FRIDAY, 12.00NOON:
THE South African cricket team scored one for the record books on Thursday when they beat New Zealand by a single run at the Bellerive oval in Hobart, Tasmania.
The South Africans won the toss and elected to bat first in the 50-over match. Tight bowling and good fielding by the Kiwis held the visitors to an unpromising 174/9.
South Africa started brightly, but two dismissals from direct-hit run-outs spelled danger for Hansie Cronje’s men. It was all smiles for the Kiwis as Chris Cairns, Chris Harris and Shayne O’Connor took two wickets each.
Jacques Kallis was top scorer with 45, while Lance Klusener contributed 37 and Pollock 31. Kallis and Pollock’s partnership produced only 50 runs late in the innings.
Facing a likely defeat, the SA squad remained undaunted and came back fighting, managing to hold the Kiwis to 173/7 in a nailbiting finish.
With the Kiwis still short 10 runs as the last over came up, the task of keeping them at bay was given to Lance Klusener, who gave away only nine runs to seal the victory. “I just knew I had to keep the ball up to them,” he said. “I didn’t want to drop anything short and I tried to send everything down as fast as I could, but I don’t want to have to go through that again in a hurry,” said Klusener, who earlier produced an opening six-over spell of 3/27.
SA have won three of their four games so far and are on top of the series table with six points. New Zealand and Australia follow with one win each.
SA starts a four-day Test against Tasmania in Devonport on Saturday.
Scoreboard:
South Africa innings:
G Kirsten b O’Connor 6 (11m 13b)
H Gibbs c Vettori b O’Connor 12 (41m 22b)
L Klusener run out (Fleming) 37 (77m 60b 1×4 1×6)
P Symcox c and b Harris 15 (38m 25b 1×4)
H Cronje run out (McMillan) 0 (3m 2b)
J Kallis c and b Harris 45 (84m 82b)
J Rhodes b Vettori 14 (33m 28b 1×4)
S Pollock c Larsen b Cairns 31 (65m 49b 1×4)
B McMillan b Cairns 1 (6m 6b)
D Richardson not out 9 (12m 13b)
Extras (4w) 4
Total (for 9 wkts) 174 — 50 overs (189 mins)
Fall of wickets: 1/14 2/41 3/71 4/72 5/73 6/99 7/153 8/156 9/174
Bowling: O’Connor 7-0-42-2 (2w), Cairns 10-2-26-2 (1w), Harris 10-0-36-2, Larsen 8-1-23-0, Vettori 6-1-17-1, Astle 9-0-30-0 (1w).
New Zealand innings:
M Horne lbw b Klusener 3 (5m 6b)
N Astle c McMillan b Klusener 1 (9m 4b)
C Cairns b Klusener 29 (37m 27b 5×4)
S Fleming c Pollock b Symcox 32 (105m 75b 2×4)
C McMillan c Kirsten b Symcox 18 (88m 53b)
R Twose c Kirsten b Pollock 11
A Parore run out (Kallis) 6 (13m 10b 1×4)
C Harris not out 37 (82m 50b 3×4)
D Vettori not out 25 (62m 40b)
Extras (8lb 3w) 11
Total (for 7 wkts) 173 — 50 overs (229 mins)
Fall of wickets: 1/5 2/6 3/45 4/83 5/89 6/97 7/11
Bowling: Pollock 10-2-24-1 (1w), Klusener 10-0-46-3, Donald 10-2-32-0 (1w), McMillan 10-1-28-0 (1w), Symcox 10-1-35-2
Match result: South Africa won by one run
Man-of-the-match: Lance Klusener (SA).
11