SA survives a scare to down Zimbabwe

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That South Africa would win its second game in the Standard Bank International triangular one day series was a given, despite opponents Zimbabwe coming off the high of having blanked out England 3-0 in the home series just prior to this one.

That SA would need to wait till the 5th ball of the 48th over to overhaul the modest 211 posted by Zimbabwe, however, came as a surprise.

Not, perhaps, just for the fans and the media, but also for the Indian team which is slated to take on Zimbabwe in the next encounter of the series, on Monday in a day-night game at Paarl.

There was, in the batting of Grant Flower, in the running between wickets of most Zimbabwean batsmen, in the bowling of Brandes, Rennie and Streak, and even in the fielding, patchy though it was, to indicate that this trinagular series might not be quite the cakewalk for SA and India that one thought it would be.

Why? The details of the game answer the question...

The Zimbabwe innings

The first over, bowled by Shaun Pollock, brought trouble for Zimbabwe; the second, for South Africa.

Andrew Waller, lasted just long enough to guide the first ball he faced from Pollock, outside off and going further away, into the waiting hands of Darryl Cullinan at first slip - the fielder probably doesn't get chances that easy when he is practising. And Zimbabwe found itself at 2/1.

In the first ball of the next over, the other opener, Grant Flower, drove superbly through cover for the first of his eight fours... but the attention was focussed on bowler Craig Mathews who, in a hopeless tangle on his follow through, ended up twisting his ankle and taking no further part in the game. That, if the Zimbabwe batsmen realised it, was the area of vulnerability for the home side on a batsmen-friendly Centurion Park wicket - while Hansie Cronje uses himself to bowl a few overs in the middle, it is always with the knowledge that if the batsmen go after him, he has five regular bowlers on hand, one of whom can be brought back into the attack at any stage of the game. Here, with Mathews out, Cronje had become the fifth bowler - and that meant SA had no cover if he, or one of the others, got collared.

To do that, you need to build a strong foundation, and Flower and skipper Campbell looked to be doing just that. On an easy paced wicket, they opted to play their strokes late, just guiding the ball to the left or right of the fielders and making quick singles look easy even against the electric SA ground fielding.

The score moved along at an easy pace, and Cronje was running out of options when he introduced Darryl Cullinan into the attack, as the sixth bowler to be tried. Seven runs came off four deliveries and Campbell, perhaps keen to make hay while Cullinan was at the business end, pulled one from way outside off to present substitute Jacques Kallis with an easy catch on the midwicket fence. Campbell was gone for 15 off 35 balls with one four, the Zimbabwe score on 55/2... and the irony was that the ball in question could have been put away anywhere in the arc between backward point and mid on. Yet another example of the loss of concentration that a non-regular bowler can induce against the run of play.

Andy Flower joined brother Grant, and we were treated to a classic exhibition of placing and running between wickets. 16 runs came off 14 deliveries with just one four to show, and just when it looked as if Zimbabwe would turn things around, Cronje produced one of those balls he bowls every now and again - on a perfect length, just short of the drivable and leaving the batsman on the off stump to induce the edge of Andy Flower's bat. Richardson did the rest, to reduce Zimbabwe to 85/3.

Funnily enough, even there the situation seemed to be in favour of Zimbabwe, given that Pat Symcox, the man SA relies on to put the brakes on rival teams in the mid overs, was for once getting collared. Craig Wishart, the new man in, merely needed to keep his head and the runs were there for the taking. Instead, he aimed an almighty slog at one from Cronje that was seaming away from off stump and managed to give Allan Donald some catching practise, jogging from mid off to just behind the bowler to hold the ballooning top edge. Zimbabwe 99/4.

Dave Houghton is not only Zimbabwe's most experienced batsman but perhaps also the most dangerous, for he has the knack of getting runs fast, and in plenty, against any attack. But just when he was beginning to look good, with 8 runs off 13 deliveries including a lovely flick for four off his pads, he drove at Klusener. The ball was a shade short of ideal driving length, but even so Houghton timed it to perfection - and must have considered himself distinctly unlucky to see Cullinan fling himself sideways to produce one of those spectacular catches that you see, and yet don't believe. Zimbabwe 110/5.

The back of the Zimbabwe batting was broken - with not a little help from the batsmen themselves - and the rest continued the trend of getting out there, getting set and getting out. Whittall (13 off 26) feathered a Donald lifter to Richardson (Zimbabwe 157/6), Grant Flower (90 off 126 with 8 fours) who, all along, had batted with ominous authority, looked good for a hundred and plenty when he went after Donald to give Hudson a good catch in the covers (171/7), Paul Strang's (39 off 41 with five fours) cameo came to an end when he was bowled by the first of a series of Donald yorkers (203/8), Eddo Brandes (two off six) was in a heck of a hurry to get to the other end and found himself run out by a mile (211/9) and Streak wasted no time playing all over another Donald special, bowled from wide of the crease and landing about an inch in front of leg stump, to give the pace ace his 4th wicket of the innings.

