form. Having started the series with scores of 15, 2, 13 and 9, he was ending it with a century and a fifty in the same match.
Day 4
India 334 & 267/5d
South Africa 121 & 72/2 (target 481)
South Africa require another 409 runs with 8 wickets remaining
In their final innings of a long and wretched series, South Africa's batsmen produced their most unyielding display, responding with dour defence in the face of a mountainous fourth-innings task. Hashim Amla was at the forefront of their defiance, playing the slowest innings of 200 balls or more in the history of Test cricket*, but South Africa's job, notwithstanding their captain's monumental effort, was less than half done.
India declared half an hour from lunch, after Ajinkya Rahane had become the fifth Indian batsman to score twin tons in a Test match, setting a target of 481 with just over five sessions remaining. At stumps on day four, South Africa had only lost two wickets while eating up 72 overs. They only scored 72 in that time, but it hardly mattered to them: South Africa were batting time, and runs were simply not on their minds.
At stumps, Amla was batting on 23 off 207 balls and with him was AB de Villiers, on 11 off 91. Their third-wicket partnership was worth 23 off 29.2 overs. Before that, Amla and Temba Bavuma had put on 44 in 38.4 overs.
South Africa began their fourth innings with a possible 158 overs remaining in the match. Given the sheer amount of time left, a draw seemed out of question, but South Africa have shown themselves capable - in Adelaide three years ago and in Colombo last year - of defying that sort of logic. South Africa's batting has been far from its best during this series, but they kept faith in their ability - unique in this era - to bat long without thinking of runs.
They had five overs to see out before lunch, and did not survive that period unscathed. R Ashwin looped one up to Dean Elgar from around the wicket, drifting it into the left-hander and getting it to leave him from a middle-stump line. Elgar didn't reach the pitch while trying to drive straight, and Rahane took a comfortable catch at slip.
In walked Amla. It took him 46 balls to get off the mark, and the first runs were unintentional, his back-foot defensive stroke off Ravindra Jadeja squirting away into the fine leg region. Bavuma, blocking with comparable single-mindedness at the other end was on 8 off 50 balls when Ashwin sent down a rare half-tracker - possibly slipped in deliberately to break the batsman's rhythm - that left him with almost no option but to pull for six.
The overs ran by quickly, hypnotically, and the close-in cordon grew in strength. It was fascinating to watch. South Africa, perhaps, were making things more difficult for themselves by contributing to India's rapid over rate and leaving themselves more overs to face. When their innings began, 68 overs remained from the 90 scheduled for the day; India bowled 72.
And while neither batsman was making too many mistakes - their control percentages hovered in the low-to-mid-90s - every little mistake was amplified by the presence of four, sometimes five, fielders around the bat at all times.
Between lunch and tea, the edges weren't finding fielders though. Amla came forward to defend Jadeja, and nicked him between first and second slip. Ishant Sharma, replacing Ashwin in the 28th over, found Bavuma's edge twice in the second over of his spell, and the ball streaked through the slips on both occasions.
By tea, India had bowled 22 maidens in 39 overs, and had only one wicket to show for it. It took a ball of great beauty from their best bowler, Ashwin, to finally break the stand in the fourth over of the final session. It drifted away slightly from Bavuma's off stump, and hit it as he played for more turn than there was. The length was key, punishing the batsman for his lack of a front-foot stride.
The pitch seemed to have slowed down slightly, but the batsmen were still being tested, forced to stay vigilant every ball. Ashwin continued to confound with his flight, and slipped in the odd legbreak for variety. Jadeja got a couple to turn sharply past de Villiers' edge. Umesh Yadav got one to lift from a length and smack Amla's left glove. It was, perhaps, the moment that best summed up Amla's impregnability: his hands were as close to his body as possible, and they cushioned the impact of the ball to make it drop right next to his feet.
Amla and de Villiers had been at the crease for 62 balls without scoring a run, when Kohli decided to shake things up by bringing on his part-timers. Shikhar Dhawan sent down two wide full-tosses in his first over, and Amla had no option but to smash them to the cover-point boundary, but in between he got one to spit up from a length. Amla was fully stretched out in defence, his head over the ball and his bat face almost parallel with the ground, when the ball popped up off his glove and over Cheteshwar Pujara at silly point. Pujara spun around and dived full-length, but could only get his fingertips to the ball. It was barely a half-chance, but also the only chance India would get during the partnership.
In the morning, Rahane shifted gears effortlessly as India resumed 403 ahead, looking for quick runs. On day three, he had scored 52 off 152 balls, shutting South Africa out of the contest in a display of cool professionalism in the company of Virat Kohli. On the fourth morning, Rahane made 48 off 54 balls.
The only major change in his batting was a willingness to go after anything remotely wide of the stumps. He picked up two fours and a six in the first four overs of the morning, all in the arc between third man and deep cover, the pick of them a perfectly timed ramp over the slips off Morne Morkel.
