India tour of South Africa, 3rd Test: South Africa v India at Cape Town, Jan 2-6, 2011
South Africa 361 & 341
India 364 & 166/3 (82 ov)
Match Drawn
India won the toss and elected to field
Australia 280 & 281
England 644
England won by a Innings and 83 runs and wins the Ashes Series 3-1
| South Africa squad | |
| GC Smith*, HM Amla, MV Boucher†, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, PL Harris, JH Kallis, R McLaren, M Morkel, WD Parnell, AN Petersen, AG Prince, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe | |
| India squad | |
| MS Dhoni*†, V Sehwag, R Dravid, G Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, VVS Laxman, PP Ojha, CA Pujara, SK Raina, WP Saha, I Sharma, S Sreesanth, SR Tendulkar, JD Unadkat, M Vijay, U Yadav | |
South Africa v India, 3rd Test, Cape Town
The entire series changed in a Durban minute, transferring the momentum India’s way after their humiliation in Centurion. The moment that signaled India’s ascent was the fall of Jacques Kallis, South Africa’s best batsman, in the second innings. Sreesanth’s ball reared up from short of length, darted in towards the batsman’s throat and flew to gully. A familiar sight to Indians from a previous era, but with one huge twist: it was an Indian bowler who made a classy batsman hop, fend and get out.
South Africa’s batsmen were looking good in Durban. Until Ishant Sharma got his fingers to a straight drive to accidentally run Kallis out in the first innings, the Indian attack looked lacklustre. It seemed that Zaheer Khan, much like Kapil Dev in those days, would end up with four or five wickets and the rest would simply leak runs. But the Indian bowlers seized the moment and South Africa collapsed. Twice.
And so the teams head into the Newlands tied at 1-1 and the series at stake. The pitch is supposedly batsman-friendly with spin expected to play a part later. The home batsmen should put up a better fight, while it will be interesting to see how their bowlers fare. Lonwabo Tsotsobe picked up a few key wickets but it seemed like it was a result of Indian batsmen trying to attack him after they saw off the tougher challenges from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. If they don’t repeat the same mistakes, the burden of wicket-taking will fall upon Steyn. Will Morkel, whose forte is bounce, be as effective in the decider as he was on friendlier surfaces earlier in the series? Can Paul Harris do more than just a holding job?
Zaheer’s presence makes a big difference to India. Sreesanth and Ishant grew under his wing, and India will hope they can learn to fly on their own without Zaheer’s presence at mid-off. Gautam Gambhir is expected to return and Virender Sehwag, who threatened to really take off in the second innings in Durban, is due for a big knock. If the surface plays out as the curator thinks it would, the bowlers could be the deciding factor.
Pitch and conditions
The curator predicts a pitch with tennis-ball bounce, which will be good for batting – particularly on days two and three – and offer spin on days four and five. When the famed table-top mountain isn’t visible to the folks down on the streets, it usually means there will be swing on offer. Rain is predicted for New Year’s day, but the sun and the mountain peak should emerge during the match days.
Team news
Their batsmen might have flopped in the second Test but this South African unit has functioned well for some time now and they are unlikely to change the combination.
South Africa: (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Ashwell Prince, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Paul Harris, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe
Gautam Gambhir’s return for M Vijay is expected to be the only change in the Indian XI.
India (probable): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Cheteshwar Pujara, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Sreesanth
Australia v England at Sydney, Jan 3-7, 2011
Teams
Australia 1 Shane Watson, 2 Phillip Hughes, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Michael Hussey, 6 Steven Smith, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Michael Beer, 11 Ben Hilfenhaus.
England 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Paul Collingwood, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 Chris Tremlett, 11 James Anderson.
ok, back to today … first wicket we need to get cheaply is that of sehwag … yes, he didnt perform well in this series (but we dont want him to start now, do we?) … so let’s keep it like that!!
Yep I agree.
Hope we can bowl them all out and that Tendulkar goes cheaply as do all the rest!!!
helloooooooooooooo nipples … ek bedoel … tripples!! hoesit broetsie? 😀
from cricinfo
….
