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Australia’s Test vice-captain Michael Clarke believes Pakistan’s fast bowlers will be a handful during the upcoming Test series, on the evidence of their strong performances in the two Twenty20s at Edgbaston

Brydon Coverdale07-Jul-2010Australia’s Test vice-captain Michael Clarke believes Pakistan’s fast bowlers will be a handful during the upcoming Test series, on the evidence of their strong performances in the two Twenty20s at Edgbaston. The Australians found Mohammad Aamer and Umar Gul difficult prospects during the Twenty20s and both men are in the Test squad, where they will be joined by Mohammad Asif.Add the coaching expertise of Waqar Younis and the swing of the red Duke ball, and the attack could cause problems in English conditions. Australia found the curving ball hard to counter during their 2005 Ashes defeat and they again failed to win last year, which means they haven’t triumphed in a Test series in England since 2001.”They’re going to be tough opposition in the Test match,” Clarke said of Shahid Afridi’s men. “They’re going to have a very good attack, so our batters have to be at our best with the Duke ball that I’ll imagine they’ll get to swing, in conditions where, if it’s overcast, it’s going to be quite tough. I think we’re in for a really good Test series.”If it’s overcast here, I think they’ll swing the ball nicely and they’ve got some pace as well. I think the Duke will help them. Conditions play a big part in England as to how much swing there is. If it’s overcast there’s generally a bit of swing the whole day. Hopefully the sun’s out.”On Thursday, Australia will play with the red Duke for the first time on the tour when they begin a two-day warm-up match against Derbyshire. It will be a good opportunity for the selectors to see Ben Hilfenhaus, Australia’s best exponent of swing, in action after his seven-month lay-off due to knee tendonitis.At the same time, Pakistan will be honing their skills with a tour game against Leicestershire. The first Test begins at Lord’s next Tuesday, before the teams move on to Headingley for the second Test beginning on July 21.

Matt Prior is determined to prove he still has a one-day future despite the emergence of Craig Kieswetter