Kohli, who began the day on 83, only added five to his overnight score before he was lbw to a ball from Kyle Abbott that crept through at shin height. It didn't hamper India's scoring rate as Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha kept playing their shots. Rahane raced through the 80s with sixes in successive overs off Imran Tahir and Dean Elgar, and Saha used his bottom hand to telling effect in swiping three fours in two overs.
The declaration was just around the corner. Tahir bowled one full at Rahane's pads, and he clipped it away through the leg side to bring up a hundred that he barely celebrated, raising his arms momentarily before walking off towards the dressing room. It was an understated reaction to an outstanding achievement. Among Indian batsmen, only Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (three times), Rahul Dravid (twice) and Kohli had made hundreds in both innings of a Test match before Rahane.
Day 5
India 334 & 267/5d
South Africa 121 & 143 (143.1 ov, target 481)
India won by 337 runs
The scorecard will say South Africa were bowled out for 143, another low score in series where they only passed 200 once in seven attempts. It will say India won by 337 runs to complete a 3-0 series win. But for anyone who didn't witness the Delhi Test, it will take a closer reading to appreciate the extent of South Africa's fourth-innings defiance and India's struggle to bowl them out. Between them, India's four specialist bowlers sent down 136.1 overs, bowled 87 maidens against a set of batsmen who had made up their minds to block everything.
In the end, South Africa simply had too much to do. AB de Villiers played out 297 balls, Hashim Amla 244, and Temba Bavuma and Faf du Plessis ate up a fair share of deliveries in a concerted effort of stonewalling. But to do so for more than five sessions was simply too much of an ask on a slow Feroz Shah Kotla surface that began deteriorating halfway through the final day.
Having lost only five wickets in 138 overs until tea on day five, South Africa lost their last five wickets in the space of 27 balls. Umesh Yadav, bowling fast and reversing the ball appreciably, bowled Dane Vilas and Kyle Abbott, and had Dane Piedt caught behind by Wriddhiman Saha diving in front of first slip. But the big wicket was that of de Villiers, who had been at the crease since early in the final session of day four. Having defended resolutely and taken a series of painful blows on the glove, he wasn't able to keep out an R Ashwin offbreak that spat at him from a good length. The ball popped off that much-battered glove and settled in leg slip's hands.
It was only fitting that Ashwin, the best bowler on either side right through the series, ended the match with another five-for, bowling Morne Morkel as he shouldered arms to a ball that drifted into him through the air and spun less than expected. He ended the series with 31 wickets and his fifth Man-of-the-Series award.
Till his dismissal, de Villiers had been a picture of calm at the crease, his footwork precise but not extravagant, moving him into compact positions from where he watched the ball closely and defended at the last possible moment. He was not getting as close to the pitch of the ball as Amla had consistently done, and there were more edges as a result. However, his hands were impeccably soft, and the ball died a painless death a short distance from the bat and well away from the close-in fielders.
If anything, his approach possibly made the pitch look better to bat on than it actually was. A number of deliveries misbehaved in one way or another over the course of the day, but De Villiers minimised their danger by playing almost impossibly late, and refusing entirely to go hard at the ball.
The one bowler who consistently worried him was Umesh Yadav. In two overs close to the lunch break, he got the ball to rear at de Villiers three times. Twice he knocked his bat out of his hands, smacking his top glove once and his bottom glove on the other occasion. When he came back into the attack late in the second session, he hit his glove with another lifter, either side of balls that jagged in, kept low, and struck him on the unprotected part of the knee.
India had a 72-over-old ball at the start of the day, and the first eight overs were shared among the two seamers - who tried, with little success, to unsettle Amla and de Villiers from around the wicket - the occasional leg-rollers of Virat Kohli, and the never-before-seen legbreaks of Cheteshwar Pujara. India were waiting to bring their spinners on when the second new ball was available. With the pitch slowing down considerably, they were banking on getting some life out of it with a harder ball with a prominent seam.
Jadeja produced the wicket-taking ball in his third over, drawing Amla forward with flight, and getting the ball to drift into him and spin away sharply. For once, Amla's front-foot stride was short and insufficient to get close to the pitch of the ball, which beat his outside edge and clipped the outside of his off stump.
An air of expectation hung around the middle during the course of Jadeja's next few overs, with the allrounder producing a loud lbw shout by beating du Plessis with a slider and then producing an edge that fell just short of slip.
Eventually, du Plessis settled down, proving himself a worthy recipient of South Africa's blocking baton. Amla had taken 46 balls to get off the mark, and de Villiers 33. Du Plessis bested both of them, taking 53 balls to get his first run, a pushed single into the covers off an Ashwin full toss.
