England snatch thrilling win as South Africa choke
Stuart Broad of England appelas for the wicket of Dale Steyn of South Africa, after bowling him LBW
By Vinay Anand
Chennai: Mar 6, 2011
England’s bowling finally came good to snatch a thrilling win in a Group A World Cup match. South Africa were cruising towards their target of 172, but resilient England stood by Andrew Strauss’s words to bring about a dramatic turnaround of fortunes.
A target of 172 was seemingly competitive, but some fabulous bowling and a dust bowl wicket did the trick for England as they got over the line, winning by a mere six runs.
South Africa looked to be lording over the proceedings at 124 for three with batting stalwart AB de Villiers still there, but it was an inspired spell of bowling from Graeme Swann and James Anderson that did the trick, reducing the Proteas to 127 for seven.
England opted to bat on a pitch conducive for spin bowling. Robin Peterson reduced England to 15 for three before one blinked an eye. Straight away, one knew that a total between 180-200 was par. Jonathan Trott and Ravi Bopara chipped in with vital fifties to enable England to get to 171. Imran Tahir and Peterson were the stars for South Africa with the ball once again, picking seven out of the 10 wickets to fall.
Half time, South Africa were still the favourites, as the English had only Swann up their ranks with James Anderson being in pitiable form.
South Africa looked to be cruising along despite some staggering bowling from Swann. He was all over Graeme Smith, giving him nothing to work with. Swann finally got Smith with a brut of a delivery that turned and bounced to get the glove of the South African captain. A couple of wickets gave England a glimmer of hope, but it was the in form de Villiers who, along with newbie Francois du Plessis, put on a useful stand of 42.
Just when you thought, South Africa would shut the match, Anderson finally came to the fort snaffling two blows out of nowhere. He may not have done any damage with the new ball, but Anderson got the ball to talk in the latter half, providing decisive blows to give England the edge. South Africa were in all sorts of trouble at 127 for seven, but it couldn’t get over so soon, could it?
Morne Van Wyk and Dale Steyn joined forces to put on 33 crucial runs for the South Africans. The duo had seen off Michael Yardy and more importantly Swann. Twelve runs adrift the target, Van Wyk found himself dragging one back onto the stumps of Tim Bresnan due to the slowness of the pitch. The crowd was buzzing, Strauss brought Stuart Broad back into the attack. Broad had to pull out a miracle with eight to win – and he did. Couple of back to back strikes gave England the victory, taking them on top of the Group table.
A loss would have meant them languishing low, but the wicket at Chennai made for a riveting encounter.
Brief Scores: England 171 all out in 45.4 overs (Ravi Bopara 60, Jonathan Trott 52; Imran Tahir 4 for 38, Robin Peterson 3 for 22) bt South Africa 165 all-out (Graeme Smith 22, Hashim Amla 42, Faf du Plessis 17; Stuart Broad 4 for 15, James Anderson 2 for 16) by 6 runs.