| Hall leads South Africa’s charge in first Test |
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Andrew Hall scored an unbeaten 77 to help South Africa to 230 for four after Anil Kumble threatened to spin the visitors out on the first day of their first cricket Test match against India at the Green Park here.
Andrew Hall scored an unbeaten 77 to help South Africa to 230 for four after Anil Kumble threatened to spin the visitors out on the first day of their first cricket Test match against India at the Green Park here.
When the day’s play ended, vice-captain Boeta Dippenaar was giving Hall company with a responsible 46 (108 balls, 5x4s) even as Indian bowlers did not get as much assistance from the pitch as was expected before the match.
Hall (274 balls, 9x4s), one of the 20 centrally contracted players of the South African cricket board, and Dippenaar have so far put on 76 runs for the fifth wicket.
They wrested the initiative and held back a rampaging Anil Kumble, who grabbed all the four wickets to fall, two of them being lucky.
The first breakthrough of the day came with the wicket of captain Graeme Smith (37, 66 balls, 5x4s).
With the team score at 61, Smith defended a delivery but the ball spun and hit the wickets, just enough to dislodge a bail.
The other lucky dismissal was that of Jacques Rudolph, who was bowled for nought in an identical manner.
On the previous ball, the veteran leg-spinner had accounted for all-rounder Jacques Kallis (108 balls, 3x4s) having him out leg before wicket.
Rudolph’s wicket, taken off the last ball of that over, then put Kumble in line for a hat-trick. But Dippenaar played out the first ball of Kumble’s next over to deny him the honour.
Hall and Kallis were associated in the highest partnership of the day, an 85-run stand for the third wicket that lent meat to the South African total.
In the morning, India captain Sourav Ganguly lost the toss and Smith opted to bat first - a right decision, as it proved in the end.
It was a typical first day’s play where batsmen took the honours.
Before the match started, there was intense speculation that the pitch was going to assist spinners hugely. But the speculation proved incorrect as the pitch held its own.
The first wicket partnership of 61 between Smith and Hall was ample proof that there was no devil in the pitch.
Hall was, however, lucky to end the day unbeaten on a well compiled 61.
Harbhajan Singh, one of the three spinners that India picked in the XI, would also have got a wicket had Kumble taken the catch offered by Hall when on 55.
Though without wickets, both Harbhajan and Murli Kartik, the third spinner, finished the day with decent figures.
Left-armer Zaheer Khan, the only pacer in the XI, seems to be back as the first-choice fast bowler. He lived up to the faith reposed in him as he bowled a tight line and length, but was unlucky to finish the day without a wicket.
Zaheer opened the bowling with Ganguly, who bowls medium pace.
South Africa picked two debutants in the XI, Zander de Bruyn and wicket-keeper Thami Tsolekile.
SCORECARD
First Test, India vs. South Africa Green Park, Kanpur, Day 1 (Nov. 20)
South Africa (1st innings):
G. Smith b Kumble 37
A. Hall batting 78
M. van Jaarsveld lbw b Kumble 2
J. Kallis lbw b Kumble 37
J. Rudolph b Kumble 0
H. Dippenaar batting 46
Extras: (b 9, lb 4, nb 12, pen 5) 30
Total (4 wickets, 92 overs) 230
Fall of wickets: 1-61 (Smith, 19.6 overs), 2-69 (van Jaarsveld, 23.1), 3-154 (Kallis, 57.5), 4-154 (Rudolph, 57.6)
Bowling:
Zaheer Khan 15 5 36 0 (5nb)
Sourav Ganguly 4 0 21 0
Anil Kumble 28 11 54 4 (1nb)
Harbhajan Singh 23 5 52 0
Murli Kartik 19 3 39 0 (6nb)
Sachin Tendulkar 3 0 10 0
Umpires: Daryl Harper (Australia) and Simon Taufel (Australia)
TV umpire: A.V. Jayaprakash
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand)
Debuts: Zander de Bruyn and Thami Tsolekile (South Africa)
--Indo-Asian News Service
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