Day 4 wasn’t filled with the excitement of the previous three days, and it ended on a sour note for South Africa when Jonty Rhodes was rushed from the field with a fractured bone in his hand, his world cup future in doubt, and accusations of racism were levelled at Rashid Latif of Pakistan by Australia’s Adam Gilchrist.
But the day still dished up the kind of entertainment only a tournament of this intensity can produce.
Game 6 between Holland and India was an intriguing affair, with Holland bowling the Indians out cheaply and causing a flutter before rescue arrived in the form of Harbhajan and Anil Kumble, while Kenya was beaten down like the dogs that they are by a very impressive 10 wickets in Game 7.
The South Africans will be glad to get on the World Cup scoreboard, and in such convincing fashion — anything less would not have been acceptable. With Jonty Rhodes possibly out of the World Cup, the bowling still of concern and their next game against New Zealand, the Proteas will be breathing a sigh of relief, before heading to their hotel room and later sneaking down the corridor to Gibbo’s room for tea and reefers.
The two Men of the Match were bowlers — Lance Klusener and Tim de Leede, and for a while the runs fest has come to a halt. Yesterday the bowlers ruled, but let’s examine it all in a bit more detail.
Game 6: Netherlands vs India, Paarl, day
The first game of the day provided a flurry of excitement for awhile, as no-hopers Holland took on India in Paarl and bowled them out for 204 inside the fifty overs. The excitement proved short-lived, however, as India’s spin twins Harbhajan and Anil Kumble assured one and all that the fix wasn’t in after all, and took care of any pockets of resistance from the Dutchmen.
India won the match with ease in the end by 68 runs, but there were warning bells ringing so loudly the ground itself developed a bad case of tinnitus.
The Indian batting was an extension of the nightmare which began first in India against the West Indies, where they lost a recent ODI series 4-3, and then on a tour to New Zealand in which they were given a severe hiding, losing all games they played.
In today’s game Kumble and Harbhajan and Srinath showed that there isn’t much wrong with the bowling, although they struggled to finish off the Dutch tailenders. But it was the batting that was dismal, with only Sachin Tendulkar going past fifty (52 off 72 balls), and brief contributions from Yuvraj Singh (37) and Dinesh Mongia (42). Tim de Leede was Destroyer in Chief for Holland, claiming 4/35 in 9.5 overs with accurate seamers, and bagging the Man of the Match as well.
But the Dutch bowling could hardly be called threatening, although at least they ensured they bowled a tight line, but it wasn’t quality of bowling that wrecked the Indian batting lineup – it was the Indian batsmen. They looked nervouse, tense, and a far cry from the devastating form their top order is capable of. You would have expected them to pile on 300 minimum against an attack which had no pace and less turn, yet it was all they could do to crack 200.
What’s going on? Why is the Indian batting so crap? Ganguly and Sachin have more century partnerships than any other opening duo in the history of ODI cricket (16), and today Sachin went past the highest number of runs ever scored in World Cup cricket — 1083 by Javed Miandad. Rahul Dravid has a massive average and Virender Sehwag has an air of Tendulkar about him, and with backup from Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif and Dinesh Mongia there’s no way India should only be getting 204 against a non-Test playing side like Holland.
But the positives for India were in the bowling department, where Harbhajan and Kumble in particular showed that the South African wickets — despite being hard and flat — give them the added option of bounce, and with their wily lines, sharp turn and unreadable variety they’re going to prove a major hurdle to be overcome at this world cup. Kumble got four wickets, and Harbhajan was tight as a noose giving only 20 runs away in his ten overs, and claiming one wicket.
But Javagal Srinath showed why he is still one of the most under-rated bowlers in world cricket, picking up four wickets for just 30 runs, and his past good form in playing in South African conditions seems to be continuing. He doesn’t get much of a chance to play on wickets so suited to his accurate, swinging seamers, and I think he’s going to relish the chance to bowl on them.
