By Vinay Anand
Robin Peterson rattled the English top order after Andrew Strauss won the toss and chose to bat in their World Cup Group B match against South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Not too bad a decision but Peterson’s flight and guile did for them as he snaffled three wickets in his opening spell.
Published: Mar 06, 2011, 01:31 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 06, 2011, 01:31 PM (IST)
Imran Tahir took another 4-wicket haul
By Vinay Anand
Chennai: Mar 6, 2011
Robin Peterson rattled the English top order after Andrew Strauss won the toss and chose to bat in their World Cup Group B match against South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Not too bad a decision but Peterson’s flight and guile did for them as he snaffled three wickets in his opening spell.
England dropped the out-of-form Paul Collingwood and brought in Ravi Bopara while South Africa maintained an unchanged line up which meant vice captain Johan Botha sat out.
The wicket looked flat and hard with nothing in it for the seamers. It was dry though, conducive to spin as the match wears on. You would say Graeme Smith missed a trick by not keeping the spinners on at one end. He had England on the ropes at 15 for 3 but soon Peterson was out of the attack. As brilliant as Smith was in the first five overs, one can’t deny his captaincy was poultry for the next 10 thereafter.
On a pitch that looked abrasive and rough, it was hard to fathom Smith’s moves. Dale Steyn is always an attacking option but if only he kept a spinner on at one end, especially before Jonathan Trott and Bopara got in, the Proteas would have been into the lower middle order sooner than they got there.
England found themselves in grave peril but it was Trott and Bopara who steadied the ship. The duo put on 99 in reasonable time (151 balls), considering the situation before Trott holed out to Tahir for a patient 52. Matt Prior didn’t look to trouble the scorers too much as he nicked one of Morne Morkel straight through to the keeper.
Bopara, meanwhile stuck through, very sensible batting you would say. Getting the basics right, playing square to the spinners with the pitch being slow. Ian Bell and Trott failed to do that and were dismissed caught and bowled, playing early.
Morkel and Steyn reversed the ball perfectly, trapping Bopara (60) and Tim Bresnan (1) in front of the wicket in similar fashion. Both batsmen reviewed the decision, more tactical than anything else, all to no avail.
Imran Tahir continued to impress as he marched his way to another four wicket haul, doing for the tail very adeptly. Graeme Swann did his best to take England past 200, but it was not to be as the Proteas put up a professional performance.
England have a lot of work to do, as I mentioned before, Jimmy Anderson must dent the South African top order early. Might be worth a gamble if Strauss starts with Swann. The pitch looks an absolute dust bowl and with the English seamers not at their best, spin seems the way to go.
Smith and Hashim Amla will look to learn from the English batting. Most of the English batsmen were caught at their crease; you may just see the South Africans standing out of their crease to the seamers.
Still, South Africa should walk out this from here but Strauss believes that they are good at “Bouncing back”, indeed the order of the day, failure to do so could mean an embarrassing first round exit.
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) vs South Africa.
(Vinay Anand, 17, has an uncanny eye for detail. He revers cricket – looking beyond the glamour into the heart of the game where true passion, perseverance and grit meet. To him, there is no greater joy than coming closer to the sport while exploring its intricacies through his writing and treading ahead to establish himself as a writer and presenter)
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