Australia Vs South Africa 1st Test Cricinfo at Day1 Lunch

South Africa remove openers on spicy pitch

Australia 64/3 (26.0 ov)

Australia's batsmen wobbled to 39 for 2 in extremely lively conditions, after being sent in by South Africa on a rain-shortened first morning in the first Test at Newlands.

Dayle Steyn swung the ball menacingly and Vernon Philander seamed it extravagantly on debut, forcing Shaun Marsh and Ricky Ponting to summon all their technical resources to cover for the loss of two early wickets.

Shane Watson was the first to go, and Phillip Hughes' dismissal gave Philander his first wicket and Mark Boucher his 500th catch in Test cricket.

Having waited 305 days for a Test match, the hosts cooled their heels for another 1 hour, 45 minutes due to rain before play began, then another five while a sight screen problem - ludicrous at the start of a match - was addressed.

When the battle did finally commence, Steyn and Philander found some extravagant movement, mitigated only slightly by the slowness of the pitch.

Watson made a handful of bold decisions to leave deliveries that seamed back over his wicket. He had no chance in the fifth over, though, against a Steyn offering that swung and seamed from middle and leg to turn him front on and draw an edge to second slip.

Marsh's first ball in a Test match in South Africa struck him a blow on the forearm, and in the next over Hughes snicked a well-pitched Philander delivery that seamed across him and was gleefully accepted by Boucher for his milestone snare.

Having demonstrated a knack for shouldering arms intelligently in his first series, Marsh's powers of self-denial were fully tested as the ball continued to deviate.

At the other end Philander chanced a short ball to Ponting early and soon regretted it, as a soaring pull shot brought six runs behind square leg. Fuller deliveries were more inconvenient, and Morne Morkel's introduction to the attack brought another level of discomfort to the batsmen, his 196cm frame generating bounce as well as movement.

Marsh leant into one princely cover drive as the skies brightened in the final over of the session, but then had to call for the physio after being struck an eye-watering blow amidships before lunch could be taken.

The hosts had included Philander's muscular seam bowling at the expense of Lonwabo Tsotsobe, and recalled Jacques Rudolph for his first Test match since 2006, to open the batting with Smith. A first Test cap was also given to legspinner Imran Tahir, who had performed at the World Cup earlier in 2011 and came in place of the previous slow bowling component of the team, Paul Harris.

Australia were able to recall the fit-again Ryan Harris for Trent Copeland in the only change to the team that secured a 1-0 series win in Sri Lanka with a drawn third Test in Colombo. Copeland was squeezed out by Peter Siddle, Harris' replacement in Colombo, who has impressed since by adhering to instructions to bowl a fuller length, and was also a key part of the attack that was successful in South Africa in 2009.

Eng Vs Ind Forth Test Day3 At Lunch 591/6

Bell's double ton propels England

AP England's Ian Bell acknowledges the crowd after smashing double century during the fourth Test against India.

 

Ian Bell struck his maiden double hundred on Saturday to help England to 591-6 at lunch against India, taking the hosts toward a likely declaration in the fourth and final Test at The Oval.

Resuming on 181, Bell passed 200 with a flick to the fine-leg boundary for one of his 23 fours and was finally trapped lbw by Suresh Raina for 235 shortly before the interval.

India took three wickets for 134 runs for its most successful session of the match but is still staring the possibility of a 4-0 series defeat.

Nightwatchman James Anderson (13) and Eoin Morgan (1) both fell to the previously unthreatening Sreesanth before Bell put on 61 for the sixth-wicket with Ravi Bopara, who received a welcome chance to spend some time at the crease and was unbeaten on 44. Matthew Prior was 18 not out.

But rain began falling as the teams walked off, umbrellas opening in the crowd and ground staff bringing on the covers. Two whole sessions have already been lost to rain following a downpour on the opening day.

Play had started under bright sunshine and Sreesanth had Anderson caught off a thick edge by VVS Laxman at second slip in the fifth over. He tempted Morgan into a similar dismissal to MS Dhoni behind the stumps in his next over, finishing the session with 3-123.

But Bell and Kevin Pietersen had already put victory beyond India’s reach with a 350-run partnership on Friday - the highest third-wicket stand by any team in 131 years of Test cricket at the south London ground.

Pietersen fell for 175 late in the day but Bell continued with serene authority against the team England has deposed as Test cricket’s No. 1.

He clipped a boundary off his hip from the third ball of the morning on Saturday to set the tone and soon passed England teammate Alastair Cook as Test cricket’s leading scorer for 2011.