Andrew McGlashan23-Jun-2010From being England’s wicketkeeper in all three formats, Matt Prior now
only has his Test place after watching Craig Kieswetter hot-foot it
into the limited-overs set up with considerable early success. But
rather than bemoan his lot, Prior is determined to use his recent
omission as an incentive to improve and is adamant he has a one-day
future with his country.The England selectors made no secret of the fact they were monitoring
Kieswetter’s development closely, but the speed of his promotion to
the full side meant that in a matter of two weeks Prior was looking
over his shoulder. Both played in the first two ODIs in Bangladesh
earlier this year, with Prior retaining the gloves, but the writing
was on the wall when Kieswetter was given the role for the final match
in Chittagong.He responded with a maiden hundred and was duly included the World
Twenty20 squad, when he hit a Man-of-the-Match 63 in the final against
Australia. Such was Kieswetter’s impact that it was no surprise when
Prior was overlooked for the current one-day squad, yet he has barely
put a foot wrong over the last 12 months.”Competition for places is very healthy and certainly all the time
I’ve been in the England team there’s been pressure with people
watching your every move,” Prior told Cricinfo. “Whoever has the role
at any given time will be under pressure. That’s international sport,
but the nice thing for me is I know I’ve dealt with it before, handled
it and come back stronger. I’m fine with the competition and
pressure.”Prior, though, wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t feeling frustrated by
the current situation. His ability with the bat has rarely been
doubted, but in the earlier phases of his international career his
glovework raised plenty of questions and drove some team-mates,
notably Ryan Sidebottom on the 2007-08 tour of Sri Lanka, to
distraction. Now he has made himself a high-quality keeper, but has
been left out because his batting doesn’t fit England’s one-day model and couldn’t even find a place in the Lions squad to face India A and West Indies A.”It’s a frustration because you want to be there but they’ve gone for
a different balance with the wicketkeeper opening the batting and at
the time I wasn’t opening,” he said. “That’s fair enough and anyone
knows that if you want two allrounders in the middle you can’t have
two keepers, that’s pretty simple. Now it’s down to me. I’m back
opening in one-day cricket for Sussex, which I enjoy and it’s the most
natural spot for me, and I have a lot belief in my ability. Now I’ve
got to score a lot of runs and keep knocking on the door.”Prior knows that it is vital he maintains his run-scoring form both in
county cricket and when he resumes his England place for the Test
series against Pakistan. He is using his international break to spend
time on his batting, which took a back seat as the keeping improved,
and to rest a damaged right hand. Prior isn’t currently behind the
stumps for Sussex – who also have Brendon McCullum and Andy Hodd in
the Twenty20 team – but won’t consider the thought of becoming a
specialist one-day batsman. “Certainly not, I’m a batsman-keeper and
that’s my role,” he said.He takes immense pride in the development of his glovework which owes
a huge amount to the tireless efforts of Bruce French, England’s
wicketkeeping coach, who can often be seen spending hours on the
outfield with Prior especially on overseas tours. Ironically, one
moment that showed how proficient Prior has become came in his last
Twenty20 international, when he pulled off an outstanding leg-side
stumping to remove Shoaib Malik in Dubai.”When I first started working with Frenchy our goal was to be more
than a regular keeper who catches the ball, actually to be someone who
can make chances out of nothing,” said Prior. “When things like that
happen it feels good because of all the work. It doesn’t mean I’m the
finished article, I need to keep getting better, but I’m really happy
with where by keeping is at.”He admits that being a wicketkeeper can be a lonely role with no one
else to share the burden, but sees every challenge as a motivation to
push himself harder. “It can be, there’s only one keeper and you have
to be one to understand what it’s like,” he said. “I think that’s why
I’ve enjoyed having Brendon McCullum at Sussex because we can have a
proper whinge about how it’s the toughest job in cricket. It probably
isn’t, but we like to think it is.”But I’ve known that if I want to be the England keeper I have to be
the best out there, and if someone comes in a does better I have to
raise my game.”Matt Prior is a Chance to Shine ambassador and was taking part
in “Brit Insurance National Cricket Day”, a day of cricket-themed
activity in hundreds of schools across the country. Find out more at
chancetoshine.org

Ricky Ponting knows his batsmen let the team down in both innings at Headingley, but he is not yet considering the idea of Steven Smith taking Marcus North’s position at No. 6

Brydon Coverdale24-Jul-2010Ricky Ponting knows his batsmen let the team down in both innings at Headingley, but he is not yet considering the idea of Steven Smith taking Marcus North’s position at No. 6. North was easily the most disappointing of the top six during the series, scoring 36 including two ducks, and only the No. 11 Doug Bollinger had a lower aggregate.North made a century and a 90 on the tour of New Zealand in March, but since the start of the Australian summer his big scores have become less frequent. Smith, on the other hand, lit up the Headingley stadium with a dazzling 77 on the third afternoon to keep Australia in the match, and in his 15 first-class appearances he has made four centuries.One of the main selection queries for Australia on their tour of India in October will be whether they can find a way to retain Smith when Nathan Hauritz returns from injury. However, Ponting does not believe Smith is ready to challenge for a more senior batting role and he said the conditions had made it difficult for North and the rest of the batsmen this month.”I don’t think Smith will put pressure on North,” Ponting said. “I thought the runs we got out of Smith yesterday were pretty entertaining and very valuable as far as the game is concerned. You can look at all of our batsmen through this tour, we’ve faced some pretty challenging conditions at different times. Both innings at Lord’s the ball went around a fair bit, the first innings here was probably the most challenging conditions that any of us have batted in.”Simon Katich was the only member of the team to average more than 35 during the series, as the Australians failed to find answers to Pakistan’s terrific swing bowling. The 349 they compiled with the help of Smith in the second innings in Leeds was their highest innings of the series, but Ponting also felt that in sunny conditions it was the time when they let themselves down.”I was a little bit disappointed with our batting yesterday,” Ponting said. “I thought we probably had the better of the batting conditions yesterday, and we had a chance to get a few more than 349 in the second innings. We let a little bit of an opportunity slip there. But the way we stuck at it late last night and this morning showed some character.”The ball won’t swing and seam as much during their two Tests in India, or for the Ashes back home, so the selectors might be hesitant to judge the batsmen on their tricky tour of England. Whatever they decide, Ponting believes the XI chosen for the first Test in India will not necessarily be a pointer to the team for the Gabba Ashes opener.”What the conditions probably do throw up over there [India] is the likelihood of maybe having to tinker with the setup in your team,” Ponting said. “We’ll wait and see who we’ve got that’s fit and ready to go for that tour and pick a squad of players we think can win a Test series over there and then worry about the start of the Ashes after that.”

