South Africa v India, only T20, Johannesburg,Probables

India fly miles for match without context

Big Picture

If you thought India's away season had finally ended with the Asia Cup, then you are wrong. There's one more game, a Twenty20 against South Africa at the Wanderers, shoehorned into the tiny gap between the Asia Cup and the start of the IPL, which starts five days later. It's the sort of scheduling usually reserved for unofficial charity games. South Africa have just arrived from a full tour of New Zealand. When this game was announced officially earlier this month, the big question was not why not, but why.

Cricket South Africa has announced that this will be an annual affair, following last year's Twenty20 game between the two sides at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban. That match was Makhaya Ntini's farewell game. Tomorrow's match is dedicated to Jacques Kallis, and the proceeds will go to his scholarship foundation. The game might be for a noble cause, but is anybody aware that it is even happening? National newspapers in India have dedicated vast amounts of column space to the lead-up to the IPL. There's little mention that the national team has flown to the southern hemisphere again, to play a solitary match. The channel broadcasting the game in India have started a countdown to the game as a bid to aggressively market it in the middle of two ongoing international series.

Fans can be forgiven if they say they are fatigued, but MS Dhoni, the India captain, insists his team is not. It is his style to put a positive spin on everything, even when the ship is sinking. His team and the support-staff have clocked so many air miles in the last few months that they probably feel sick at the sight of airport lounges and hotel rooms. A one-off match with little context is the last thing they would have wanted.

South Africa have shown some compassion, resting their jet-lagged senior Test players (except Kallis and Lonwabo Tsotsobe). There's no rest for India's seniors, bar Sachin Tendulkar (though he doesn't play T20 internationals). Perhaps this could be seen as a last-ditch attempt to end a horrific season with a win. The IPL franchises have already vented their displeasure about the odd scheduling of this game because the India players are missing from the pre-tournament camps. The hosts are winding down their domestic season so this game hardly disrupts their plans.

A year down the line, if you forget this game took place, don't beat yourself up. In this era of "cricket excess", it's hard enough to remember a game which finished yesterday.

Form Guide

(most recent first)
South Africa WWLWL
India WLLLW

In the spotlight

When Richard Levi's name was called out at the IPL auction this year, it did not create a ripple. A blazing century off 45 balls (a record for Twenty20 internationals) in Hamilton made those franchises sit up. He was promptly signed up by Mumbai Indians. This will be most Indian fans' first chance to see him.

India's bowlers conceded 329 and 289 in their last two one-day internationals. Their generosity peaked in the match against Bangladesh, where they dished out full-tosses by the dozen. That malaise affected Australia recently. Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan have shown they can bowl swinging yorkers, though sporadically. Death bowling could be the difference for India.

Pitch and conditions

A batting track is expected. The altitude in Johannesburg, though, could test the India players.

Teams

The hosts seem to be approaching the game quite casually. The 13 players did not train, and the captain Johan Botha hadn't even met the coach Gary Kirsten the day before the game. There were rumours that the uncapped batsman Farhaan Behardian will play.

South Africa (probable) 1 Richard Levi, 2 Farhaan Behardian, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Faf du Plessis, 5 Colin Ingram, 6 Albie Morkel, 7 Dane Vilas/Morne van Wyk (wk), 8 Johan Botha (capt), 9 Wayne Parnell, 10 Rusty Theron, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe

India, for whatever logic, picked 15 players for a solitary match. There were no announcements from the India camp. Robin Uthappa, coming off good form for Karnataka in the domestic one-dayers, looks good for a recall. Manoj Tiwary has sat on the bench ever since he scored a one-day century in December. Will his wait end?

India (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Praveen Kumar, 11 Ashok Dinda

Stats and Trivia

• India are returning to the venue where they played their first ever Twenty20. Albie Morkel is the only survivor for South Africa from that game.
• India lead the head-to-head in Twenty20s by an overwhelming 4-1.
• The Wanderers has the highest runs-per-over - 8.23 - among grounds which have hosted a minimum of eight games.

Quotes

"There are a lot of young players we are trying to groom, and hopefully it will pay dividends in the future. From our point of view there is a lot of talent around, we need to give them the exposure they require."
Duncan Fletcher, India's coach, says this game has value after all.

