TUESDAY, 10.00AM:
SOUTH Africa set a target of 268/6 on Tuesday in their 50-over match against a Prime Minister’s XI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
Captain Hansie Cronje slipped right back in to one-day cricket with a sterling 42 not out after facing just 26 balls in 34 minutes at the crease. His tally included 3x4s and 2x6s.
And the top order bats did not let the side down, most of them managing double figures. Jacques Kallis, at number six, showed a return to form with an unbeaten 50 off 48 balls, including 2x4s. His seventh-wicket partnership with Cronje yielded 79 runs off only 52 balls.
Encouraging too, was Daryll Cullinan’s 45 (5x4s) off 48 deliveries. Cullinan, who has been losing his wicket in some odd ways of late, was “run out” by Darren Berry after setting off on a run, not realising that the ball had gone direct to the wicketkeeper.
Adam Bacher (34) and Herschelle Gibbs (38) were the best of the rest, putting on 59 for the first wicket. Bacher was unlucky to be adjudged caught behind off a delivery which had gone through well above shoulder height.
Scoreboard:
South Africa innings:
A Bacher c Berry b Williams 34 (60m 43b 5×4)
H Gibbs c Berry b B Young 38 (104m 60b 4×4)
L Klusener b Wilson 16 (28m 12b 3×4)
D Cullinan run out (Berry) 45 (119m 48b 5×4)
J Rhodes c Wilson b B Young 15 (21m 20b 1×4)
J Kallis not out 50 (81m 48b 2×4)
B McMillan b S Young 9 (21m 19b)
H Cronje not out 42 (34m 26b 3×4 2×6)
Extras (7lb 10w 2nb) 19
Total (for 6 wkts) 268 — 50 overs (208 mins)
Fall of wickets: 1/59 2/88 3/104 4/141 5/166 6/189
Bowling: Wilson 10-1-48-1 (3w), B Lee 10-0-42-0 (5w 1nb), Williams 10-0-50-1, S Young 7-0-53-1 (1nb), B Young 10-1-43-2, Higgs 3-0-25-0 (2w).