By then, Ashwin had tried everything - a fuller length to try and exploit footmarks outside the off stump, only to be stymied by the South Africans' refusal to drive, legbreaks and carrom balls, and a switch to around the wicket.
At the other end, Jadeja produced an unceasingly metronomic performance. He kept wheeling in, kept attacking the stumps, and the batsmen kept defending stubbornly. His figures at the start of the day were 23-16-10-0. At lunch, they were 35-28-10-1.
Having last conceded a run in his 19th over, bowled during the final session of day four, Jadeja threatened Bapu Nadkarni's 51-year-old record of 21 successive maidens until he sent down a short ball in his 37th; it sat up off the pitch, so slow it almost demanded that du Plessis punch it through the vacant mid-on region.
By that time, though, the pitch was beginning to show increasing signs of wear. Turn and bounce from Ashwin produced an appeal for a slip catch off de Villiers in the 117th over, but the ball had lobbed off pad, not bat. In his next over, Ashwin spun one from wide outside off and across the stumps; de Villiers' pad was in the way but the ball was clearly missing the stumps.
Jadeja then ripped one past du Plessis' outside edge. Perhaps this prompted his front pad to move a little further across in defence than normal, when Jadeja produced a delivery of similar line and length later in the over. It slid on with the arm, though, and struck that pad low, right in front of the stumps. For the second time in the day, Jadeja had been the irresistible force to dislodge an immovable South African.
JP Duminy was the new man in. For the first time since the fourth over of South Africa's innings, when he had dismissed Dean Elgar, Ashwin bowled at a left-hander. There was a tangible edginess to Duminy's footwork while he faced Ashwin; he moved a fair distance sideways, but barely an inch forward or back.
He shuffled all the way across his stumps twice in a row to balls bowled from around the wicket. The first slid on with the angle, past leg stump. The second one straightened just enough to hit Duminy's front pad as he looked to play around it. All of the Feroz Shah Kotla appealed, and Bruce Oxenford slowly raised his finger. He was struck in line with the stumps, but it was a tight call on whether it straightened enough to hit the stumps; it would have probably hit some part of leg stump.
India 231/7 (84 ov)
South Africa
Considering they were effectively operating with a three-man attack, South Africa did incredibly well to take seven wickets on a pitch that was better for batting than the one in Nagpur. However, the surface was not docile enough to afford India the luxury of facing an inept fourth bowler, and the lack of support for South Africa's frontline meant the batsmen could score freely when the first-choice bowlers were taken off or were tiring.
India ended the day on 231 for 7, the highest total of the series, but they might have struggled to make 200 had Imran Tahir not been in awful form. The two new bowlers in South Africa's XI, offspinner Dane Piedt and seamer Kyle Abbott, were incisive and displayed impressive stamina, taking four and three wickets apiece, and though Morne Morkel did not strike he offered control. Tahir, however, was bowled for only seven overs on the first day because he conceded 36 runs, serving up a buffet of full tosses and long-hops. The real damage to South Africa was in the overs Tahir could not bowl, because the rest were less threatening to face and easier to score off as they tired: Piedt bowled 34 overs, Morkel 17, and Abbott 17 for only 23 runs.
The only Indian batsman good enough to battle through the hard periods and cash in on the good times was Ajinkya Rahane, who achieved his maiden half-century in India in his seventh innings and was approaching a fifth Test hundred, when bad light ended play six overs before stumps. His brisk partnership of 70 with Virat Kohli steadied India after a top-order wobble, and his rear-guard stands with Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin ensured India survived the day. A first-innings total of 250 will prove challenging on this surface, especially if a team has four reliable bowlers to defend it.
Batting was difficult in the morning, when the ball was new and there was some moisture in the pitch, but Shikhar Dhawan managed to anchor India through the first session for the loss of only one wicket. He took 18 balls to score his first run. India scored only 6 in the first 30 minutes, and 16 in the first hour.
Abbott had figures of 8-3-11-0 in his first spell; the variable bounce made facing him trickier. One good-length ball to Dhawan passed the off stump a little above the knee. Another short-of-a-length delivery climbed on M Vijay and was collected by wicketkeeper Dane Vilas at head height, but the ball immediately after kept low, forcing a crouching defence from the batsman. Vijay was later smashed on the right elbow by one that rose from a length, and wrung his hand in pain.
Abbott had Vijay caught at slip in the 12th over but he had over-stepped, his foot erring by the smallest of margins. Vijay scored only two more runs, though, before he nicked a delivery from Piedt that drifted away from him but did not spin, to Hashim Amla at first slip.
In the third over after lunch, Piedt broke Dhawan's resistance with a classic one-two combo. The first ball drew Dhawan forward and spun away from the left-hander from around the wicket, passing the outside edge. The next delivery slid on with the arm, beating Dhawan's inside edge as he played for the turn, trapping him lbw. Abbott then found the gap between Pujara's bat and pad, the delivery angling in to uproot off stump after grazing the inside edge. India had gone from 60 for 1 to 66 for 3.