The easily movable object
Hashim Amla was batting in front of the same stumps that refused to let go off the bail on the third day when he tried a premeditated sweep off Harbhajan Singh, who bowls at about 55kph slower than the unfortunate bowler Dale Steyn. More pace was taken off the ball as it ricocheted off the pad onto the arm and then softly rolled into the stumps. And lo, down came the bail. Sometimes, when it is not your Tuesday, it isn’t your Wednesday either. 😆
Ashley wrote:
Hello Ashley, you got your wish there, good Sehwag is gone, as you say he has not been in muh form lately BUT he is the kind of batsmen that can very quickly take the game away if he gets into his stride. I think we are a top bowling option short of winning this one, but who knows if we are in a position where we have Tendulkar out by lunch then it may possible. Dravid also key cause he can bat for long periods of time even if he doesn’t score quickly.
ok, sehwag is out
now for gambhir, then tendulkar
bullscot @ 65
we nearly let him off the hook twice … morkel nearly bowled a no-ball there!! 😯
@ Ashley 67:
Well he didn’t cash in on his luck, its meant to be a game of physical skill and temperament but sometimes lady luck plays her part too, hopefully thats one in our favour.
I see there have been four drops off Tsotsobe, be a pity for him if they cost him his place for next games.
bullscot @ 68
yes, he’s been unlucky in that regard … he did all the hard work only for some idiot to miss the oppertunity … think if at least 2 of his chances have been taken, then this wouldve been a whole different game at this stage .. and yes, i include the chance tendulkar gave when he was still on 8 … bloody ashwell!!
well, seems like we’re heading for a draw
..
what a bloody anticlimax to a magnificent game of cricket!!
#70
hmmm,
but on the other hand,
while smith is thinking of himself as a strike bowler
india might just have the chance to sneak this one!!
btw, i’ve been searching most of the media today,
but
cant find a reason for why we batted on until close of play … anyone has an idea what the thinking behind that was?
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah come-on!!
dravid hit in front ….. not given!! 😯
dravid OUT!!
bowled tjoppie caught prince!!
50.6 Tsotsobe to Gambhir, no run, 128.5 kph, is that another drop? Tsotsobe can’t believe it as Petersen shells a chance at point!! 😯
#75
nope, it landed short!!
wonder what’s worse
…
bring steyn on for the last over before tea and take tjoppie off
or
graham bowling himself the over after lunch (when steyn couldve been bowling)?
afrikaans weergawe van #64
Die maklik roerende voorwerp
Hashim Amla was kolf aan die voorkant van dieselfde stompe wat geweier het om te laat gaan uit die borgtog op die derde dag toe hy probeer om ‘n premeditated sweep af Harbhajan Singh, wat rolbal op ongeveer 55kph stadiger as die ongelukkige bouler Dale Steyn. Meer vaart is geneem uit die bal as dit uit die pad ricocheted op die arm en dan saggies gerol in die stompe. En kyk, af gekom het om die borgtog. Soms, wanneer dit is nie jou Dinsdag, dit is nie jou Woensdag nie.
…
jaaaaaaaaaaaa ek weet …
eks verveeld!!
…
hallooooooooooooooooo!!
anyone?
ok, last session of a very good series!!
..
komaan boytjies!!!
see that imran tahir has been included in the one day squad for the upcoming series … really hope that he would get a chance, so that we like every other cricket playing country (except aus) can have a spinner that actually spin!! 😀
M.O.M. Kallis
M.O.S. Tendulkar? hmmm, gonna be very close between tendulkar and kallis (i think).
