|
Bangladesh v South Africa, 1st Test, Mirpur, 3rd day
Kallis and Smith take South Africa closer
The Bulletin by Dileep Premachandran
February 24, 2008
South Africa 170 and 178 for 4 (Smith 62, Prince 24*, de Villiers 8*) need another 27 to beat Bangladesh 192 and 182 (Siddique 74, Steyn 4-48)
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
|
|
|
Jacques Kallis picked up five wickets as Bangladesh were bowled out for 182
© AFP
|
|
| |
In the four years since he last took five wickets in a Test innings,
Jacques Kallis has cemented his position as one of the batting greats of
the modern age, but it was an inspired eight-over spell on the third
morning at the National Stadium in Mirpur that went a long way towards
destroying Bangladeshi hopes of an epochal victory.
Kallis' 5 for 30 triggered a collapse to 182 all out, and solid knocks
from Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla got them to within 27 of the 205 needed
before the victory push was halted by bad light. Shahadat Hossain, who
starred with 6 for 27 in the first innings, and Mohammad Rafique induced a
late-afternoon wobble, but dour batting from Ashwell Prince and AB de
Villiers shut the door in the final overs of the day.
As ever, Kallis bowled a heavy ball and got just enough movement to worry
batsmen on a pitch that showed further signs of wear and tear. In the
space of four balls midway through the morning session, the complexion of
the match turned utterly. Dale Steyn had probed away while Makhaya Ntini
had again been disappointing, and as the fifth-wicket partnership between
Junaid Siddique and Aftab Ahmad swelled to 63, Smith was running out of
options.
Instead of Mornč Morkel, he threw the ball to Kallis, and the breakthrough
came with the fifth ball he bowled. The line was perfect, and there was
just enough deviation away to take the outside edge as Siddique sparred
uncertainly. He had batted 184 balls to equal his previous highest of 74,
and his exit was a serious blow to hopes of setting a big target.
Three balls later, the innings was in disarray. Aftab had previously
survived a vociferous shout after padding up to Ntini, but when he did the
same to a Steyn delivery that darted back, the umpire wasn't in charitable
mood. Aftab had eschewed his attacking instincts during a sober innings,
but like Mohammad Ashraful, his captain, he couldn't quite carry on.
Kallis struck in his second over as well, though Mushfiqur Rahim wasn't
exactly thrilled when Steve Bucknor ruled him out after he appeared to
miss a glance down the leg side. Boucher took the catch and went up in
appeal, and the raised finger gave him a record 417th dismissal, one ahead of the
recently-retired Adam Gilchrist.
Rafique came in and played the only way he knew. Two carves through the
off side off Kallis briefly enlivened the crowd, but a lazy waft then saw
his off stump knocked out. And on the stroke of lunch, Kallis wrapped
things up, having Mashrafe Mortaza graze one to slip and Shakib Al Hasan
edge through to Boucher. The demolition job was complete, and it was left
to the batsmen to complete the task of getting the favourites out of jail.
Neil McKenzie might have gone in Mortaza's opening over, but an outside
edge didn't carry to the slip cordon, and when he survived a massive shout
for leg before soon after, you sensed it would be South Africa's day. He
played a couple of gorgeous cover drives as the bowlers erred in line and
length, and Ashraful was soon calling for some left-arm spin from Rafique.
|
|
|
Graeme Smith's 62 helped South Africa inch closer to a hard-fought win
© AFP
|
|
| |
It was Hossain who provided the opening though. Despite having gone for 13
in his previous over, Smith lacing two lovely fours in the V, Ashraful
kept the faith in his bowler and was rewarded when a McKenzie miscued a pull to Habibul Bashar at square leg. Smith, who had been struck a painful blow
in the abdomen at the start of his innings, survived a strong shout for a
catch behind soon after, but the sort of collapse that ruined the first
innings never materialised.
Hashim Amla got going with a tidy glance off Rafique and an on-drive
off Hossain and when Smith moved towards his half-century with a sweet
shot down the ground off Mortaza, the crowd's spirits sank further. Having
been in the ascendancy a day earlier, Bangladesh were once again staring
at defeat inside three days.
Amla played some fabulous strokes down the ground and through midwicket,
while Smith was clinical in putting away anything overpitched or wide. The
partnership was worth 73 when Smith tried to tuck Rafique through the leg
side only to miss it completely. The appeal was upheld and Kallis, the
bowling hero, arrived at the crease.
Amla's elegant effort ended soon after, when an attempted cut off Rafique
flew off the outside edge to Siddique at first slip. Though the speed at
which it was travelling pushed him back, he managed to hold on. It was
consolation too for Rafique, after Bucknor had ruled Kallis not out when a
thin edge ricocheted off Rahim to the man at slip.
He didn't stay long enough to capitalise on the good fortune though.
Hossain tempted him with a short ball, and the pull arrowed into the hands
of Mortaza at backward square leg. At 144 for 4, the dressing room would
have been jittery, but Prince and de Villiers opted for discretion rather
than an early finish, sensing that the Bangladeshis had lifted their game.
de Villiers was uncharacteristically subdued, and it was Prince that
whittled away at the target, with a powerful cut off Mortaza and two meaty
pulls off Rafique. Barring a dramatic reversal of fortune on Monday, South
Africa will win this game, and leave Bangladesh to ponder just how they
let it get away.
Dileep Premachandran is an associate editor at Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
|