"With the World Twenty20 coming up in October, every T20 game is important and you can learn in every game."
Johan Botha says preparation for the World Twenty20 will be the focus in the one-off game.

Austrelia Level Test Series 1-1

Australia 296 (Watson 88, Hughes 88, Steyn 4-64) & 310 for 8 (Khawaja 65, Ponting 62, Haddin 55, Philander 5-70) beat South Africa 266 (de Villiers 64, Kallis 54, Prince 50, Siddle 3-69) & 339 (Amla 105, de Villiers 73, Cummins 6-79) by two wickets

Pat Cummins, the man most likely, and Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin, two of the least, delivered the most magnificent victory to Australia as the tourists chased the highest ever fourth innings total at the Wanderers, to square the series with South Africa on the final day.

At 215 for 6, Australia seemed to have as much of a chance to win as Haddin and Johnson had to make runs, based on their horrendous records this past year. Yet, somehow they forged a partnership of 72 to erase the bulk of the deficit, and after Haddin's exit was followed by that of Peter Siddle, Johnson and Cummins ran down the final 18 required.

No 18-year-old in cricket history could have enjoyed a debut as extraordinary as Man-of-the-Match Cummins, who followed seven wickets for the Test with a batting contribution of wondrous composure. He offered one chance, a sharp return-catch to Dale Steyn when nine were still required, and the resulting boundary was critical. Steyn, so often South Africa's salvation, will curse his drop.

Australia's victory was a rare triumph in a close Test match - in recent years, they have made an unfortunate habit of losing the epics. Adelaide 1993, Sydney and Karachi 1994, Kolkata 2001, Edgbaston 2005 and Mohali 2010 all trigger painful recollections, but this result will do an enormous amount for a young team and a fledgling leader in Michael Clarke, so soon after the traumas of Cape Town.

The result does not extinguish debates about the shape of the team, and injuries will also force changes for the home series against New Zealand. But Australia have now won the sort of match that can build a team and a tradition, and Cummins was right in the middle of it.

South Africa will ponder plenty of what ifs, and are still without a home series victroy over Australia since readmission. But in Vernon Philander, the Man of the Series, they have at least found a seamer of high quality, and it was he who seemed on course to deliver victory.

Philander's relentless line with a hint of seam movement either way had accounted for Clarke and Michael Hussey, either side of Morne Morkel's dismissal of Ricky Ponting, leaving Haddin, Johnson and the tail to confound conventional expectation and collect the remaining runs.

Clarke was bowled early, Ponting chased a wide delivery into the slips, and Hussey was pinned in front of his stumps in the penultimate over of an extended afternoon session. Ponting, Haddin and Johnson are all at the mercy of Australia's newly-formed selection panel.

Dogged rain and heavy cloud delayed play until after lunch had been taken, and at 1pm local time the contest resumed. The moisture appeared to have freshened the surface somewhat, and added to the swing available to bowlers all match, making it a difficult scenario that confronted Clarke and Ponting.

Their response was tentative, and Clarke's careful forward push proved fatal as Philander found a fraction of seam movement on a perfect length to find the gap and flick the top of the stumps. Hussey may have been out to any one of his first few balls from Philander, who nipped the ball away with dastardly intent.

At the other end Ponting was careful, plotting his way through each delivery with the careworn approach of a man weighing up his cricket mortality. For 33 balls on the final day he battled, but there were no boundaries forthcoming to get him going, and it was in belated search of one that Ponting departed. Morkel fired one short and wide, Ponting reacted a little too late, and the ball diverted off the toe of his bat into the slips. He lingered for a brief moment to survey his bat, then marched off to the most generous applause a tiny crowd could muster.

Next man in, Haddin, reached the crease under arguably greater scrutiny for his spot than Ponting, Australian minds still reeling from the sight of his widely deplored second-day demise in Cape Town. This year Haddin had averaged 14.70 in 10 innings, and his keeping at the Wanderers lacked assurance. Yet he and Hussey had combined for Australia's most lengthy Test partnership in the past 18 months, an epic 307 against England at the Gabba last November, and together they began to establish a bridgehead.