In the middle period of the second session, however, Rahane and Kohli batted superbly, putting away loose deliveries and taking frequent singles to ensure pressure did not build. Their 50-run partnership came off 67 deliveries and they looked set to cash in on South Africa's weak support bowlers, when Kohli suffered a freak dismissal.
Kohli slog-swept Piedt, making clean contact. Instead of racing to the boundary, though, the ball thudded into the thigh of the fielder at short leg and lobbed back up towards the pitch. The wicketkeeper Dane Vilas reacted quickly and dived forward, taking the catch at full length and ensuring that Temba Bavuma, who was hopping about in pain, had something to celebrate.
That wicket resulted in two more in quick time. Rohit Sharma was dropped at slip by Amla off Abbott on 0, but two balls later he tried to slog Piedt over deep midwicket, and got a leading edge to Tahir at long-on. Abbott then bowled Saha off the inside edge in the final over before tea, reducing India to 139 for 6. Rahane went into the break on 31 off 62 balls, having scored only one run off the 20 balls he faced since Kohli's dismissal.
India's best session was the one after tea, during which they scored 92 runs for the loss of Ravindra Jadeja. Rahane and Jadeja added 59 for the seventh wicket, and scored freely against a tiring Piedt. Rahane slog-swept and pulled the offspinner for a six and a four in one over to pass 50, while Jadeja punished loose deliveries from Tahir and Duminy.
South Africa had two moments of misfortune, too, after Jadeja was caught deftly by Dean Elgar at midwicket for 24. Ashwin was given not out when Piedt appealed for a bat-pad catch though the ball had brushed his glove, and then Rahane, on 78, was dropped by Amla at slip, capping a frustrating day in the field for the South African captain. Both those moments deprived Piedt of a fifth wicket, and allowed India to end the day in a far better position than they should have been.
Day 2
South Africa 121
India 334
South Africa followed defeat on a spin-friendly Mohali pitch with a batting failure on a normal Indian pitch in Bangalore. The pattern has repeated itself: Nagpur was treacherous to batsmen, Delhi offered close to 50-50 balance between bat and ball, but there was no change in South Africa's batting fortunes.
Responding to India's 334, they were bowled out for 121, 14 short of the follow-on mark. Play was called off for bad light soon after South Africa lost their final wicket, but only after India had confirmed they weren't going to make the visitors bat again.
The state of the match reflected how well India bowled as a unit, but also how poorly South Africa played. There was surely a psychological element to it, amply displayed in the dismissal of Faf du Plessis, who has had a horror tour. In Bangalore, he was out jumping down the pitch, premeditatedly, to the third ball he faced. Here, he attempted a lap-sweep off the second ball he faced and only managed to spoon the ball into the leg-slip region. Ajinkya Rahane had enough time to sprint across from slip and complete the catch. Whatever the conditions are, it must be hard to bat normally when you are an out-of-form batsman on the losing side at the tail-end of a long tour.
At tea, South Africa had been in a fairly decent position, 38 for 1. But they crumbled, as touring sides in India often do, in the final session, losing nine wickets for 83 runs. Most of the wickets were the result of poor footwork or judgment of length. Temba Bavuma and Hashim Amla were out cutting deliveries from Ravindra Jadeja that weren't short enough. JP Duminy and Dane Vilas were bowled by reverse-swinging deliveries with feet pinned to the crease.
But those two wickets - Umesh Yadav straightening one past Duminy's outside edge and Ishant Sharma bending one in between Vilas' bat and pad - also had a lot to do with the perfect length India's seamers bowled, and their ability to generate early reverse. As early as the 15th over, in fact, when Umesh broke South Africa's biggest opening stand of the series - 36 - by swinging one away from Dean Elgar to find the left-hander's outside edge from around the wicket.
The seamers took a little time finding their rhythm, with Ishant slanting the ball too wide to make Elgar play early on and Umesh drifting onto the openers' pads a couple of times in his first spell, but once they did, they were pinpoint accurate, attacking the stumps relentlessly.
R Ashwin bowled as he has right through the series, even if he didn't make the key breakthroughs for once. Jadeja used the crease and mixed up his release points - his arm slightly higher for one ball, more round-arm for the next - to keep the batsmen guessing in conditions that weren't too difficult as long as you looked to play straight.
Of all the South African batsmen, only AB de Villiers followed this maxim. While the rest fell around him, he just batted normally. But the situation prompted him to take a few risks, and Ishant's judgment on the boundary rope was spot-on. De Villiers came down the track and looked to hit Jadeja over long-off. The bat spun in his hand so the ball landed in Ishant's rather than beyond him and over the rope. Just like that, Jadeja had his fourth five-wicket haul in Tests.
