South Africans Strike Form
Nagpur, Feb. 3: South Africans made the most of their drawn practice match against Board President’s XI with their top order looking in good nick even though Piyush Chawla and R. Ashwin proved that the Proteas can be vulnerable against spin here on Wednesday.
Having bowled out the local side for 318, Graeme Smith and his men managed to surpass the target to reach 354, but not before leg-spinner Chawla (4/88) and offie Ashwin (3/96) exposed their vulnerability against turning balls.
The visitors, on their part, can draw confidence from the fact that Ashwell Prince (42), Smith (45), Hashim Amla (72 retired), Jacques Kallis (63 retired), AB de Villiers (27) and J.P. Duminy (39) all got the starts and looked in form.
Resuming the second and final day on 44/0 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, South Africans lost their captain when Abhimanyu Mithun had Smith caught behind.
Prince looked good for a fifty when Ashwin trapped him eight runs off the mark to reduce the visitors to 115/2. Amla and Kallis batted with utmost ease and milked the Board President’s XI attack which just could not trouble the veteran duo.
Kallis was particularly impressive, using his feet well against the spinners, while he cut and pulled the pacers with elan to race to his half-century, which came when he hit Chawla over his head for a massive six.
He grew so much in confidence that the beefy batsman started stepping out to meet even the pacers. Amla was tentative early in his innings but once he found his foot, the right-hander played some delectable flicks and cover-drives en route to his fifty.
After they had guided the side past the 200-mark, Kallis decided to allow the subsequent batsmen to get some hit and retired after 56 overs.
Four overs later, Amla followed suit.
Kallis needed just just 58 balls for his brisk 63 which had eight fours and three sixes in it while Amla’s 122-ball 72 had 12 fours in it. Both de Villiers and Duminy also got the start but Chawla and Ashwin ran through the middle and lower order as the visitors were all out for 354. — PTI
Scores: Board President’s XI 318 d/w South Africa XI 354 (Amla 72, Kallis 63; Chawla 4/88, Ashwin 3/96)
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