Neither was entirely comfortable, Haddin beaten outside off stump a few times and once struck flush on the helmet by a Steyn ball that turned out to be more skidder than bouncer. Hussey had 31 when he pushed at Imran Tahir and edged behind, only for Mark Boucher to parry the chance beyond the reach of Jacques Rudolph at slip.

A Tahir full toss and a Hussey cover drive brought the target within 100 runs of Australia, but Philander's return brought perhaps the critical wicket. His first ball pitched on leg stump and caught Hussey on the crease, winning an lbw that was referred out of desperation and nothing else. Though Johnson's first few balls were negotiated soundly enough, the second new ball was only nine overs away.

Mindful of this fact, Haddin and Johnson attacked boldly on resumption, heaping four boundaries from the first two overs and quickly whittling away the target. Johnson was stopped momentarily by an apparent spike through his boot, but otherwise sailed on with a clean-striking approach. Haddin showed even more panache, driving Steyn straight and Morkel over cover and, notwithstanding an optimistic DRS referral against Haddin from Morkel, the 50-stand flashed by in 54 balls.

Haddin's first Test half-century of 2011 arrived in the final over of the old ball, and only 34 runs remained to be gleaned from the new. Philander's first over brought a boundary, as did Steyn's. However, Philander then had Haddin nicking a late away swinger behind, with 23 still to be made.

The clouds had returned and the ball was hooping, the light also beginning to die. Siddle flicked one accomplished boundary, before Steyn claimed his first wicket of the innings when Australia's No. 9 attempted a hasty repeat of the stroke.

Cummins entered this match with a total of 27 runs in first-class and limited-overs cricket, and reached the crease with 18 still to get. A leading edge brought a precious three, and a series of nudges took the requirement into single figures.

Second ball of Steyn's next over and Cummins' mis-hit drive flew through the bowler's hands. The ball trickled down to the long-off boundary and Tahir was ruled to have touched the rope's imprint - five to win. Cummins swung giddily for the remainder of the over, but survived, to leave Johnson on strike. Graeme Smith, gambling, brought back Tahir.

Johnson pushed a single, and Cummins groped around a googly that struck him millimetres, at most, outside off stump. The DRS referral was duly denied by the umpire Ian Gould. Cummins left the next, a leg break, then collared a shorter googly through straight midwicket to raise the winning runs. Australia erupted, and the series was squared. Who but administrators would deny them a decider?

South Africa Vs Austrelia 2nd Test Day4 Cricinfo,Live Score Card

Series heads for gripping finish

Australia 296 & 142 for 3 (Ponting 54*, Clarke 1*) trail South Africa 266 & 339 (Amla 105, de Villiers 73, Cummins 6-79) by 168 runs

Aided greatly by Usman Khawaja, Ricky Ponting summoned his deepest reserves of skill and focus to give Australia a fighting chance of chasing 310 to square the two-match series against South Africa.

Ponting's 122-run union with the sure-handed Khawaja, who was out to Imran Tahir only one ball before the close, took the tourists to 142 for 3, leaving the match and series deliciously poised with one day remaining.

In an innings critical to his career and perhaps the manner of its conclusion, Ponting presented the straightest bat he has managed in quite some time to make a first Test half-century since the opening Test of the Ashes series last December. The captain Michael Clarke will accompany Ponting on the final morning.

Dale Steyn's bold striking meant the tourists required the highest fourth innings target to win a Test at the Wanderers, despite a stirring six-wicket haul on debut for the 18-year-old Pat Cummins.

Shane Watson and Phillip Hughes failed to repeat their first innings displays, both out to Vernon Philander with only 19 scored, but Ponting and Khawaja dulled the home side's offensive.

Without Steyn's 41, speckled with three sixes, Australia might easily have been chasing a target as thin as 250, after the hosts lost 4 for 29 in the morning to be 266 for 7. Cummins' remarkable efforts, adding up to one of the most outstanding debuts by an Australia fast bowler in the past 40 years, prevented South Africa from making the game entirely safe.

Hashim Amla went on to a deserved 105 from his overnight 89, but was involved in a run-out to account for Ashwell Prince and then became Mitchell Johnson's third wicket of the series. Nathan Lyon delivered another useful spell, only to be denied the wicket of Steyn via the vagaries of the DRS.