The pace and tenor of South Africa's innings was in stark contrast to India's in the morning, when Ajinkya Rahane made the first century of the series, played its longest innings, and put on, with Ashwin, its highest partnership, of 98. Eventually, India stretched their total to 334 before Kyle Abbott ended their innings in the fifth over after lunch.
Abbott, who had pounded in, attacked the stumps, and been relentlessly accurate all through the innings, finished with figures of 5 for 40 in 24.5 overs.
South Africa took the second new ball at the start of play, in the 85th over of India's innings. There was less movement for Morne Morkel and Abbott than there had been with the first new ball, and definitely less inconsistent bounce. A few stopped on the batsmen, but there was not much else to worry about from the surface. South Africa could have struck early nonetheless, when Ashwin nicked Abbott to slip, only for Hashim Amla put down his third catch of the game. It was a harder chance than the first two, the ball dying on him and giving the umpires cause to think he may have grabbed it just before it hit the turf, but replays confirmed he had spilled it and picked it up again on the half-volley.
That apart, South Africa struggled to break the partnership. Ashwin, who had made a cautious start on the first afternoon, grew in confidence, and began timing his flicks and back-foot punches off the seamers. India reached their 250 in the ninth over of the morning, and Rahane, who began the day on 89, reached his hundred in the next over, getting there with a cracking boundary, a punch down the ground off Abbott.
The spinners came on after that, and Rahane went after them, skipping nimbly down the track to hit two sixes in three balls off Dane Piedt - one over cow corner, the other over long-off. He used his feet to Dean Elgar as well, lifting him for a clean, one-bounce four over extra cover, and was looking unstoppable when he failed to get the desired elevation with another lofted drive and picked out the cover fielder off Imran Tahir.
It was Tahir's first wicket, in only his tenth over. It was the 105th over of the Indian innings, reflecting both how erratic Tahir had been and how little faith Amla had shown in him to turn his performance around.
The wicket didn't stall India's progress. On the contrary, Ashwin grew more aggressive, farming the strike and playing his shots at every opportunity. In the eight overs between Rahane's dismissal and lunch, he struck three fours and a straight six off Tahir that brought up his half-century.
Day 3
India 334 & 190/4 (81 ov)
South Africa 121
India lead by 403 runs
An unbroken 133-run partnership between Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane - the first century stand of the series - deflated South Africa after Morne Morkel had given them a sliver of hope with three early top-order wickets. India were 57 for 4 when Rahane joined Kohli early in the post-lunch session. They were still in command, their lead a healthy 270, but South Africa were eyeing the possibility of having less than 400 to chase. When bad light brought day three to a close with nine overs still to be bowled, Kohli and Rahane were still unbeaten, on 83 and 52 respectively, India's lead now a mighty 403.
Morkel took wickets off successive deliveries in the first session to leave India 8 for 2, yorked Shikhar Dhawan soon after lunch, and continued to threaten with pace and reverse-swing to end the day with figures of 3 for 29 from 17 overs. The rest of the attack did their job too, but their efforts seemed to have a tinge of futility to them, thanks to the disappointing performance of their batsmen on the second day. Getting bowled out for 121 and conceding a 213-run first-innings lead was always going to leave South Africa chasing the game.
Still, India had to fight hard. Dhawan had batted as cautiously as he had done in the first innings, leaving resolutely outside off stump, had taken a couple of blows, off awkwardly bouncing deliveries from Kyle Abbott and Imran Tahir, and had moved to 21 off 85 when Morkel speared a full, fast ball under his bat from around the wicket.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who had mirrored Dhawan's struggle at the other end, fell three overs later, bowled for the third time in successive innings. This time it was Tahir who rattled his stumps with a flatter, quicker legbreak that left Pujara going back rather than forward, playing the trajectory rather than the length. India were now 57 for 4.
Kohli and Rahane had looked the most assured batsmen in India's first innings, and they continued to bat fluently, timing their shots better than the top order had done. But South Africa's bowlers still made them work hard for their runs. Though their partnership run-rate of 2.66 was significantly better than the 1.97 achieved by the previous-highest stand in the innings, between Dhawan and Pujara, it was still slow going by their standards.
Even Tahir, erratic all through the tour, found his rhythm, bowling with accuracy and keeping the batsmen guessing with his variations. A big-spinning legbreak to Kohli seemed to have given him his second wicket when umpire Bruce Oxenford upheld the South Africans' caught-behind appeal, but a check for no-ball showed Tahir's heel to have landed marginally, but decisively, beyond the crease. Further replays also suggested Kohli hadn't edged the ball. Kohli survived, but might still face censure from the match referee for his reaction to the initial decision: he refused to walk off for a few seconds, glaring at the umpire and muttering under his breath.
