Ably assisted by the tail-enders, Jacques Kallis spearheaded an outstanding performance by South Africa to give them a first innings lead of 193 runs on the second day of the second Castle Lager/MTN cricket Test at Kingsmead on Monday. At close of play, England were 30 without loss in their second innings, and were still 163 runs behind.
Shaun Pollock joined Jacques Kallis shortly before lunch, with the score on 118 for six, and South Africa still 21 runs behind. South Africa’s two most experienced players showed their class, putting on a seventh-wicket partnership of 87, before Pollock was given out, caught behind by Geraint Jones off Michael Vaughan for 43. Television replays showed he could consider himself a little unlucky, because he did not appear to have touched the ball.
Pollock’s departure brought another experienced player, Nicky Boje, to the crease, with the score on 205 for seven. Boje stayed around long enough to help Kallis to his 18th Test century, which came off 186 balls in just over three and a half hours. When Boje was caught at point by substitute Paul Collingwood, standing in for the injured spin bowler Ashley Giles, England probably thought their job was almost done. But Makhaya Ntini came out in a very positive mood, and he and Kallis shared a ninth wicket partnership of 50 that had the spectators cheering every move. Ntini’s 22 runs all came off boundaries — four fours and a six. Three of his fours came off one over from England’s leading bowler Steve Harmison.
Newcomer Dale Steyn joined Kallis with the score on 293, and he stayed with Kallis for 40 minutes, and helped him to push the score up to 332, and the lead of 193. Kallis was finally out, caught by Collingwood for 162, as he tried to score another four to add to the 21 he had already scored.
Kallis said he thought it had been one of his best centuries ever. ”For me, my best will always be the century I scored against Australia in Melbourne, but this was right up there.” He said his partnership with Shaun Pollock had been crucial. ”Shaun was magnificent,” he said. ”His 43 changed the way the innings was going, and it shows how important experience is. You certainly can’t buy that experience in a supermarket.”
England struggled to contain the South Africans on a hot, steamy day, without the assistance of Giles. Hoggard, who took three wickets for 58 runs, said his absence had been a big blow. ”He would have bowled 30 to 40 overs, and we would have been able to take a bit of a breather. But with him not there, we had to share his overs among the four quicks, and it was a bit draining.”
Hoggard had high praise for Kallis’s innings. ”He’s a world-class batsman, and he didn’t play a false shot. When we had them at 118 for six, we thought we could restrict them to not much more than we had, but Jacques and the tail-enders played tremendously well.”
Hoggard was confident that England could still win the Test. ”History shows that it gets easier to bat on here as time goes on, so we aim to set them a really challenging target.” However, Kallis said South Africa liked to believe they could win the Test.
”It was hugely important for us to come back after our defeat in Port Elizabeth. We don’t want to lose two in a row. The pitch does a bit in the morning, and we will all make sure that we go at them really hard tomorrow.”
Although South Africa would have liked to have claimed at least one wicket before stumps, there is no doubt that Graeme Smith would have been the happier captain at close of play. – Sapa