England beat SA A by six wickets in a day-night match played at the De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley, on Thursday.
Replying to the SA A’s team’s 50 overs total of 251/8, England, with 87 not out from Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen’s aggressive 97 (his last 47 runs coming off only 21 balls) in the end achieved an easy victory.
The tourists will take heart from their success against a team that underperformed in the Kimberley heat.
Winning the toss and batting first, the SA A’s got off to a 50/1 start. Skipper Boeta Dippenaar joined Morne van Wyk and the two Eagles players made the most of the batting conditions and some pretty ordinary England bowling.
Paceman Darren Gough was the one exception early on. Bowling a good line and cleverly varying his pace, he conceded just 18 runs in his first eight overs.
Van Wyk and Dippenaar put on 108 in 98 minutes before the SA A captain who played some delightful attacking shots, was caught in the outfield off spinner Grant Batty for a run-a-ball, nine boundary 66.
Dippenaar’s dismissal with the score on 158 (32nd over), marked the start of what turned out to be a match-losing turnaround in the SA A team’s batting fortunes.
Disappointing shot selection, and a lack of batting application and urgency allowed Batty and medium pacers Kabir Ali and Paul Collingwood to pick up vital wickets.
Van Wyk stood firm and though somewhat bogged down in the 90’s, went to a deserved century before dismissed by Ali in the penultimate over for a fine 104 (147b, 222m, 7×4). Ali finished with 4/40 in 10 overs and Batty took 2/42.
Pacemen James Anderson and Alex Wharf were expensive — conceding 105 runs without taking a wicket in their collective 15 overs.
In the England reply Vikram Solanki was bowled by Garnett Kruger without scoring. Acting skipper Marcus Trescothick majestically raced to an eight boundary, run-a-ball 40 in 50 minutes.
But when the medium-fast Alfonso Thomas bowled the England opener in the 11th over, the tourists were struggling on 57/3.
Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen then dug in and with sensible, professional batting built what became a match-winning partnership.
The one big difference between the two teams could be measured by the way they negotiated overs 34-40 in their respective innings.
SA A progressed from 168/2 to 194/4 during these seven crucial overs; England, with their former Natal Dolphins’ player Pietersen in full cry, went from 167/3 to 236/4.
The tall Pietersen was brilliantly caught by a diving Dippenaar off Adam Bacher at wide mid-on for 97 (118m, 84b, 3×6, 9×4).
Bell’s confident, undefeated 87 was scored off 104 balls in 162 minutes. He struck eight boundaries. – Sapa