South Africa captain Graeme Smith expressed confidence on Thursday in the ability of his fast bowlers to win the Test series in England.
Fast bowler Dale Steyn was overcome with emotion when he received the Mutual and Federal South African Cricketer of the Year award on Tuesday night.
Andre Nel is back in the Proteas Test squad for the four-match cricket series against England, to be played in July and August. Cricket South Africa selection committee convener Joubert Strydom on Friday announced a squad of 15 that consists of Nel plus the 14 players who did duty on the recent tour of India.
The Titans snatched a thrilling six-run victory over the Cobras in a Pro20 semifinal played at Newlands on Sunday. The Titans booked their place to play the Dolphins in the final in Durban on Friday. The Cobras required 16 runs for victory off the final over and when Henry Davids struck Roelof van der Merwe for a six off the first ball, the Titans seemed doomed.
For the briefest of moments, Indian fans could con themselves into thinking that the spirit of Perth was back. Mark Boucher edged behind and South Africa’s resistance was broken. By day’s end Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly had knocked off the 62 needed and all was well in the Indian cricket world again. Or was it?
After one of the most successful seasons since unification, the Proteas have a few weeks off before gearing up for one of the toughest assignments on the cricket calendar — a tour of England. The two-month tour of England includes four Tests, one Twenty20 clash and five one-day internationals, as well several warm-up games.
India dominated South Africa on Sunday to win the third Test by eight wickets inside three days, squaring the series 1-1 and retaining their world number-two Test ranking. In an extraordinary final day, India turned what had been an evenly poised match at the start of play into a rout.
Teenage paceman Ishant Sharma and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh shared six wickets as India restricted South Africa to 265 in the third and final Test in Kanpur on Friday. South Africa were comfortably placed at 152-1 before losing their way on a spin-friendly pitch. Skipper Graeme Smith (69) and Hashim Amla (51) led the way with solid half-centuries.
A buoyant South Africa will be keen to capitalise on India’s form and fitness worries ahead of Friday’s third and final Test in Kanpur to complete a hat-trick in the subcontinent. The visitors lead 1-0 in the series following their crushing win by an innings and 90 runs in the second Test in Ahmedabad last Saturday after the opening match ended in a draw in Chennai.
South Africa paceman Dale Steyn has risen to joint number one in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for Test bowlers, alongside Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. Steyn (24) joined Muralitharan after claiming eight to bowl the tourists to an innings victory in the second Test against India on Saturday for a 1-0 series lead, the ICC said on Monday.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith hailed his team’s all-round performance after they beat India within three days in the second Test on Saturday. The tourists won by an innings and 90 runs to hand India their fourth heaviest defeat on home soil to go 1-0 up in the three-Test series.
South Africa relied on their bowlers’ disciplined performances to thrash India by an innings and 90 runs on the third day of the second Test on Saturday. Trailing by 418, India were bowled out for 328 in their second innings despite fighting half-centuries from former captain Sourav Ganguly (87) and wicket-keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (52).
South Africa closed in on a resounding victory in the second Test against India on Saturday, the tourists grabbing three wickets before lunch on the third day to maintain their stranglehold on the match. Openers Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer, and batting mainstay Rahul Dravid were all undone by the South Africa pace attack.
AB de Villiers scored a maiden unbeaten double hundred and Jacques Kallis struck his 30th century to put South Africa in the driver’s seat against India in the second Test on Friday. The fifth-wicket pair took their overnight stand to 256 — a South Africa record for any wicket against India, who were out for 76 in the opening session of the match.
AB de Villiers scored an unbeaten century and Jacques Kallis is poised to register a ton of his own in helping South Africa tighten their grip of the second Test against India on Friday. The overnight fifth-wicket pair displayed a combination of assured footwork with soft hands against India’s experienced spinners.
Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers consolidated South Africa’s strong position with half-centuries after Dale Steyn sparked a sensational Indian collapse in the second Test on Thursday. The 24-year-old Steyn gave a magnificent display of fast bowling on a lively track to finish with 5-23 as India crashed to 76 all out in their first innings.
South Africa built on fast bowler Dale Steyn’s superb five-wicket effort to seize the initiative in the second Test against India on Thursday. The visitors batted steadily to reach 100-2 in their first innings at tea in reply to India’s 76. Hashim Amla was unbeaten on 15 at the break.