Plays of the Day from the first day of the third Test between England and Pakistan at The Oval

Andrew Miller at The Oval18-Aug-2010Debutant of the day
Wahab you been all this time? Wahab Riaz’s last competitive outing came against Leicestershire a month ago, and with just five ODIs and a solitary Twenty20 in his international career to date, he was something of an unknown quantity coming into this game – especially having picked up a meagre 14 wickets at 41.50 for National Bank in the recent Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. But no matter what the state of their overall team may be, Pakistan have never been short of fast-bowling reserves, and Wahab tore onto the offensive with four wickets in his first nine overs as a Test cricketer, and 5 for 63 all told. One cautionary footnote, however. He is the ninth Pakistani to claim five wickets on debut, but with the exception of Shahid Afridi, who was primarily selected as a batsman, none of them went on to achieve greater deeds.Failure of the day
There were plenty of failures to choose from, but few were as abject as that of Alastair Cook. With 100 runs in seven innings to date this summer, he was retained for this contest as much out of pity as anything else – with England breaking the habit of a lifetime by naming their 11 a full three days in advance of the Test to give him as much reassurance as possible. A carefree 38 from 22 balls in Essex’s t20 semi-final hinted at a reinvigorated mindset, but from the moment he edged his first runs of today through gully for four, it was clear that all was not well in his game. Sure enough, he failed to see out Mohammad Asif’s first over of the day, as Kamran Akmal snaffled the first of four catches behind the stumps.Revival of the day
Aside from the lunchtime scoreline, the most remarkable aspect of Pakistan’s performance was the sharpness of their fielding, which (with one notable exception – see below) could not have been further removed from their woeful effort at Edgbaston last week. And no-one better epitomised that improvement than the keeper, Kamran, who showed Cook a thing or two about the benefits of a break from the firing line. Had it not been for Zulqarnain Haider’s finger injury, he would not have been playing in this match either, but instead he fronted up with a display that matched the assurance he showed during Pakistan’s victory over Australia at Headingley. His day started inauspiciously, with two byes fizzing through his legs from the third ball bowled, but that was as bad as his day would get.Stand of the day
Matt Prior and Stuart Broad are a pair of players who fancy a scrap, but to be brought together at 94 for 7 in the 32nd over was a brawl beyond even their pugilistic appetites. Nevertheless, the severity of the situation focussed their minds superbly, as they doubled the score and more in a calculated and stroke-laden 119-run onslaught. In so doing they surpassed England’s previous eighth-wicket record in Tests against Pakistan, which stood at a meagre 99, and in keeping with the current Ashes hype, also nudged ahead of a trio of notable landmarks against Australia – the 117 that Botham and Dilley added in the great Headingley turnaround of 1981; the urn-sealing 109 that Pietersen and Ashley Giles compiled on this ground five years ago; and the 108 that Broad and Graeme Swann compiled out of the wreckage of last summer’s rout in Leeds. Omens aplenty …Shy of the day
When Stuart Broad hurled the ball at Zulqarnain during the Edgbaston Test, his actions attracted widespread condemnation and accusations of petulance. When Asif did the same to Prior, striking him painfully on the heel towards the end of his excellent 84 not out, it drew a sharp intake of breath from around the ground, followed by a cacophony of pantomime boos, but that was more or less the end of that. It helped that Asif’s gesture of apology was rather more fulsome than Broad’s casual shrug had been, and the shy itself was also rather more justified, seeing as Prior had advanced down the track and was stretching for his crease as the bowler fielded in his followthrough.Drop of the day
At the age of 35, and with hardly a hint of competitive cricket since the tour of Australia back in January, Mohammad Yousuf comes across as an unlikely saviour with his grey-flecked beard and slightly portly demeanour. And while all that may well change when he picks up his bat tomorrow, for the time being, the most notable moment of his comeback Test came from the penultimate ball of England’s innings, when a spiralling top-edge from Prior left him looking as doddery as Cha-Cha Pakistan in a tape-ball knockabout. Prior was already walking off when the chance plopped straight through Yousuf’s fingers. Fortunately for Pakistan, Steven Finn was nailed lbw one delivery later, having survived 64 balls without dismissal in the series.

