OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bombay | Saturday 11.00pm.
SOUTH Africa made a solid start to their tour of India on Saturday, reaching 293 for six against an Indian Board XI.
Openers Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs were soon into their stride and scored 104 for the first wicket.
Kirsten was first out when he was beaten by left arm-spinner Murali Karthik and edged a catch into the slips. He hit seven fours in a two-hour innings worth 56.
Gibbs also completed his half century before giving spinner Harbhajan Singh a return catch after adding three more runs. He batted for 142 minutes and struck nine boundaries.
Jacques Kallis kept the total moving with 50.
A brilliant piece of fielding by Mohammed Kaif ended Daryll Cullinan’s innings just when he looked into his stride. He was run out for 43.
Mark Boucher helped his captain Hansie Cronje to accelerate the scoring and the pair added 54 in an unbroken seventh wicket stand. Both were 33 not out at the end of the opening day of the three-day game.
outh Africa first innings
The Proteas play two tests and five one-day internationals, starting with the first test in Bombay on February 24-28.
Scoreboard:
G.Kirsten c Azhar b Karthik 56
H.Herschelle Gibss c Kaif b Harbhajan 53
J.Kallis c Mongia b Mohanty 50
D.Cullinan run out 43
H.Cronje not out 33
P.Strydom c and b Harbhajan 14
M.Boucher not out 33
L.Klusener b Karthik 0
Extras (b-4 lb-1 nb-6) 11
Total (for six wickets) 293
Fall of wickets: 1-104 2-125 3-212 4-217 5-234 6-239
To bat: M.Hayward, C.Eksteen, A.Donald
Bowling (to date): Mohanty 13-4-45-1 (nb-2) Kumaran 13-5-28-0, Karthik 29-2-95-2 (nb-1) Bhandari 11-2-29-0 (nb-2) Harbhajan 24-1-88-2 (nb-1) Jadeja 1-0-3-0. — Reuters
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