Australia's openers added 174 in the first innings, but in the second Watson allowed Philander to crash a straight delivery into off stump second ball, and after a pair of boundaries Hughes sparred at the same bowler to present a catch to Jacques Kallis in the slips.

Khawaja had begun with a pair of wonderfully crisp boundaries in Philander's first over and Ponting, the eyes of the cricket world upon him in the manner of Mark Taylor at Edgbaston in 1997 or Steve Waugh at Sydney in 2003, eluded the early shuffle and lbw that had confounded him so far on this tour. Though he was beaten by the odd seaming delivery, twice Ponting swivelled into the pull shots of his pomp. Khawaja proved equally adept with a horizontal bat, and Australia's 50 was raised before tea.

Play resumed in bright sunshine, and Ponting made hay in the company of Khawaja to frustrate the diligent efforts of South Africa's bowlers. Slowly, but increasingly surely, they met the challenge of each bowler, be it Steyn's pace, Philander's line or Morne Morkel's bounce. Tahir's introduction had Ponting scampering down the wicket almost every ball, and overthrows gifted Khawaja a first half-century in his fourth Test.

Steyn was straining every sinew in search of a wicket, but Khawaja in particular was able to pick him off for runs, and one hook sailed over the head of fine leg for a splendid six. There were the vaguest signs of fatigue or discomfort from Steyn, in a match that has tested the stamina of bowlers on both sides.

Smart stats Pat Cummins became the first Australian fast bowler to take a five-wicket haul on debut since Stuart Clark in Cape Town in 2006. Cummins' analysis of 6 for 79 is the best bowling performance by an Australian bowlers in a Test in South Africa since South Africa's readmission. The 147-run stand between AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla is the second-highest fourth-wicket stand for South Africa against Australia since South Africa's readmission. Amla's century is his 14th in Tests and his second in consecutive matches against Australia. He has now scored 4136 runs at an average of 47.54. The 122-run stand between Usman Khawaja and Ricky Ponting is the fourth-highest third-wicket stand for Australia in Tests against South Africa (since the latter's readmission). Ponting has been involved in three century stands for the third wicket.

Khawaja was on 65 when Tahir switched to over the wicket against Australia's No. 3. A natural against pace, Khawaja is still learning to read spin, and he prodded uncertainly forward to edge a googly to slip. Clarke only had time to face one ball, pushed for a single, before the umpires tramped off for bad light and eventually called stumps.

The tourists had needed a rush of wickets on the fourth morning, and Clarke started off with Cummins and Johnson in search of it. Swinging the old ball prodigiously at times, Cummins maintained his rapid progress when he coaxed de Villiers into chasing one that curled away. Clarke held the catch and dared to hope.

Amla completed a century of formidable composure, cuffing Peter Siddle through point to get there, but his insistence on a short single to the right of Ponting resulted in a mix-up with Prince and the left-hander's exit. Johnson, still somewhat out of sorts, was able to produce a handy cutter that took Amla's outside edge on the way through to Brad Haddin, and suddenly Australia's position was arguably the one preferred by neutrals.

Mark Boucher swatted three boundaries before driving at Lyon and snicking to slip. He loitered at the crease partly because he also hit the ground, as well as out of recognition that not much batting remained after him. Steyn had made only five and the lead was only 246 when he was beaten by a Lyon off break and so very nearly lbw. But the umpire Billy Bowden demurred, suspecting an inside edge, and Australia's referral was refused, not for an inside edge but because the ball's projected path was not hitting enough of leg stump.

This episode felt more damaging in the ensuing overs, as Steyn demonstrated the knack for nuisance batting he had famously shown with JP Duminy at the MCG in 2008, and Philander played with the level of skill befitting a No. 8. Clarke tried Michael Hussey before reverting belatedly to the second new ball.

Nearing lunch, Steyn swung hard at Johnson and edged through the hands of Clarke, and Siddle moved the ball too much to claim the outside edge the tourists so desperately required.

Having rested up in the latter part of the morning session, Cummins produced a snorter first ball after lunch to clip the glove of Philander. Bowden hesitated before giving Philander out, but the batsman's decision-referral found just enough circumstantial evidence to ensure the original call was upheld. Next ball Cummins whirred down a yorker to wreck the stumps of Morne Morkel, thus claiming five wickets, and Imran Tahir did well to keep out a hat-trick ball that tailed away.