Zimbabwe's trouble was that it did enough to indicate that the side was no pushover, and then failed to keep its collective concentration going long enough to finish off the job. The innings ended off the fifth ball of the 48th over, and the "what ifs" and "it might have beens" were never more obvious when South Africa hit the winning run only off the first ball of the 47th over. A bit more effort to play out the overs... a little more concentration brought to the job of taking quick singles... and who knows?

South Africa, for its part, was as competent as always with the ball and in the field. The odd chance went down - Jonty Rhodes, of all people, failing to latch on to a stinger at point - but such minor lapses were compensated for by the trademark dives, sliding stops and laser-guided returns from the deep. As for the bowlers, Symcox had an off day, going for 54 off his quota of 10, Pollock (1/33) and Klusener (1/38) were tidy without being impressive, Cronje (2/34 off 8.5) and in the final analysis, it was Donald who, as he makes a fetish of doing, smashed through the lower order and ensured that there were no late-inning heroics.

The South African innings

I doubt if anyone expected the strong SA batting lineup to work up a sweat chasing 212 to win. Till, that is, Eddo Brandes bowled one bang on the stumps and Andrew Hudson, who has a tendency to move across his stumps and try the flick from off to leg very early in his innings, missed the line of the very first delivery of the innings and went out LBW, to reduce SA to 1/0.

Rennie, who gets pronounced inswing off a nice easy action, then set the cat among the pigeons when, off the first ball of his over, he beat Lance Klusener's lazy drive to peg back the middle stump (SA 5/2) and, four balls later, got Kirsten falling to his greatest weakness, the uncontrolled slash outside off stump depositing the ball in the hands of Campbell at slip and reducing SA to 7/3 in two overs.

That brought the in-form Darryl Cullinan and the impetuous Jonty Rhodes to the wicket, and the "what ifs" began right there. Campbell, for some reason, kept the standard field instead of piling on the pressure with at least an extra slip and a fielder up close at bat-pad to put pressure on the batsmen, and in the final analysis let SA off the hook right there.

Jonty Rhodes doesn't believe in grinding things out - a slashed boundary, a pulled six, several heart-stopping singles and sprinted twos and he was galloping along at 16 off 20 when Heath Streak got the ball - and with his very first delivery, induced Rhodes to slash and Grant Flower took a blinder at point, ironically Rhodes' own favourite position. (SA 4/43).

Hansie Cronje is never as vulnerable as in the beginning of his innings, and that too when the side is under pressure. Campbell, however, continued his set-piece field placing, and the odd edges, mistimed heaves and missed edges failed to set the SA cause back even further. And Cronje, as ever, began batting with increasing authority the longer he stayed out there, while Cullinan was his usual silken self, playing strokes of brilliance all round the wicket. Tight bowling and fielding - barring a sitter off a mistimed pull dropped by wicket keeper Andy Flower and a couple of ballooning chances that fell just out of reach - meant that the SA progress was slow (90 in 23 overs, the 100 coming up only in the 26th). But as always, Cronje's running between the wickets was impeccable, even with such a dicey customer as Cullinan at the other end (an instance when Cullinan, at the non-striker's end, yelled a loud "no" and then kept charging down at breakneck speed was only one of the mirth-provoking instances of Cullinan's cavalier attitude to calling and running between wickets) and the singles and twos kept coming, as SA batted itself steadily out of trouble.

Cullinan's other fatal weakness is to get bored after he gets some runs under his belt, and begin playing like a novice. And here again, it was against the run of the form book that he aimed a wild swipe at Streak to present the keeper an easy catch (Cullinan 73 off 108 with three fours, SA 166/5).

Shaun Pollock survived a few anxious moments early in his innings, one mistimed pull in particular almost doing for him but falling shot of the fielder at deep square, but in the event he (20 off 16) and an increasingly authoritative Cronje (87 off 128 with five fours and a six) guided the home team past the total in the 47th over.

A good, competent win for the home side after early alarms. As for Zimbabwe, the consolitaion of having come up with a promising enough performance - remember they have just got to SA and are yet to really settle down to the conditions there - to indicate that their remaining outings (two against SA, three against India) could be fraught with interest.

And just how competitive this side is will be known in the very next game of the triangular, when Zimbabwe takes on India at Paarl on Monday, the game beginning at 1550 IST. We will, as per usual, be bringing it to you live - and hey, there could be fun and games on offer on the day, so don't miss it.

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