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Zulu blitz flattens Zimbabwe

If Alistair Campbell and his men figured that the World Cup win over their African neighbours was anything other than a flash in the pan, they know better now.

Zimbabwe lost the game in two sessions -- during the last 15 overs when they were batting, and in the first 15 overs with the ball. And in the process, Lance Klusener got a chance to get his mind back in order after that disastrous World Cup run out against Australia, which effectively put his side out of a competition they were being tipped heavily to win.

On the rest day, the curator watered the pitch pretty intensively, and rolled some grass into it to bind it down. This meant that while its tendency to turn remained a constant, there would also be a touch of life in it for seamers, and South Africa -- who balanced their bowling books a bit better for this game by bringing in Paul Adams to beef up the spin department (they also replaced Elworthy, who impressed in the game against India, with Dawson, who was to impress here -- presumably, part of the policy of giving all their players a whirl), won the toss and opted to bowl first.

That decision almost back-fired, as the seam bowlers were handled with calm assurance by the Zimbabwe openers Grant Flower and Neil Johnson. The latter had lit up the World Cup stage with his heroics when last these two teams met, but here he was the less assured of the two. Flowr, on the other hand, played with fluid grace, stroking easily off the front foot on both sides of the wicket, and Pollock and Dawson went for 24 and 22 respectively in their first six overs. One would have thought that Cronje, having seen his side spun out by the Indians, would have brought his own tweakers into the attack early, but South Africa prefer to bowl to a set pattern as far as possible, and in keeping with that, Kallis and Klusener took over from the two frontline seamers.

After 15 overs, Zimbabwe had put 65 on the board, and looked to be on cruise control. Derek Crookes -- easily the lesser of the two spinners at Cronje's disposal -- was brought on in the 16th over, and promptly went for 25 in his first three. As against India the other day, Crookes seemed unable to control length, line, or flight -- so what else is there for a spinner to do anyway?

Johnson and Flower, who in the World Cup encounter had put a platform in place with a first wicket stand of 65, bettered that here with a fluid 99 run association, Zimbabwe's best ever for the first wicket against SA. And then Johnson, who after a rather nervous start was settling down quite nicely, gave it all away when he, in predetermined fashion, stepped way to leg to try and slash Crookes over the off cordon. The bowler, going round the wicket, could see that coming a mile away -- he promptly pushed it through quick and flat, Johnson went through with the slosh and for the second time in two innings, dragged an inoffensive ball outside off stump onto the furniture. That was in the 22nd over.

Alistair Campbell is a talented batsman, for sure, but that talent is belied by a surprising statistic -- 42 times in the 105 ODIs he has played, the Zimbabwe skipper has got out inside of double figures. And if you have followed his play consistently (if you are an Indian, you would have seen your fill of the man, given the number of times India and Zimbabwe have played each other in the recent past) you will have noticed that he tends to get himself out with nothing shots that speak of a total lack of application.

Today was no different. At one end, Flower was really getting into his stride -- the 24th over, again from the hapless Crookes, produced a lovely flick off the pads, wide of long on, for four, then a flat hit in the same region off a full toss for another boundary, and the 26th, which saw the introduction of Adams, produced two more boundaries -- the runs were coming nicely, there was no need for wild heaves, but that is precisely what Campbell produced, when he put his head in the air, his feet at an impossible angle, and had a slosh at a straight ball from Klusener in the 27th over angled across him. Herschelle Gibbs, who had taken a sitter from Steve Waugh in the World Cup, tried to throw it up in premature celebration and ended up grassing the ball (Waugh, never one to miss a chance, told him at the time "You've just dropped the World Cup, Herschelle") ran back at cover to hold a swirling skier, and this time, clutched on to it with both hands.

Flower at this point got a bit of luck when he slapped a full toss from Adams to cover, and Jonty Rhodes of all people dived and grassed what for any competent fielder would have been a regulation take. Murray Goodwin, who had anchored the Zimbabwe win against Kenya with a fine unbeaten 76, settled in quite nicely, clipping Klusener off his pads over square leg for a fluent six to signal that he was ready to join the party, and Zimbabwe at this point appeared to be running away with the game.

Check the rate of progression: 65/0 in 15, 90/0 in 20, 114/1 in 25, 137/2 in 30, 161/2 in 35.

And then it all went horribly wrong for the batting side. Till this point, they had played it perfectly, concentrating on working singles around, running the South Africans ragged, and taking advantage of the loose deliveries to produce boundaries at regular intervals and keep the scoring rate up (19 fours and 2 sixes inside 35 overs tells you that particular tale).

Suddenly, at the 35 over mark, it was as if the batsmen took a look at the scoreboard and figured, man, wait a minute, if we can club a few big ones now, we won't even have to come out and bowl, the Proteas will just roll over and play dead. Commonsense went back with the drinks trolley, and both batsmen seemed intent on trying for boundaries. South Africa meanwhile did what they do best -- brought back their seamers, bowled line and length, fielded out of their skins to deny the fours, and Zimbabwe lost its collective cool. A pity, given that by this point, they had really taken the measure of the spinners, Adams going for 21 in four, Crookes for 37 in 5.