M Vijay too might have gone into the match referee's notebook, when Kumar Dharmasena gave him out caught behind off Morkel. That wicket, in the fifth over of India's innings, came off a snorter of a bouncer, angling into the batsman and forcing him to lift his gloves and bat instinctively to shield his face. Given out, Vijay's first reaction was to point at his arm guard. He was right that the ball had struck him there, and therefore unlucky to be given out, but gesturing to the umpire was an ill-advised step.
That was the last ball of Morkel's third over. First ball of his fourth was pitched at a near-perfect spot, on an off-stump line and the fuller side of a good length, and it straightened to hit the top of off stump after beating the outside edge of India's No. 3. It was Rohit Sharma, rather than Cheteshwar Pujara, who occupied this slot.
Initially it seemed that the promotion came about because Pujara had suffered a bruised hand while fielding at short leg on day two, but then it seemed it might have been tactical, when Pujara walked out at No. 4. Either way, it ended a horrendous Test with the bat for Rohit - he holed out to long-on for 1 in the first innings, and followed that with a golden duck in the second.
Rahane had a couple of nervy moments against the spinners, preferring to play them off the back foot, as he had done in the first innings, but not playing as steadfastly straight. Looking to pull Tahir, low bounce forced him to bottom-edge the ball into the flap of his pad and balloon in the air. Only Rahane's own physical presence prevented Dane Vilas from diving forward from behind the stumps and completing the catch. A few overs later, sharp turn from Piedt made Rahane jam his bat down awkwardly and squeeze the ball into the on side, after initially looking to cut him against the turn.
But it was Morkel who continued to pose the most problems. Coming back for his third spell, he reversed a 45-over-old ball away from Rahane to produce a massive caught-behind appeal. It was turned down, rightly so, with replays showing the ball missing his outside edge and flicking his back pad. In his next over, he bent the ball into Rahane twice, and the batsman left the ball on both occasions. The first one narrowly missed the top of off stump, the second hit Rahane's front pad, height preventing another full-throated appeal from being upheld.
By tea, though, both Kohli and Rahane had settled in and were batting with a fair degree of comfort. Barring an inside-edge from Rahane off Abbott that narrowly missed leg stump, South Africa didn't pose too many problems to the pair in the middle.
Kohli scored at a fairly good clip, though not with his usual array of leg-side whips and cover drives; with the pitch throwing up occasionally uncertain bounce, he played later than he often does, letting the ball come on and picking up a number of boundaries with controlled dabs to the third-man region. Rahane was more sedate, scoring 9 runs off the first 42 balls he faced in the session before changing gears with a powerfully swept four off Tahir.
Starting with that shot, Rahane picked up three fours in five overs, and soon reached his half-century, completing an emphatic turnaround in form. Having started the series with scores of 15, 2, 13 and 9, he was ending it with a century and a fifty in the same match.
Day 4
India 334 & 267/5d
South Africa 121 & 72/2 (target 481)
South Africa require another 409 runs with 8 wickets remaining
In their final innings of a long and wretched series, South Africa's batsmen produced their most unyielding display, responding with dour defence in the face of a mountainous fourth-innings task. Hashim Amla was at the forefront of their defiance, playing the slowest innings of 200 balls or more in the history of Test cricket*, but South Africa's job, notwithstanding their captain's monumental effort, was less than half done.
India declared half an hour from lunch, after Ajinkya Rahane had become the fifth Indian batsman to score twin tons in a Test match, setting a target of 481 with just over five sessions remaining. At stumps on day four, South Africa had only lost two wickets while eating up 72 overs. They only scored 72 in that time, but it hardly mattered to them: South Africa were batting time, and runs were simply not on their minds.
At stumps, Amla was batting on 23 off 207 balls and with him was AB de Villiers, on 11 off 91. Their third-wicket partnership was worth 23 off 29.2 overs. Before that, Amla and Temba Bavuma had put on 44 in 38.4 overs.
South Africa began their fourth innings with a possible 158 overs remaining in the match. Given the sheer amount of time left, a draw seemed out of question, but South Africa have shown themselves capable - in Adelaide three years ago and in Colombo last year - of defying that sort of logic. South Africa's batting has been far from its best during this series, but they kept faith in their ability - unique in this era - to bat long without thinking of runs.
They had five overs to see out before lunch, and did not survive that period unscathed. R Ashwin looped one up to Dean Elgar from around the wicket, drifting it into the left-hander and getting it to leave him from a middle-stump line. Elgar didn't reach the pitch while trying to drive straight, and Rahane took a comfortable catch at slip.
In walked Amla. It took him 46 balls to get off the mark, and the first runs were unintentional, his back-foot defensive stroke off Ravindra Jadeja squirting away into the fine leg region. Bavuma, blocking with comparable single-mindedness at the other end was on 8 off 50 balls when Ashwin sent down a rare half-tracker - possibly slipped in deliberately to break the batsman's rhythm - that left him with almost no option but to pull for six.