But the day ultimately belonged to the Netherlands, whose superb effort in the field elevated them to the status of world beaters for a few brief overs. Despite their fine bowling performance (even when batsmen are getting themselves out as the Indians were today, you still have to give them the right ball to get out on), they also came away with a very encouraging maiden half century from Daan van Bunge, a 21-year old opener who withstood the might of the Indian attack for more than three hours in making 62 off 116 balls. He almost made it to the end of the innings, but eventually succumbed to a slower Srinath ball which found him five miles away from the leg stump, which was rattled.
The impressive thing about van Bunge’s innings was the application he applied to not getting himself out, and despite the fact that he only made a run every three balls he faced, he was in a situation that required him to do just that. Around him the Dutch batsmen fell, usually playing tentative shots, or simply being fooled completely by the Indian spin trickery, but he stuck it out and getting his fifty was undoubtedly the highlight of his career.
So the Dutch can be pleased with their efforts today — their fielding and catching was outstanding, they’ll be encouraged by some individual performances with bat and ball, and they’ll be one game more knowledgeable than they were.
India will have some soul-searching to do, although this is precisely the sort of thing you’d expect from their unpredictable side — one day they’ll play atrociously against a weak side, and the next they’ll destroy any top side with ease.
Wonder which way they’ll swing?
Game 7: Kenya vs South Africa, Potchefstroom, day
This was a totally one-sided affair between hosts South Africa and co-hosts Kenya, as it should have been. Kenya managed a paltry 140 all out from just 38 overs, with Ravindu Shah top-scoring with 60 before being run out after a stunning throw from the deep by Lance Klusener.
South African openers Gibbs and Kirsten picked up from where they left off in the Standard Bank Cup final, when they murdered Griqualand West without losing a wicket, and took the hosts past the Kenyan total with almost 30 overs remaining. Gibbs ended the match with a four, and 87*, while Kirsten continued his good form from Game 1 by scoring his second consecutive fifty, ending on 52*.
And South Africa are back in it.
This was the perfect way to deal with a minnow situation — putting the boot in with tight, accurate bowling, and reaching the score at a healthy clip for the loss of no wickets. You can’t complain with a seven-to-the-over run rate and no wickets down, but there is still cause for concern in the fielding department.
I counted four dropped catches — none of them amazingly difficult chances — two from Boucher, one from Pollock and one from Rhodes, and it is simply not good enough. I don’t want to be the one to pull the team down after a comprehensive victory, but I’m looking ahead here. You can drop four catches — hell — you can drop ten catches against Kenya, and still beat them by ten wickets. But as Herschelle Gibbs proved in the 1999 World Cup semifinal, dropping even one against a top side could see you burn.
The South African slip cordon is a mess, with Kallis in the first game and Pollock in this one putting down chances, and while this fact isn’t extraordinary in itself it becomes so when you consider the disaster the slip cordon had against Australia in the ill-fated VB Series last year, not to mention the Kings of Cricket Test series. The problem seems to have become an inability to consistently hold on to difficult chances, and it is hanging on to these that makes a fielding side great.
To me a catch should be taken if you make contact with the ball, unless it really only does just brush your fingertips, as was the case today when Pollock ran backwards for a diving attempt off the bowling of Ntini, but only just scraping his fingernails across the leather. But the Kallis drop should not have been one — those are the sorts of catches I’m talking about, and if you think about it — in the context of the Windies game, in all probability is was that drop that lost South Africa the match (it was Brian Lara’s first ball, and we all know what happened thereafter).
It’s a killer instinct on the field that is lacking, and reflexes seem soft around the edges. Rhodes doesn’t catch like he used to, and his fumbles on the field are on the increase. He’s still brilliant, make no mistake, but his edge has most definitely gone. I watched his dropped catch in slo-mo, and he closed his fingers on the ball just a fraction too late. The difference is less than a millisecond, but the significance is dropping it when it should be caught, and this is the problem
Rhodes is facing after one rocket too many in the covers. In his prime the reflexes were perfect — to the millisecond — and just that tiny slowing of them is making a world of difference.