Jamie How, the Central Stags captain, has said the Champions League Twenty20 is an opportunity for the youngsters in his side to stake claims for higher honours

Cricinfo staff06-Sep-2010Jamie How, the Central Districts Stags captain, has said the Champions League Twenty20 is an opportunity for the youngsters in his side to stake claims for higher honours.”It gives them the chance to show what they’re made of on the international scene and perhaps if they perform well, they might even have a chance of being picked up for one of the IPL teams,” How said ahead of the tournament that gets underway on September 10. “Both individually and as a team, we have a chance to pit our skills against the world’s best, which is a very exciting prospect.”Central Districts qualified for the event by winning the 2009/10 edition of New Zealand’s domestic HRV Cup. How was wary of the competition his side will encounter in the Champions League which features the top domestic Twenty20 sides from around the world. “Every team here is here on merit. The fact that they’re here means that they are very good teams, winning or finishing near the top of their individual competitions. Each of the teams has its strengths and weaknesses and we just have to be able to deal with those.”The team will miss the services of two of their key players – Ross Taylor, who will turn out for his IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Jacob Oram who is out with a knee injury. How admitted his side would be hampered by their, and the injured allrounder Graham Napier’s, absence. “Ross is certainly a big loss for us. He’s one of our best players, and along with missing Jacob Oram and Graham, it’s been a big loss, but it also gives someone else an opportunity to step into their big shoes.”How looked forward to the event and felt the youngsters in his side would enjoy playing in South Africa. “It’s a wonderful experience for the younger guys who haven’t been here, because it’s a great country to tour. There are really great cricket facilities and exciting places off the field. And we’re doing quite a bit of travelling – we play in Centurion, Durban and Port Elizabeth – so we’ll see quite a bit of the country.”

New Zealand’s coach Mark Greatbatch has delivered a candid verdict on the efforts of his players in Bangladesh, declaring that they “played like dicks”