By surviving the over Tahir allowed Steyn to keep blazing away, and he lustily struck sixes off Siddle and Cummins. Those hits, plus a glove down the legside, added precious runs. Tahir managed one boundary himself, but Steyn eventually nicked Cummins behind to conclude yet another beguiling passage in this all-too-short series.

South Africa Vs Australia 2nd Test day4 Live Score,Cricinfo

South Africa 266 & 339 (Amla 105, de Villiers 73, Cummins 6-79) lead Australia 296 by 309 runs

Dale Steyn's bold striking for South Africa meant Australia required 310, the largest fourth-innings target to win a Test at the Wanderers, despite a stirring six-wicket haul on debut for the 18-year-old Pat Cummins.

Without Steyn's 41, speckled with three sixes, Australia might have been chasing a target as thin as 250, after the hosts lost 4 for 29 in the morning to be 266 for 7. However, Cummins' remarkable efforts, adding up to one of the most outstanding debuts by an Australian fast bowler in the past 40 years - not to mention his first five-wicket haul in first-class, list A or Twenty20 cricket - prevented South Africa from making the game entirely safe.

Hashim Amla went on to a deserved 105 from his overnight 89, but was involved in a run-out to account for Ashwell Prince and then became Mitchell Johnson's third wicket of the series. Nathan Lyon delivered another useful spell, and was critically denied the wicket of Steyn via the vagaries of the DRS.

Australia needed a rush of wickets on the fourth morning, and Michael Clarke started off with Cummins and Johnson in search of it. Swinging the old ball prodigiously at times, Cummins maintained his rapid progress when he coaxed de Villiers into chasing one that curled away. Clarke held the catch.

Amla completed a century of formidable composure, cuffing Peter Siddle through point to get there, but his insistence on a short single to the right hand of Ricky Ponting resulted in a mix-up with Prince and the left-hander's exit. Johnson, still somewhat out of sorts, was able to produce a handy cutter to touch Amla's outside edge on the way through to Brad Haddin, and suddenly Australia's position was arguably the one preferred by neutrals.

Mark Boucher swatted three boundaries before driving at Lyon and snicking to slip. He loitered at the crease partly because he also hit the ground but also out of recognition that not much batting remained after him. Steyn had made only five, and the lead was only 246, when he was beaten by a Lyon offbreak and nearly lbw. But the umpire Billy Bowden demurred, suspecting an inside edge, and Australia's referral was refused, not for an inside edge but because the ball's projected path was not hitting enough of leg stump.

Steyn then demonstrated the knack for nuisance batting he had famously shown with JP Duminy at the MCG in 2008, and Philander played with the level of skill befitting a No. 8. Clarke tried Michael Hussey before reverting belatedly to the second new ball.

Nearing lunch Steyn swung hard at Johnson and edged through the hands of Clarke, and Siddle moved the ball too much to claim the outside edge the tourists desperately required.

Having rested in the latter part of the morning session, Cummins produced a snorter first ball after lunch to clip the glove of Philander. Bowden hesitated before giving Philander out, but the batsman's referral found just enough circumstantial evidence to ensure the original call was upheld. Next ball Cummins whirred down a yorker to wreck the stumps of Morne Morkel, thus claiming five wickets, and Imran Tahir did well to keep out a hat-trick ball that tailed away.

By surviving the over Tahir allowed Steyn to keep blazing, and lustily struck sixes off Siddle and Cummins, plus a glove down the leg side, added precious runs. Tahir managed one boundary himself, but Steyn eventually touched Cummins behind to conclude yet another transfixing passage of play in this all-too-short series.

SA v Australia, 2nd Test, Johannesburg, 3rd day Live Score Card

Tea South Africa 266 & 191 for 3 (Amla 69*, de Villiers 54*) lead Australia 296 by 161 runs

Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers established a priceless partnership in the face of concerted pressure from Australia to take South Africa's advantage to a considerable 161 by tea on day three.

Each were close to being dismissed by Pat Cummins in the first over after lunch, but they survived the bullets of the 18-year-old debutant and defused the other significant threat of the spinner Nathan Lyon on a wearing pitch.

More to follow ...