MONDAY, 11.00AM:
AUSTRALIA’s match-winning legspinner Shane Warne claimed 6/34 to bowl his side to a crushing innings and 21-run victory over South Africa in the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday. And Warne’s bowling figures were an appropriate backdrop to his taking his 300th Test wicket with Jacques Kallis.
Rain limited Monday’s play to 29 overs, which didn’t keep the South Africans from going all out in their second innings, for an embarrassing total of 113.
The SA batting collapse, probably their worst since readmission to international cricket seven years ago, on a wicket that yielded 421 runs to the Aussies, does not inspire confidence in the team’s ability to square the series in the final Test in Adelaide.
SA’s claim that they have learnt to handle spin rang hollow in the face of Warne’s assault, as he took 17 SA wickets in two Tests. Only Jacques Kallis acquitted himself well, standing firm at the wicket for 155 minutes and cracking four fours before Warne nabbed him for 45.
Only tail-ender Pat Symcox offered a similar show of defiance, knocking out four fours and a six in his 38, but the much-needed belligerent stand came too late in the line-up to be of much use.
Satrtting their second innings needing only 134 to force a follow-on and salvage some pride, Hansie Cronje’s squad were simply not up to the task. Gary Kirsten was lost in the second over, leg before for a duck, followed by Bacher in the fifth for two, and Cronje in the 15th for five, to take the tally to a grand 3/21 at lunch.
Once again, the middle order was left to salvage what they could, which was not much — Herschelle Gibbs messed about for over half an hour with just one run to show for his efforts before a short-leg catch put him out of his misery.
Then McMillan joined the fray with some belated aggression that quckly took him to double figures, before Warne reappeared to apply the coup de grace.
Richardson followed the lead of his teammates, and was back in the pavilion after facing only three balls before popping a timid return into the hands of the bowler to make it 55/7.
That left Symcox no option but to go for the big hits, which took him to an eighth-wicket partnership of 41 with Kallis — sadly, the best partnership in a poor innings.
Scoreboard Monday at the end of the second cricket test between Australia and South Africa at the Sydney Cricket Ground:
South Africa won the toss
South Africa, 1st Innings 287
Australia, 1st Innings
Overnight 392/9
Matthew Elliott c McMillan b Symcox 32
Mark Taylor c Richardson b Pollock 11
Greg Blewett b McMillan 28
Mark Waugh lbw b Pollock 100
Steve Waugh b Donald 85
Ricky Ponting c and b Adams 62
Michael Bevan c McMillan b Symcox 12
Ian Healy not out 46
Paul Reiffel b Donald 0
Shane Warne lbw b Pollock 12
Glenn McGrath c Richardson b Donald 14
Extras (1b, 12lb, 6nb) 19
TOTAL: 421 all out
Fall of wickets: 35, 59, 103, 219, 317, 337, 354, 357, 385, 421.
Bowling: Allan Donald 30.4-5-81-3, Shaun Pollock 33-8-71-3 (5nb), Pat Symcox 39-11-103-2, Paul Adams 38-9-66-1, Brian McMillan 18-5-55-1, Jacques Kallis 8-1-30-0 (1nb), Hansie Cronje 1-0-2-0.
Batting time: 646 minutes. Overs: 167.4
South Africa, 2nd Innings:
Gary Kirsten lbw b McGrath 0
Adam Bacher c Ponting b Reiffel 2
Jacques Kallis b Warne 45
Hansie Cronje c Ponting b Warne 5
Herschelle Gibbs c Blewett b Warne 1
Brian McMillan b Warne 11
Shaun Pollock c Taylor b Warne 4
Dave Richardson c and b Warne 0
Pat Symcox b Reiffel 38
Allan Donald c Healy b Reiffel 2
Paul Adams not out 1
Extras (2b, 1lb, 1nb) 4
TOTAL: 113 all out
Fall of wickets: 1, 3, 21, 27, 41, 55, 55, 96, 112, 113.
Bowling: Paul Reiffel 12-3-14-3, Glenn McGrath 5-2-8-1, Shane Warne 21-9-34-6 (1nb), Greg Blewett 2-1-1-0, Michael Bevan 3-0-18-0, Mark Waugh 10-2-35-0.
Batting time: 199 minutes. Overs: 53
Result: Australia won by an innings and 21 runs.
Umpires: Darrell Hair (Australia) and Peter Willey (England).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).
SPORT BRIEFS
SONO FOR BAFANA COACH FRENCHMAN Philippe Troussier, who coaches Burkina Faso, has won job of coaching Bafana Bafana for the World Cup finals in June. Jomo Sono, owner and coach of Jomo Cosmos, has been appointed ‘caretaker coach’ of Bafana Bafana until March 1. The hurried appointments have immediately caused controversy, with black coaches complaining that the national job always goes to a white, and with other coaches saying it is improper for a club owner to be part-time national coach.
WINDIES A GO DOWN AGAIN THE toruring West Indies A cricket side took another crushing blow on Sunday when South Africa A beat them by five wickets at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth, to wrap up the limited-overs series 2-0. In Friday’s first match in the series, the locals saw the visitors off with a 221-run annihilation.
HOPMAN CUP DISAPPOINTMENT SOUTH Africa’s title defence of the Junior Hopman Cup tennis tournament in Perth took a blow on Sunday when they were surprised 3-0 by unseeded Western Australia. SA’s Nicholas McDonald went down 4-6 0-6 to Tate Roberts, while Natalie Grandin lost 4-6 6-7 (4) to Nicole Sewell. In the mixed doubles, the Aussies cleaned up when Roberts and Sewell thrashed McDonald and Grandin 6-3 6-3. To have any chance of qualifying for Tuesday’s final, SA need to beat third seeds Thailand without conceding a single set in the tie.
BORDER DOWN GAUTENG A RECORD partnership and reckless batting by Gauteng saw Border win their Standard Bank League match in East London on Saturday by 54 runs. After winning the toss, Border notched up 252/7. After slumping to 40/3 in the 14th over, Philip Amm recovered matters with 88 off 84 balls to make 144 balls runs for the fourth wicket, with Cassie van der Merwe’s 61 off 71 balls. Gauteng, after managing a 99-run partnership for the third wicket that had the potential of a match winner, then blew it with a reckless display of batting that saw them end their innings on 198/7.