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Oct-2010New Zealand’s coach Mark Greatbatch has delivered a candid verdict on the efforts of his players in Bangladesh, declaring that they “played like d****”. Greatbatch was also scathing of the top order, suggesting that some of the batsmen simply weren’t good enough, and that it was “inexcusable” to lose 4-0 to Bangladesh.New Zealand play India in a three-match Test series that begins in Ahmedabad next Thursday. Although the format is different, Greatbatch hopes his players can use the Tests to regain some form and pride after the Bangladesh debacle, which resulted in meetings between senior New Zealand Cricket officials and team management.”When you play badly like that you’ve got to front up,” Greatbatch told . “It’s very devastating. We played like d**** really and I suppose there’s one positive thing, we’ve got a chance next week to actually put it right.”I think some [of the top order] aren’t good enough. I think some think they are better than they are and the third one I think is the mind. We’ve got to get our mind right and sometimes that requires patience, sometimes it requires being aggressive. What it requires is actually sorting out the cricket smarts and weighing up the situation that you’re playing in and we’ve got some work to do in all those areas.”Part of their plan to address the top-order problems, in the longer format at least, is for Brendon McCullum to move up into the top three for next week’s Test. McCullum made 86 in his four ODI innings in Bangladesh and he said it was to be expected that the players would come under the microscope following the disappointing tour.”I guess when you lose 4-0 in Bangladesh you can’t come home and expect a parade,” McCullum told the . “We didn’t play well and we’ve just got to cop it sweet. There’s no point in crying into your beer about it. You’ve just got turn the page and move on to the next tour. As long as we learn some lessons it’ll probably be good for us. It could be the best or worst thing that could happen.”Following the Ahmedabad Test, New Zealand travel to Hyderabad and Nagpur, and Greatbatch said given India’s strong record at home two draws from the series would be a good result. After the Tests there is a five-match ODI series, before the players fly back to New Zealand for a short break before taking on Pakistan at home.

John Mooney’s allround effort helped Ireland seal a 20-run consolation win in the third one-day international against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Sep-2010

ScorecardWilliam Porterfield held the top order together with 46 to lay the platform for Ireland’s victory•AFP

John Mooney’s allround effort helped Ireland seal a 20-run consolation win in the third one-day international against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club.Zimbabwe wrapped up the series with a three-wicket victory in the second ODI on Tuesday but Mooney starred first with the bat – making 55 to help Ireland recover from 128 for 6 to post 244 – and then by taking two wickets to give the tourists a token win. On the cusp of victory Ireland were given a scare through an entertaining final-wicket stand between Shingirai Masakadza and Ian Nicolson but it proved not quite enough for the home side.For the third time in the series Elton Chigumbura won the toss and inserted Ireland into bat and it again looked the right move when Ed Rainsford burst through the top order – removing Paul Stirling, Andre Botha and Niall O’Brien in his first four overs to leave Ireland tottering on 40 for 3.Among the wreckage Ireland captain William Porterfield stood firm and found support from Kevin O’Brien to halt the slide. Zimbabwe, however, kept control through their spinners Graeme Cremer and the impressive Prosper Utseya, who finished with 1 for 26 from his 10-over spell.Cremer removed O’Brien before Porterfield was run out four short of a deserved half-century to leave Ireland in trouble. In keeping with the fluctuating nature of the series, Ireland fought back with Andrew White partnering Mooney in a 66-run stand for the seventh wicket as Ireland scrapped towards a competitive total.Rainsford, who was man-of-the-match in the opening contest, returned to break the stand before trapping Albert van der Merwe in front to finish with 5 for 36 but Mooney held firm until he was last man out in the final over, finishing with two fours and two sixes in his 55.Zimbabwe would have felt confident at the half-way stage having twice chased similar totals in the previous games but perhaps with the series in the bag the batsmen weren’t as switched-on as they should have been.Kevin O’Brien completed a miserable series for Hamilton Masakadza, dismissing him for a fourth-ball duck to go with his 8 and 0 in his previous two innings before trapping Brendan Taylor in front in his next over.Sean Williams and Tatenda Taibu threatened a comeback with an enterprising 70-run stand but Mooney made the key break through, castling Taibu for 22. Thereafter the Ireland spinners took control. Van der Merwe had Williams caught by fellow spinner George Dockrell for 74 off 86 balls before Dockrell ran through the lower order, picking up 3 for 41 to leave Zimbabwe 164 for 9.What looked like a formality for Ireland suddenly became a struggle as Shingirai Masakadza found support from No. 11 Ian Nicolson. The pair added 60 at better than a run a ball before O’Brien returned to remove Nicolson and leave Masakadza stranded unbeaten on 45 off 49 balls.