By the time he misjudged Raina to depart to a predictable ovation, Bell had reached 950 runs for the year - 23 more than Cook.

England has now passed 500 for the third time in six innings and has now scored 2,809 in the series to 1,461 by India, averaging 59.77 per wicket to 24.35 for the tourists.

Pietersen alone has 533 for the series - more than Indian batting stars Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman combined.

Eng Vs Ind Forth Test Day2 At Lunch 126/2

Spirited India pegs back England

AP India's seamers controlled the play on the second morning of the last Test against England at the Oval on Friday.

 

Indian bowlers put up a much improved show as England batsmen scored sedately to reach 126 for two at lunch on the second day of the fourth and final cricket Test here on Friday.

The Indian seamers led by Ishant Sharma bowled to a disciplined line as the home team could manage only 51 runs off 25 overs in the session losing openers Alastair Cook (34) and skipper Andrew Strauss (40).

Cook failed to add anything to his overnight total while Strauss added only two from 32 balls as both were dismissed in the slip cordon off Ishant Sharma and Sreesanth respectively.

Sharma, who set the trend of the day with a spell of 6-3-7-1, made Cook poke at his fifth delivery of the morning and was easily snapped by Virender Sehwag at first slip, fielding in place of Rahul Dravid who came on to the field only in the fourth over.

As R.P. Singh also kept it tight from the other end, the first four overs of the day produced no runs. Strauss tried to pull a short R.P. Singh delivery first up in the morning but thereafter went into his shell and found it very difficult to get going.

Bell meanwhile began briskly, steering R.P. Singh to third man and cracking Sreesanth through covers yet only 21 runs had accrued to the total from the first 10 overs.

Strauss departed at the stroke of drinks break, driving at a wide delivery from Sreesanth and edging it to wicketkeeper after couple of powerful hits in the cover region didn’t yield desired results.

Forth test Cricinfo at Lunch

England start with confidence

 

AP England's captain Andrew Strauss plays a shot off the bowling of India's Ishant Sharma in their fourth test match, at The Oval on Thursday.

Indian bowling lacked teeth as openers Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss batted comfortably to take England to 75 for no loss at lunch on the opening day of the fourth and final cricket Test here today.

Skipper Strauss was batting on 38 while last match’s double centurion Cook is giving him company on 34 after England opted to bat at the Oval.

From the moment recalled medium—pacer Rudra Pratap Singh sent a wide delivery down the leg stump which almost bounced twice, Indians never backed themselves to do any worthwhile damage to the hosts’ formidable batting.

Both Cook and Strauss began with boundaries down to the third man region and generally played without any alarm till the second hour when a sharp Ishant Sharma bouncer nearly took England skipper’s head off.

Strauss was on 24, England 48 for no loss, when Sharma dug one in which got Strauss in a tangle and hit him smack on the peak of his helmet, taking a piece off it. An inch below and Strauss could have ended up with a serious blow on his face.

But for this solitary moment of superiority, there wasn’t any genuine moment of shout emerging from the Indians. England openers, for most part of the session, accumulated their runs in ones and twos and only nine fours were hit in the first session.

Strauss hit Sreesanth for two delightful boundaries, putting a straight delivery past the square—leg fence and then getting his stride forward to stroke one back past the bowler.

Cook too got into the swing of things by getting on top of a short delivery from RP and square cutting it to fence and later flicking Sreesanth for yet another boundary.

As the minutes passed by, the strides of batsmen went longer and shots got deeper in front of square.

Indians largely stuck to its medium—pacers in the first session but they didn’t have the quality to make use of overcast conditions. RP only got better after his first over which Ian Botham in the commentary box described as the worst first over he has ever seen in Test cricket.

He finished his first spell of seven overs with 19 runs but his pace was disappointing even by gentle military medium—pace standards.

He clearly looked a bowler who hasn’t played Test cricket for three years now. Sreesanth had his own problems. Clearly uncomfortable in bowling to left—handers, he tended to bowl too straight to two left—handers and was hit for most boundaries— 4 —— during the morning session.

Ishant redeemed himself in this group of average bowlers, beating the bats a couple of times, and managing to extract good bounce out of the surface.

There was a moment of anxiety for the Indians when Dhoni, while collecting a Sharma delivery, wrung his fingers in pain.

Clearly the pounding his hands have suffered over the years is beginning to have its effects.

He received medical attention on the field on his right little finger which had jarred with the impact.