#81
lol, kyk hoe maak ek mos nou weer my naam g*t as hulle een van die boulers kies!! 😆
Steyn to Gambhir, OUT
G Gambhir c †Boucher b Steyn 64 (184b 9×4 0x6) SR: 34.78
Hey Ashley some company for you now, this one running down to a dull draw, would have taken some batting from India to get the target but at least thought they would bat a bit quicker than they have. Re: the play until we were all out yesterday, I wouldn’t have declared either, for any meaningful time to bowl at India would probably have had to declare with an hour left so taking the time to change innings that would have given maybe 12 overs extra for India to face. Now remember we scored a fair amount in the last hour of play, not sure how many but if India went in last night they would have had a target of maybe 40 or 50 less and 12 overs more to get it in, knowing we’re a bowler short and spinman hasn’t been taking a lot of wickets you would have had to be very brave to declare and possibly lose the match and series. They did so well to fight and draw back the game yesterday that I don’t think they wanted to give India any sniff of winning.
England win by an innings and 83 runs and win the series 3-1
Incredible team effort and the players ran into an impromptu huddle, jumping up and down arm in arm. Finally the players part and begin to wander off to meet the dressing-room staff. Paul Collingwood is met and congratulated by a line of Australian players, good to see that, he’s had some epic tussles with them over the years.
That’s Australia’s third innings defeat in the series, an unwelcome first for them and a measure of England’s unremitting superiority. They have outthought, outplanned, and thoroughly outplayed Australia in every aspect.
There are all sorts of statistics and records that have been established and broken this series but to get a sense of just how far ahead England have been through the five matches have a look at this which shows that England have averaged 51.14 per wicket compared with Australia’s 29.23. Or to put it another way, Australia have been hammered.
Congrats England, i enjoyed you games this year, you deserve this wins.
To Australia , get to the drawing board and be back, we love to hate you guys and the World needs a great Aussie side.
Last bit of comments on Cricinfo, thanks to them for most of the stats used by me.
“And finally England take their place on the podium. Michael Vaughan presents the crystal trophy and the replica urn to Strauss, ticker tape flies and the screams begin. We’ll be seeing that shot repeated a few times I imagine. Sprinkler anyone?
At the other end of the spectrum, Andrew Strauss cannot contain his smile. “We came over here desperate to win the series. We’re delighted with what we’ve done and we’re certainly going to enjoy tonight! Alastair has been amazing, when you’re talking about people like Wally Hammond you know you’ve had a special series. Jimmy Anderson has done amazingly well in tough conditions but it’s been a fantastic team effort. Paul Collingwood is a massive loss, there is a tinge of sadness there that he’s departing, there is so much he brings to the team that you don’t see. I’d like to thank our supporters, who’ve made this feel like a home series and I must thank our wives and families who have to live with this day in day out.”
Michael Clarke has had a difficult start to his Test captaincy but fronts up looking as chipper as ever. “It’s been a tough couple of months we’ve been outplayed in all facets of the game. You always enjoy representing your country but it’s very disappointing. We’ll see what happens [with the captaincy], first I need some runs. Me and all the top order need to contribute. We have a great bunch of guys with a lot of talent but we need to go back to the drawing board and work our backsides off. I don’t think it’s time to panic. We need to stay strong together and continue to try and get better every single day.
Alastair Cook is named man of the match and man of the series for his 189 and 766 runs in the series. “Amazing, that feeling will live long in the memory. I need to thank all the supporters both here in the ground and at home. It’s been a lot of hard work and an amazing series. I couldn’t have imagined this seven weeks ago. The 200 was probably the most special moment and to win man of the match in the final game of the Ashes is a dream come true. Our bowlers have been fantastic all the way through and made our job as batters much easier.”
Mark Taylor is the master of ceremonies and begins by thanking all the England fans for showing up today. He introduces the presentation party – that includes Glenn McGrath and Michael Vaughan – and I’m not sure McGrath has ever earned such an ovation from England fans! They’re in generous mood though and clap happily everyone – even the fourth umpire.
The England players are heading back out now. Full squad in the whites with England caps in place, getting ready for the presentations. There will be plenty written about this match and series – epic dramas and films if England fans had their way – but for now there is no better place to start than Andrew McGlashan’s bulletin, so check that out. The Australian players are now making their way out onto the field. I wonder what words were said in their dressing room. Not much I imagine”
@ superBul:
What sweet words….!! 😆
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