Kallis reached a 36th Test hundred in the course of his unbroken 242-run partnership with Hashim Amla, South Africa’s second highest for any wicket against Pakistan, on the fourth day at Dubai

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Nov-2010It is almost inevitable that a player who spends more than a decade in international cricket will break the odd record along the way and put together some notable statistics, but even so Jacques Kallis’s list of achievements make particularly impressive reading. Kallis reached a 36th Test hundred in the course of his unbroken 242-run partnership with Hashim Amla, South Africa’s second highest for any wicket against Pakistan, on the fourth day at Dubai.At 35, Kallis is already South Africa’s leading scorer in Test cricket by a margin of several thousand, but he believes he still has a lot more to give. “Hopefully there’s a few more left in the body,” he said. “I’m still enjoying my cricket, hopefully there’s many more runs there.”He is third on the all-time list for most Test hundreds, with Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar the two men ahead of him with 39 and 49 hundreds respectively. Kallis has also been involved in no fewer than 15 double century partnerships in his career, three short of Tendulkar’s record and is one better than the great Sir Donald Bradman.His partnership with Amla was their fourth double century partnership – they shared stands of 220 and 330 against New Zealand in 2007-08 and 340 against India in the innings win at Nagpur earlier this year – a number that has only been exceeded by Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer’s six.”Hashim and myself got us off to a good start,” Kallis said after the day’s play. “Scoring was always going to be tough today, but we were always ahead of the rate. We complemented each other pretty well throughout the partnership. It became a little bit easier than we thought it would be, but it was still tough scoring. Batting and staying out there was a little easier, but scoring was quite tough.”The wicket is pretty slow, the outfield is very slow as well, so you could add on a few runs for that. But we just tried to rotate the strike and put the bad ball away to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Then we could play with a bit more freedom once we got to a total that we were happy with.”Kallis hit his first delivery of the day from Saeed Ajmal for a straight six, and that set the tone for his and Amla’s treatment of Pakistan’s slow bowlers for the rest of the day. It had been thought that Pakistan’s spinners – offspinner Ajmal and left-armer Abdur Rehman – could have a decisive influence of the game but they have been out-bowled by Johan Botha and Paul Harris, their South African counterparts.”I think we played their spinners pretty well,” Kallis explained. “Also, our spinners’ lines are probably slightly different to what their spinners have bowled. And our guys are pretty confident. It’s a lot easier and things seem to go for you when you’re ahead of the game, so hopefully that’ll continue happening for us. It’s a happy changeroom, we’ve got some hard work ahead of us tomorrow but there’s enough in the wicket to keep the bowlers encouraged.”Kallis also paid tribute to Amla, who is now only 6 runs short of his 1 000 Test runs for the calendar year. Amla reached a ninth century of the year in all formats, including four in Tests and five in ODIs, finishing unbeaten on 118.”He’s been unbelievable, he’s certainly been our rock [this year],” Kallis said of Amla. “The way that the guys have batted around him has also helped. He’s very confident, and he’s come a long way from when people said ‘with that backlift, you’ll never be able to play international cricket.’ I think he’s proved a few people wrong.”The wicket is a little flat, nothing special,” said Amla. “Fortunately Jacques and I got a partnership going and that made it a lot easier to score. We have managed to get a few big partnerships together and today was one of them. At certain times when we weren’t scoring Jacques was very level-headed and calm about it. He put a reality spin on certain situations which was great.”Amla added that there was no secret to his current phenomenal run of form, saying: “I wish I had a penny for the amount of times I’ve had that question asked over the last year or so. There has been no secret. I just try to bat the way I can, not try and change too much and keep things simple.”I don’t attribute it to anything special. I just try to gain as much experience in each game and fortunately it is coming through.”