The overs ran by quickly, hypnotically, and the close-in cordon grew in strength. It was fascinating to watch. South Africa, perhaps, were making things more difficult for themselves by contributing to India's rapid over rate and leaving themselves more overs to face. When their innings began, 68 overs remained from the 90 scheduled for the day; India bowled 72.
And while neither batsman was making too many mistakes - their control percentages hovered in the low-to-mid-90s - every little mistake was amplified by the presence of four, sometimes five, fielders around the bat at all times.
Between lunch and tea, the edges weren't finding fielders though. Amla came forward to defend Jadeja, and nicked him between first and second slip. Ishant Sharma, replacing Ashwin in the 28th over, found Bavuma's edge twice in the second over of his spell, and the ball streaked through the slips on both occasions.
By tea, India had bowled 22 maidens in 39 overs, and had only one wicket to show for it. It took a ball of great beauty from their best bowler, Ashwin, to finally break the stand in the fourth over of the final session. It drifted away slightly from Bavuma's off stump, and hit it as he played for more turn than there was. The length was key, punishing the batsman for his lack of a front-foot stride.
The pitch seemed to have slowed down slightly, but the batsmen were still being tested, forced to stay vigilant every ball. Ashwin continued to confound with his flight, and slipped in the odd legbreak for variety. Jadeja got a couple to turn sharply past de Villiers' edge. Umesh Yadav got one to lift from a length and smack Amla's left glove. It was, perhaps, the moment that best summed up Amla's impregnability: his hands were as close to his body as possible, and they cushioned the impact of the ball to make it drop right next to his feet.
Amla and de Villiers had been at the crease for 62 balls without scoring a run, when Kohli decided to shake things up by bringing on his part-timers. Shikhar Dhawan sent down two wide full-tosses in his first over, and Amla had no option but to smash them to the cover-point boundary, but in between he got one to spit up from a length. Amla was fully stretched out in defence, his head over the ball and his bat face almost parallel with the ground, when the ball popped up off his glove and over Cheteshwar Pujara at silly point. Pujara spun around and dived full-length, but could only get his fingertips to the ball. It was barely a half-chance, but also the only chance India would get during the partnership.
In the morning, Rahane shifted gears effortlessly as India resumed 403 ahead, looking for quick runs. On day three, he had scored 52 off 152 balls, shutting South Africa out of the contest in a display of cool professionalism in the company of Virat Kohli. On the fourth morning, Rahane made 48 off 54 balls.
The only major change in his batting was a willingness to go after anything remotely wide of the stumps. He picked up two fours and a six in the first four overs of the morning, all in the arc between third man and deep cover, the pick of them a perfectly timed ramp over the slips off Morne Morkel.
Kohli, who began the day on 83, only added five to his overnight score before he was lbw to a ball from Kyle Abbott that crept through at shin height. It didn't hamper India's scoring rate as Rahane and Wriddhiman Saha kept playing their shots. Rahane raced through the 80s with sixes in successive overs off Imran Tahir and Dean Elgar, and Saha used his bottom hand to telling effect in swiping three fours in two overs.
The declaration was just around the corner. Tahir bowled one full at Rahane's pads, and he clipped it away through the leg side to bring up a hundred that he barely celebrated, raising his arms momentarily before walking off towards the dressing room. It was an understated reaction to an outstanding achievement. Among Indian batsmen, only Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (three times), Rahul Dravid (twice) and Kohli had made hundreds in both innings of a Test match before Rahane.
Day 5
India 334 & 267/5d
South Africa 121 & 143 (143.1 ov, target 481)
India won by 337 runs
The scorecard will say South Africa were bowled out for 143, another low score in series where they only passed 200 once in seven attempts. It will say India won by 337 runs to complete a 3-0 series win. But for anyone who didn't witness the Delhi Test, it will take a closer reading to appreciate the extent of South Africa's fourth-innings defiance and India's struggle to bowl them out. Between them, India's four specialist bowlers sent down 136.1 overs, bowled 87 maidens against a set of batsmen who had made up their minds to block everything.
In the end, South Africa simply had too much to do. AB de Villiers played out 297 balls, Hashim Amla 244, and Temba Bavuma and Faf du Plessis ate up a fair share of deliveries in a concerted effort of stonewalling. But to do so for more than five sessions was simply too much of an ask on a slow Feroz Shah Kotla surface that began deteriorating halfway through the final day.