Now it looks as though he could miss the rest of the World Cup after fracturing a bone in his hand fielding a cracking drive, and with his demise will come increased pressure on the fielding.
And I just don’t have the confidence I used to have in the fielding anymore — running catches in the deep, sharp chances close to the wicket, fullstretch dives in the covers are all tainted with a question mark these days, and it has to sharpen up.
South Africa’s next game is against the smarting Kiwis, who pretty much have to win the game to stay in the tournament, and South Africa has to get its first win against a big team.
The South African batting looks good up front, but the middle order failed in the first game and didn’t get to bat in the second, and it’s them the next game will be hinging on, methinks.
The bowling is a different story. Langeveldt was given a run in this game, but seemed off key, which is not the way to impress upon the selectors the need to include you for bigger games. Pollock and Ntini were sharp up front as you would expect them to be against a side of Kenya’s stature, and while Nicky Boje got his first wicket he still went at close to five to the over, and I can promise you that if Kenya is spanking Boje some world class Test batsmen are going to make a serious mess of him. Just a thought.
Kallis was hefted all over the place, as tends to happen to him on occasion, his three overs costing 23 runs. But the class act was once again Lance Klusener, who by now has made a total mockery of my pre-tournament predictions for him. He did it with the bat in the first game, and in the second got Man of the Match for his bowling figures of 4-16 off eight overs, and it’s like he hasn’t yet stepped on the jet to come home from England ’99. Extraordinary – his form ended the day he left England four years ago after that infamous semifinal, and returned on the opening day of the World Cup 2003.
Talk about timing.
Zulu actually bowled in a fashion I’ve been dreaming of for years: bowl quickly, but turn the ball like a spinner. How the hell would you play a viciously turning ball at 120km/h plus? The Kenyans would answer you wouldn’t, and they’d be right about that. Klusener bowled from impossible angles, turning the ball more than Shane Warne on a sticky rubber mat, and with pace extracted bounce, which it must be said was variable at times. Dream stuff from Zulu, and it needs to continue.
Guess he’s sealed his place in the starting 11…..
As for the Kenyans – well – what can you say? They did no worse or better than they could have, which means they’re all square. Hopefully they’ll lean on the experience for their next game, one that has turned into an unexpected cracker. It will be in Cape Town on Saturday night against Canada, the Giant Killers of Bangladesh, and both Kenya and Canada will have important cases to present to the ICC in terms of Test status. Kenya can count itself unlucky not to have been selected ahead of Bangladesh, and if Canada can pull off a second consecutive win against a more favoured side they’ll have had an extraordinary world cup, to say the least.
And that was Game 7, wrapping up Day 4. Not a high-scoring game, and low excitement levels, but an impressive win by South Africa and a good show from Gibbs and Kirsten.
Which is what I’m after.
Summary
While not a disappointing day it was a reserved day, almost in awe of the three first days. At some stage the bowlers had to fire and they did so in spades today – all except the unfortunate Kenyans.
The only blight on the day was the news of Rhodes, but already the name of Graeme Smith is being whispered in the dark Corridors of Power, or rather blurted out by Hugh Page on Supersport last night, and according to Page Rhodes will only be allowed to be replaced if his healing process is longer than the duration of the tournament.
According to Page (a South African selector) the obvious replacement would be the unlucky left-hander who was robbed of his world cup spot by politics.
Should Smith come into the side I believe they will be vastly strengthened – not because Rhodes is gone, but because Smith is there. The top order would suddenly look invincible if you stuck Smith in with Gibbs, dropped Gazza to three, kept Kallis at four and shifted Boeta Dippenaar to five. Now you’re talking in a fashion I can listen to.
And if ever there was an answer to the slip cordon….
Ultimately it was good to see some wickets today, but even better watching Gibbs and Kirsten in such glorious form.
Keep it going.
Cheers,
The Twelfth Man