MONDAY, 12.30PM:
SOUTH Africa beat England on Saturday by 32 runs to clinch victory in the second one-day international at Old Trafford, thereby clinching the series and the Texaco trophy to go with it.
Sunday’s match at Headingley, where the South Africans were severely bludgeoned, however leaves some questions unanswered. Why Hansie Cronje decided to send his troops in to bat first is something of a puzzle.
From previous experience he knows that the ball moves around quite a bit at Headingley on the first morning and, even if Darren Gough bowled a few that looked slighty shaky in his first spell, there is no justification to waste one of the finest new-ball attacks in world cricket on a pitch that has shown early movement.
On the other hand, South Africa bowled so poorly that they would have been given stick had they taken the ball first anyway.
Darren Gough and Angus Fraser bowled superbly to restrict South Africa to only 36 runs in the first 15 overs. The South Africans ended their innings on 205/8 and, if Shaun Pollock hadn’t played a sparkling innings of 60 off 64 balls, the score may have been even more modest.
The South Africans took the field with a low, but quite defendable, total on a good wicket, and promptly threw it away.
Nick Knight and Ali Brown, opening the English batting, played with gay abondon, bludgeoning Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald to all corners of the park. After the first 15 overs the pair had put on 113 runs for the first wicket.
The partnership broke on 114, leaving Alec Stewart, who was the victim of an unsportsmanlike run-out in the second international, and Nasser Hussain, to take the English to victory.
In the South African fielding, only Jonty Rhodes maintained his high standards, but even his excellent fielding and three great diving saves could not lift the South Africans from their complacency.
South Africa:
G Kirsten b Fraser 19 (19m 31b 3×4)
G Liebenberg lbw Cullinan 13 (99m 57b)
J Kallis run out (Ealham/Stewart) 1 (4m 4b)
D Cullinan run out (Hussain) 13 (52m 44b 2×4)
H Cronje v Stewart b Ealham 35 (56m 41b 3×4)
J Rhodes c Stewart b Ealham 6 (9m 7b)
S Pollock b Fleming 60 (91m 64b 5×4)
L Klusener c Stewart b Fraser 14 (22m 25b)
M Boucher not out 26 (34m 29b 3×4)
P Symcox not out 1 (2m 1b)
Extras (9lb 5w 3nb) 17
Total (for 8 wkts) 205 — 50 overs 203 mins
Fall of wickets: 1/26 2/29 3/57 4/68 5/78 6/118 7/146 8/198
Bowling: Gough 10-2-57-0 (2nb), Fraser 10-1-23-2 (1nb 2w), Fleming 10-1-41-1 (2w), Ealham 10-0-44-3 (1w), Croft 10-0-31-0
England:
N Knight c Rhodes b Donald 51 (95m 79b 6×4)
A Brown run out (Kallis) 59 (73m 40b 11×4)
M Fleming b Donald 18 (34m 17b 2×4 1×6)
A Stewart not 26 (59m 45b 3×4)
N Hussain not out 33 (46m 39b 2×4 2×6)
Extras (4b 2lb 3w 10nb) 19
Total (for 3 wkts) 206 — 35 overs 155 mins
Fall of wickets: 1/114 2/139 3/148
Bowling: Pollock 7-1-34-0 (4nb), Klusener 6-0-45-0 (5nb), Donald 7-0-35-2 (1nb 2w), Symcox 9-1-51-0 (1w), Cronje 6-0-35-0
Man-of-the-match: Alistair Brown (Eng)
Men-of-the-series: Jonty Rhodes (SA) and Darren Gough (Eng)
Result: England win by seven wickets
Series result: SA win 2-1