Having lost only five wickets in 138 overs until tea on day five, South Africa lost their last five wickets in the space of 27 balls. Umesh Yadav, bowling fast and reversing the ball appreciably, bowled Dane Vilas and Kyle Abbott, and had Dane Piedt caught behind by Wriddhiman Saha diving in front of first slip. But the big wicket was that of de Villiers, who had been at the crease since early in the final session of day four. Having defended resolutely and taken a series of painful blows on the glove, he wasn't able to keep out an R Ashwin offbreak that spat at him from a good length. The ball popped off that much-battered glove and settled in leg slip's hands.
It was only fitting that Ashwin, the best bowler on either side right through the series, ended the match with another five-for, bowling Morne Morkel as he shouldered arms to a ball that drifted into him through the air and spun less than expected. He ended the series with 31 wickets and his fifth Man-of-the-Series award.
Till his dismissal, de Villiers had been a picture of calm at the crease, his footwork precise but not extravagant, moving him into compact positions from where he watched the ball closely and defended at the last possible moment. He was not getting as close to the pitch of the ball as Amla had consistently done, and there were more edges as a result. However, his hands were impeccably soft, and the ball died a painless death a short distance from the bat and well away from the close-in fielders.
If anything, his approach possibly made the pitch look better to bat on than it actually was. A number of deliveries misbehaved in one way or another over the course of the day, but De Villiers minimised their danger by playing almost impossibly late, and refusing entirely to go hard at the ball.
The one bowler who consistently worried him was Umesh Yadav. In two overs close to the lunch break, he got the ball to rear at de Villiers three times. Twice he knocked his bat out of his hands, smacking his top glove once and his bottom glove on the other occasion. When he came back into the attack late in the second session, he hit his glove with another lifter, either side of balls that jagged in, kept low, and struck him on the unprotected part of the knee.
India had a 72-over-old ball at the start of the day, and the first eight overs were shared among the two seamers - who tried, with little success, to unsettle Amla and de Villiers from around the wicket - the occasional leg-rollers of Virat Kohli, and the never-before-seen legbreaks of Cheteshwar Pujara. India were waiting to bring their spinners on when the second new ball was available. With the pitch slowing down considerably, they were banking on getting some life out of it with a harder ball with a prominent seam.
Jadeja produced the wicket-taking ball in his third over, drawing Amla forward with flight, and getting the ball to drift into him and spin away sharply. For once, Amla's front-foot stride was short and insufficient to get close to the pitch of the ball, which beat his outside edge and clipped the outside of his off stump.
An air of expectation hung around the middle during the course of Jadeja's next few overs, with the allrounder producing a loud lbw shout by beating du Plessis with a slider and then producing an edge that fell just short of slip.
Eventually, du Plessis settled down, proving himself a worthy recipient of South Africa's blocking baton. Amla had taken 46 balls to get off the mark, and de Villiers 33. Du Plessis bested both of them, taking 53 balls to get his first run, a pushed single into the covers off an Ashwin full toss.
By then, Ashwin had tried everything - a fuller length to try and exploit footmarks outside the off stump, only to be stymied by the South Africans' refusal to drive, legbreaks and carrom balls, and a switch to around the wicket.
At the other end, Jadeja produced an unceasingly metronomic performance. He kept wheeling in, kept attacking the stumps, and the batsmen kept defending stubbornly. His figures at the start of the day were 23-16-10-0. At lunch, they were 35-28-10-1.
Having last conceded a run in his 19th over, bowled during the final session of day four, Jadeja threatened Bapu Nadkarni's 51-year-old record of 21 successive maidens until he sent down a short ball in his 37th; it sat up off the pitch, so slow it almost demanded that du Plessis punch it through the vacant mid-on region.
By that time, though, the pitch was beginning to show increasing signs of wear. Turn and bounce from Ashwin produced an appeal for a slip catch off de Villiers in the 117th over, but the ball had lobbed off pad, not bat. In his next over, Ashwin spun one from wide outside off and across the stumps; de Villiers' pad was in the way but the ball was clearly missing the stumps.
Jadeja then ripped one past du Plessis' outside edge. Perhaps this prompted his front pad to move a little further across in defence than normal, when Jadeja produced a delivery of similar line and length later in the over. It slid on with the arm, though, and struck that pad low, right in front of the stumps. For the second time in the day, Jadeja had been the irresistible force to dislodge an immovable South African.
JP Duminy was the new man in. For the first time since the fourth over of South Africa's innings, when he had dismissed Dean Elgar, Ashwin bowled at a left-hander. There was a tangible edginess to Duminy's footwork while he faced Ashwin; he moved a fair distance sideways, but barely an inch forward or back.
He shuffled all the way across his stumps twice in a row to balls bowled from around the wicket. The first slid on with the angle, past leg stump. The second one straightened just enough to hit Duminy's front pad as he looked to play around it. All of the Feroz Shah Kotla appealed, and Bruce Oxenford slowly raised his finger. He was struck in line with the stumps, but it was a tight call on whether it straightened enough to hit the stumps; it would have probably hit some part of leg stump.
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