Flower erased a record of sorts when he got to 91, beating his own previous mark for the best by a Zimbabwe batsman against South Africa. However, when a well deserved century seemed his for the taking, he hit too hard at a straight delivery from Kallis on off stump, and the bowler, getting down low with remarkable speed considering his height and heft, pulled off a superb return catch.

Then came Goodwin's turn, to fish at a regulation delivery around off, getting the nick through the keeper in the 40th over. Zimbabwe went in to the slog at 173/4 after 40 -- but the momentum was with SA, the overs between 35-40 producing just 12 runs for the loss of two wickets.

The Zimbabwean middle order, prone to dramatic collapses -- ask the Kenyans -- did their number again when, in the 42nd over, Andy Flower with both feet nailed in place chopped down on a Dawson delivery outside off and dragged it back onto his stumps. Off the very next ball, Stuart Carlisle clinically guided a three quarter length ball on off stump to Pollock at slip.

Cronje brought Adams back against the tail, he obliged with two quick wickets, both off rash shots. Andy Whittall then pushed at a ball from Pollock on off -- the gap between bat and pad was big enough for the bowler to go through, let alone the ball. Mutendera, you quintessential tailender, then went the heave ho route, swiping across the line and missing a straight ball on his stumps, leaving Gavin Rennie, who alone had batted with some sense and application, stranded at the other end.

216 all out, after being 161/2 in 35 overs, is the kind of performance that puts a side out of the reckoning. The two South African spinners looked pretty ordinary, the seamers failed to extract much life out of the track, and Zimbabwe had only its own inept batting to blame for its plight at the halfway stage.

South Africa sprang a bit of a surprise when they sent out Klusener alongside Herschelle Gibbs to open. Some would say it was about time the powerful left-hander came higher than number 8 -- during the World Cup, he had averaged 140+ with a strike rate of 122+. But more significantly, Zulu, having played 62 ODIs so far (which is a goodly enough number to judge by) has the best average (47.54) among the SA batsmen, way ahead of Jacques Kallis, the next in line, with 41.28.

However, Zimbabwe failed to react quickly to the surprise ploy. A good move would have been to use a slow bowler, preferably one of their offies, right at the start against Klusener, who the other day against India indicated that he is not quite the free spirit when he comes in and has to take spin first up. Zimbabwe however opened with seam, Neil Johnson bowled a shabby first over (4 wides, one no ball, and one gimme ball promptly put away through long off for four by Klusener) and there was no looking back.

6 overs of seam gave Klusener all the time he needed to get his eye in. Campbell brought on Andy Whittall in the 7th over, and Klusener struggled for a bit, getting just one run (and that an edge) in 10 balls faced against Whittall.

But at the other end, seam continued, and Klusener continued too, hitting through the line, finding the boundaries and increasingly, getting both his confidence and his eye set. And after that, it didn't matter who bowled, he just kept hitting.

Grant Flower came on in the 11th, and Klusener heaved his first ball over long off for six -- a mishit, but with enough power to just clear the ropes. Then he went over long on, off the next ball -- again, not hitting cleanly but putting his strength fully into the shot. Strang then came on and, if anything, showed that his form and confidence is lower than that of Crookes -- a long hop first up got Klusener to his 50 with a clubbed hit over long on. The next was whacked through long on for four. A square cut for four, then a six over long off from another long hop...

Never mind the gory details -- SA just rocketed along, the momentum unchecked despite the loss of Gibbs to a strained hamstring, and Kallis to a good piece of bowling by Guy Whittall, the arm ball drifting past the outer edge as Kallis played inside the line, to take out off stump.

Klusener got to a marvellous century, an exhibition of unfettered hitting that makes you suspect he is liable to find himself coming much higher up the order than he has been. (Incidentally, I wish some South African in the know would resolve a doubt I have -- where the devil has this guy been hiding himself all this while? He was 26 years old when he made his debut (28 now) -- did they fail to spot the talent earlier?

His next match up against the Indian spinners is going to be something you want to watch -- he is confident, back in form, has runs under his belt. And 'confident' describes Nikhil Chopra, who loves bowling to the left-handers, and Sunil Joshi, as well. This could well be the match-up that decides the fate of the LG Cup.

But there is another aspect of this game that is interesting. Before the start of the match, Jacques Kallis spoke to the television commentators, and among other things, he said: "I think we made it hard for ourselves against the Indian spinners by getting into a shell, we needed to have played a lot more positively."

Indeed. Check out Protean skipper Hansie Cronje -- comes in at the fall of Kallis, and promptly proceeds to outdo Klusener with two massive blows, both carrying the ball out of the ground, against the spinners.

Obviously, SA have decided on attack as the best form of defence against spinners, and that attitude could put the edge on the next matchup against the Indians. But that is a while away yet, India has what should be a routine outing against Kenya tomorrow, then another game against Zimbabwe to get through before a possible final showdown.

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