The MCC World Cricket Committee has made several proposals to help overcome match-fixing, including the use of lie detector tests and the legalisation of betting markets in India

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Dec-2010The MCC World Cricket Committee has recommended that the laws of the game be amended in a bid to rid the sport of corruption, and has called for the use of lie detector tests to reinforce the need for transparency in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal that erupted during Pakistan’s tour of England in August.Following a two-day meeting in Perth ahead of the third Ashes Test, the club’s working party, including two former Ashes-winning captains in Steve Waugh and Mike Brearley, issued a statement containing a wide range of proposals including “the legalising and regulating of betting markets in India as proposed by the Delhi Court; the length of bans; non-selection of tainted players; the possible use of lie detector tests; the provision of integrity officers; and the inclusion of anti-corruption clauses in all professional playing contracts in all countries.””The greatest issue facing the game right now is match-fixing,” said Waugh. “How can we make players more accountable for their actions? Personally, I think if you’ve not done anything wrong, why wouldn’t you want to have a lie detector test? You can’t make it compulsory but like I said, if you’ve got nothing to hide, why wouldn’t you take it? If we sit back and don’t do anything about corruption, it’s going to get worse.”In its statement, the committee also complimented the ICC and its Anti-Corruption & Security Unit (ACSU) for its work to clean up the sport, but urged the game’s governing body to commit more resources – and increased powers – to tackle the single biggest menace to the integrity of cricket.”The education of players should not be a meaningless formality; the message should be pressed home with regularity by figures known and respected by the players,” the statement read. “Furthermore, the committee believes that team captains – as enshrined in the Laws and Spirit of Cricket – should accept greater responsibility for the conduct of their players.”Speaking on the eve of the Perth Test, England’s captain, Andrew Strauss gave a cautious welcome to the notion of introducing lie detectors to the game. “That’s hard for me to answer at this stage,” he said. “I don’t know about the accuracy of lie detector tests. But what I do know, and is probably more important, is that we don’t want the whiff of anything suspicious going on in the game.”We’ve seen how disruptive and detrimental to the game of cricket it is,” added Strauss. “The devil of all these things is in the detail. If we have to take extreme measures in order to be 100% confident the game is being played in the right spirit, then I’d certainly be happy to do that.”I’d have to think about the arguments [for lie detector tests] one side and another first. But the principle, of having 22 guys on the pitch that the supporters are absolutely 100% certain are playing the game for the right reasons, is a good thing.”

Once the players woke up to sunny skies in Centurion, it was only a matter of time before South Africa took the final two wickets that stood between them and a 1-0 lead in the series

The Bulletin by George Binoy20-Dec-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Smart Stats

• This was South Africa’s first innings win against India at home and fourth overall against them. Four of India’s seven innings defeats since 1990 have come against South Africa.

• This is only the second time that South Africa have won the first Test of a home series against a major Test side since beating New Zealand in 2007.

• India’s total of 459 is the seventh highest third innings score in defeats.

• The victory improves South Africa’s win-loss ratio in Centurion to 12, the best among all home grounds to have hosted at least five Tests. Their only loss at Centurion was a two-wicket defeat against England in 2000.

• This was the fifth occasion that South Africa won by an innings after losing less than five wickets in the entire match.

Once the players woke up to clear skies in Centurion, it was only a matter of time before South Africa took the final two wickets that stood between them and a 1-0 lead in the series. The other question was whether they could inflict an innings defeat on India, something they had never done at home. They did, dismissing the tailenders in less than six overs on the fifth day, while Sachin Tendulkar remained unbeaten on 111.The length of South Africa’s wait was going to be determined by Tendulkar’s approach, and once he showed no intention of farming the strike, exposing Sreesanth and Jaidev Unadkat by taking singles, the home team knew Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn wouldn’t make them field for too long.Sreesanth prodded forward to a short of a length delivery outside off from Morkel, and AB de Villiers caught the thick edge comfortably at second slip. Unadkat faced 10 out of the 14 balls following Sreesanth’s dismissal and the Test ended when he fended a short ball from Steyn to gully.