A second-wicket partnership of 130 between Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla and four-wicket hauls by Shaun Pollock and Paul Harris helped South Africa to a competitive position at close of play on the second day of the third and final Castle Lager Test against India at Newlands on Wednesday.
When stumps were drawn, South Africa had 144 for one in reply to India’s first-innings total of 414, still trailing by 270 runs.
India resumed on their overnight score of 254 for three, with two danger men, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman, at the crease. Dale Steyn struck in the eighth over of the day when he yorked Laxman for 13.
Another danger man, Sourav Ganguly, joined the Little Master and together they put on 68 runs for the fifth wicket. Ganguly looked uncomfortable at times, particularly after a Steyn delivery hit him on the head, but gritted things out.
Tendulkar, who has been out of form for some time, showed signs of his return with some classic cricket shots and stroked his way elegantly to his 43rd Test half-century, but about 10 minutes before lunch, he fell to Steyn’s Titans teammate Harris when he edged the ball to Jacques Kallis in the slips.
Tendulkar scored 64 off 139 balls and had been at the crease for just more than three hours. He hit 11 boundaries.
Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, who had been moved down the order, showed some urgency and their 50 partnership came up in 68 balls. Just as India appeared to be taking the game away from South Africa, Harris made the vital breakthrough when Makhaya Ntini caught Sehwag for 40 runs, which included six fours and a massive six.
Sehwag’s wicket precipitated an Indian collapse, with the last four wickets falling for just 19 runs in six overs and one ball. Kumble was leg before to Pollock without scoring, Mark Boucher brought off a very good stumping to dismiss Zaheer Khan for one, and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was caught in the gulley by Herschelle Gibbs for three.
Ganguly’s was the last wicket to fall when he top-edged a Pollock delivery that went up in the air, giving Amla plenty of time to get under it to take the catch. Ganguly had made a gritty 66 off 75 balls.
Pollock ended with figures of four for 75 and Harris — playing in his first Test — four for 129.
Smith started his innings by hitting Khan for a six and a four in the first over. AB de Villiers went out in the fourth over, caught behind by Dinesh Karthik for one, but Smith and Amla set about getting runs as quickly as possible, scoring at more than three-and-a-half runs an over.
Smith’s 16th Test 50 came up off just 64 deliveries, and he passed 4 000 Test runs in the process. His 100 partnership with Amla came off 172 balls and took just more than two hours.
Amla looked a bit tentative at first but reached his second Test 50 off 125 balls in just more than two-and-a-half hours. At close of play, he was not out on 50 and Smith had 76. — Sapa