South Africa’s pace attack made optimum use of bowler-friendly conditions to dismiss India for just 76 runs before lunch on the opening day of the second Test on Thursday. Spearhead Dale Steyn finished with five wickets after Makhaya Ntini claimed three victims in 12 deliveries to rip through India’s top order after the hosts won the toss and opted to bat.
South Africa are confident of burying India’s spin threat yet again with a determined batting performance in the second Test starting in Ahmedabad on Thursday. The visitors kept the spin duo of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh at bay in the drawn opening Test in Chennai as they posted 540 in the first innings and 331-5 in the second.
South Africa hold the psychological edge going into the second Test on Thursday against an India team weighed down by major fitness issues. The visitors will look to drive home their confidence of tackling the hosts’ experienced spin bowlers after rallying to draw the first match of the three-Test series, which ended on Sunday.
Neil McKenzie and Hashim Amla moved up the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings on Monday after outstanding performances in the drawn match against India. McKenzie, who made 94 and 155 not out, made his first appearance in the top 40 in four years and is ranked 36th in the world, while Amla’s 159 and 81 saw him shoot up 10 places to 24th position.
Opener Neil McKenzie hit an unbeaten 88 for South Africa against a sloppy India as the first Test headed towards a draw on the final day on Sunday. South Africa reached 212 for two in their second innings at lunch, a lead of 125 runs, with the loss of only Hashim Amla’s wicket for a chancy 81 in the session on a flat pitch.
South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn showed he was a quick learner by leading a fightback against India in the first Test on Saturday. The 24-year-old Steyn grabbed four of the last five wickets to restrict India’s first-innings lead to 87 after opener Virender Sehwag notched up an Indian Test best of 319 on the fourth day.
Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer gave South Africa a dose of their own medicine with an unbroken 176-run stand in the first cricket Test in Chennai on Friday. India, kept in the field for over five sessions as South Africa piled up 540 in their first innings, hit back in style on a barren wicket.
South Africa captain Graeme Smith on Tuesday voiced confidence his team can ”do the job” against India despite arriving with only 13 players. The tourists have been badly hit by the race selection row while left-arm spinner Robin Peterson has delayed his arrival due to personal reasons. The three-Test series starts on Wednesday.
The key to retaining his vein of good form in India will be consistency, South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn said on Monday. The 24-year-old is on a hot streak after grabbing 14 wickets in the 2-0 rout of Bangladesh this month, becoming the quickest South African to reach the 100-wicket mark.
Dale Steyn used to be a well-scrubbed bloke who wore a goofy grin that wobbled harmlessly under starry, starry eyes. He was polite and cheerful, and he could bowl a bit. He probably never said ”Well, golly gee.” But if he did, we would have chuckled heartily and ruffled his hair as if the lot of us were in a Spur commercial.
Tearaway South Africa speedster Dale Steyn is smacking his lips in anticipation of a battle royal with India’s batsmen in the upcoming three-Test series. Steyn (24) taught Bangladesh a few lessons in fast bowling in the recent two-Test series, from which he bagged 14 wickets, and is now training his guns on India, who have recently returned from their Australia tour.
South Africa will look to their fringe players to deliver the goods against an unpredictable Bangladesh in the one-day international series beginning in Chittagong on Sunday. The South Africans have rested key players Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and Makhaya Ntini for the three one-dayers.
South Africa paceman Dale Steyn, fresh from being named player of the series in the recent Bangladesh tour, is proud his name is now being bracketed with some of the world’s best. ”Just to be put in the same bracket like [Muttiah] Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock or Shane Bond, it’s remarkable,” he said in an interview on Thursday.
South Africa left-arm spinner Robin Peterson looks set to board the flight for India after claiming his maiden five-wicket haul in the second Test against Bangladesh. The 28-year-old finished with impressive figures of 5-33 as the Proteas wrapped up the two-Test series against Bangladesh with a comprehensive innings and 205-run win on Monday.
South Africa’s bowlers are fast earning a bloody reputation of injuring rival batsmen after the latest incident, involving Bangladesh’s Aftab Ahmed, in the second Test. Ahmed was left with a bloodied cheekbone after a short ball from Jacques Kallis bounced through his helmet grille and hit him just below the right eye.