MONDAY, 3.30PM:
SOUTH Africa drew their four-day Test match against Australia A at the Gabba on Monday. The visitors hit a second innings of 220 for seven declared, while Australia A finished at 122/1 in their second innings when the captains called a halt before the scheduled close.
SA skipper Hansie Cronje said playing against MacGill has helped the South Africans a lot ahead of facing agressive spinner Shane Warne in the Boxing Day Test. MacGill, who is considered heir apparent to Warne in the full test team, took the wicket of South Africa’s top scorer Daryll Cullinan. “I do feel that South Africans have started playing spinners better and better over the years. We are getting slowly better at the way we are playing them and this was good preparation,” said Cronje.
MONDAY, 11.30AM:
AUSTRALIA A moved to a second innings 38/1 at tea on the final day of their four-day clash against South Africa at the Gabba on Monday. Australia need to score 349 runs for victory.
Matthew Hayden, who is seen by many as Test quality, failed to make the most of what had become a practice outing when he was caught behind by Richardson off veteran spinner Pat Symcox for 17. Hayden managed only 8 in his first innings.
The touring South Africans had earlier declared their second innings at 220/7 shortly after lunch. They were at 114/3 overnight. Darryll Cullinan topscored for the tourists with 83. He picked up 50 of his runs (11×4 1×6) via the boundary. Cullinan and Herschelle Gibbs contributed 64 for the fourth wicket. Gibbs was out soon after Cullinan, clean bowled by Bevan in attempting to swipe the part-time spinner out of the ground. He hit 3x4s in his 22.
Pollock was caught behind in his 22 (2×4) before Cronje called it quits.
Scores on the fourth and final day of the match:
SOUTH AFRICA, first innings 458/9 decl.
AUSTRALIA A, first innings 330
SOUTH AFRICA, second innings (114/3 overnight)
G Kirsten lbw b Lee 11 (23m 16b 2×4)
A Bacher c Hayden b Wilson 4 (18m 14b 1×4)
J Kallis lbw b Langer 35 (116m 94b 6×4)
D Cullinan lbw b MacGill 83 (198m 148b 11×4 1×6)
H Gibbs b Bevan 22 (106m 80b 3×4)
B McMillan not out 13 (89m 75b 1×4)
S Pollock c Gilchrist b McGill 23 (39m 37b 2×4)
H Cronje b Langer 16 (25m 28b 3×4)
Extras (5b 1lb 7nb) 13
Total (for 7 wkts decl.) 220 — 81 overs (311 mins)
Fall of wickets: 1/15, 2/19, 3/99, 4/163, 5/167, 6/195, 7/220
Bowling: Wilson 15-5-29-1, Lee 13-3-42-1 (4nb), MacGill 24-8-69-2 (3nb), Bevan 18-1-57-1, Langer 11-5-17-2
AUSTRALIA A, second innings
M Slater not out 64 (167m 113b 8×4 1×6)
M Hayden c Richardson b Symcox 17 (75m 52b 2×4)
J Langer not out 34 (92m 78b 5×4)
Extras (6lb 1nb) 7
Total (for 1 wkt) 122 — 40 overs (167 mins)
Fall of wicket: 1/38
Bowling: Pollock 5-2-8-0 (1nb), Klusener 4-0-10-0, Kallis 7-0-32-0, McMillan 3-1-2-0, Symcox 11-1-35-1 Cronje 8-1-20-0 Bacher 1-0-6-0 Richardson 1-0-3-0
Result: Match drawn