South Africa were in some trouble on 257-8 when bad light stopped play early on the first day of the second Castle Lager Test against India at Kingsmead on Tuesday. The Proteas had been looking fairly good until a dramatic collapse saw them go from 256-5 to 257-8.
Graeme Smith won the toss and chose to bat first. South Africa were dealt a blow with the announcement that premier batsman Jacques Kallis was experiencing severe back pain and would not be able to play. Dale Steyn, who is still recovering from a left thigh injury, was also declared unfit to play, and they were replaced by all-rounder Andrew Hall and the Titans fast bowler Morne Morkel.
What coach Mickey Arthur described as Smith’s ”batting demons” continued, and although the South African captain hit a couple of fine shots, he was out in the third over when he got a thick edge to a delivery from Zaheer Khan. The ball ballooned into the air and Sachin Tendulkar ran across to take the catch. Smith made five.
Khan struck again a short while later when he had Hashim Amla out leg before wicket for one.
AB de Villiers, who had been moved up the order to open with Smith, was looking quite comfortable until he edged an away swinger from Shanthakumaran Sreesanth and Tendulkar took a regulation slip catch to send De Villiers back for nine, and South Africa were in trouble on 28-3.
Herschelle Gibbs and Ashwell Prince did much to restore some respectability with a fourth-wicket partnership of 94. Gibbs, who, like Smith, has had a bleak summer, began to look more like the Gibbs of old, playing some glorious shots, including a beautiful uppercut that raced to the boundary.
His 23rd Test 50 came up off 73 balls and included 11 boundaries. However, as he became more confident, he started playing some loose shots, and when he played a loose shot to Sreesanth, wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni dived to his right to take the catch and Gibbs was out for 63.
”I’m disappointed that I didn’t go on to make a hundred, but some runs are better than no runs,” said Gibbs. ”It was good to spend some time in the middle again. We want to squeeze another 40 or so runs tomorrow, so that we have something to bowl at.”
Prince and Mark Boucher shared a fifth wicket partnership of 100, during which both reached their half centuries. Prince’s fifth 50 came up off 116 deliveries and Boucher’s 24th off 88. But no sooner had they passed the century partnership mark than Boucher misjudged a Sreesanth delivery and was clean bowled for 53.
Shaun Pollock and Prince took South Africa beyond 250, with Pollock starting to take the attack to the Indian bowlers as the advent of the second new ball drew near, but an attempt to hit a third boundary saw him smash the ball to Virender Sehwag at cover point.
Pollock’s departure for 11 precipitated the batting collapse. Hall went out lbw to Anil Kumble without scoring, and three balls later, Andre Nel was bowled by Kumble, also without scoring.
By this stage, it was becoming gloomy and Morne Morkel faced just one ball before the umpires offered the batsmen the light. Prince, stranded on 98 and rapidly running out of partners, had no hesitation and turned immediately to walk to the pavilion. Play was officially called off a short while later and will start 16 minutes early on Wednesday.
”Ashwell has been very sound and very tight,” said Gibbs. ”He’s defended very positively and he has been playing very well.”
India will certainly be the happier of the two teams, with South Africa having had the worst of the first and last sessions of the day. Sreesanth was the chief wicket taker for India, with 3-74, while Khan and Kumble took two each.
”It was a very good day,” said captain Rahul Dravid. ”It was very hot out there, and the boys showed a lot of character. We stuck to our task and bowled very well. The conditions were tough and we deserved the wickets we got because of the work we put in.” — Sapa