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| Sunday, 8 August 2004 |
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Sports |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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S. Africa look down the barrel by Sa'adi Thawfeeq reporting from Galle GALLE, August 7 - South Africa were left chasing 325 runs to win the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka on a slow and turning pitch at the Galle International Cricket Stadium here today. By stumps on day four, South Africa had wiped out seven of the required runs in three overs which left them with 318 to chase off a minimum of 90 overs on the fifth and final day on Sunday. Considering how the pitch had played over the four days, a draw seems to be the likely result unless Sri Lanka come up with an extraordinary bowling performance or South Africa show the same resoluteness as they did in their first innings and bat Sri Lanka out. It took Sri Lanka nearly 140 overs to dismiss South Africa for 376 in their first innings, but with the pitch having deteriorated since then as witnessed during the Sri Lankan second innings, run making is not going to be an easy task for the batsmen. Sri Lanka, who made 486 in their first innings, declared their second innings at 214-9 off 67 overs with Sanath Jayasuriya making a top score of 74 off 100 balls with seven fours and a six. No other batsmen made more than 29. Left-arm spinner Nicky Boje, who extracted a lot of turn from the press box end to finish with his third five-for in an innings haul, gave an indication of how the pitch was playing. Boje finished with 5 for 88 off 22 overs to add to his two wickets in the first innings. "If the spinners bowl in the right areas we have a very good chance. We took a longer time in the first innings because Upul (Chandana) and Murali (Muralitharan) didn't bowl well in the first innings," said Jayasuriya. "Murali got his line wrong in the first innings. If he corrects his line and bowls well in the second innings we have a very good chance." Jayasuriya, who batted for 200 minutes in the second innings, said that it was not easy batting out in the middle because 'the ball is not coming onto the bat at all.' He said the batsmen would find it difficult to get runs on the wicket. "Where we might experience a problem is that where the pitch has deteriorated is outside the danger area. There is no bounce on the pitch and we have to bowl a little faster than a normal spinner," he said. Sri Lanka took just over an hour to capture the remaining three South African wickets for 29 runs. But it was just enough to give Rudolph an opportunity to complete his fourth Test century before Muralitharan had him edging a catch behind the wicket for 102 to end the innings. Coming at the fall of the first wicket at 84, the left-hander anchored the innings till the end batting a marathon 413 minutes and facing 297 balls during which period he struck 12 fours. Sri Lanka had an early breakthrough when play began on the fourth morning when Vaas had Boje caught down the leg side by Kaluwitharana off the fourth ball without addition to his overnight score of 31. His dismissal ended an eighth wicket partnership of 53 in as many minutes with Rudolph. Ntini did not last long before Muralitharan had him caught by Chandana at deep mid wicket for 10, which left last man Hayward to see Rudolph to his century, which he did by hanging around for 31 minutes. Rudolph was nine runs away from his hundred when Ntini was dismissed and would not have got there had Kaluwitharana held onto a thick outside edge off Muralitharan at 96. It was the first false stroke Rudolph played, but there was no denying him a century, which he fully deserved. He was lucky to complete it when he almost played onto Muralitharan and the ball sped behind the wicket-keeper for a couple. Muralitharan with four wickets for 130 took his career tally to 531 Test wickets, 4 four more than Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne. Rudolph said that if South Africa can have a good first session tomorrow it would dictate how the match will go. "The pitch is a little bit slow especially for the spinners. You've really got to reach your length to bowl a dangerous ball," he said. Rudolph who batted a long time in the middle said he enjoyed his stay in the middle because there was not much humidity here than in Chittagong where he scored a double hundred on debut under extremely hot conditions. He said facing Muralitharan was a good experience for him. "It is nice to face someone like him in Galle in his own conditions. It is a good reference point of view. I played him as instinctively as possible. Obviously I had a game plan in mind. I think you have got to try and keep it simple and runs will come," said Rudolph. SRI LANKA - 1ST INNINGS 486
(M. Jayawardene 237, C. Vaas 69, K. Sangakkara 58,
S. Pollock 4-48)
SOUTH AFRICA - 1ST INNINGS
(overnight 347-7)
B. Dippenaar run out 46
M. van Jaarsveld c Samaraweera b Muralitharan 37
J. Rudolph c Kaluwitharana b Muralitharan 102
J. Kallis c Sangakkara b Muralitharan 59
G. Smith lbw b Jayasuriya 23
M. Boucher c Kaluwitharana b Jayasuriya 6
S. Pollock c Sangakkara b Vaas 25
L. Klusener c Jayawardene b Dilshan 2
N. Boje c Kaluwitharana b Vaas 31
M. Ntini c Chandana b Muralitharan 10
N. Hayward not out 2
Extras (B-14 LB-8 NB-10 W-1) 33
TOTAL (139.4 overs) 376
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-84, 2-96, 3-168, 4-213, 5-225,
6-287, 7-295, 8-348, 9-363, 10-376.
BOWLING: C.Vaas 25-10-50-2 (NB-6),
F.Maharoof 19-9-42-0 (W-1, NB-1),
M. Muralitharan 46.4-9-130-4 (NB-3),
U.Chandana 18-0-68-0,
S.Jayasuriya 25-9-40-2.
T.Dilshan 6-0-24-1.
SRI LANKA - 2ND INNINGS
M. Atapattu lbw b Klusener 25
S. Jayasuriya c Boucher b Pollock 74
K. Sangakkara c Hayward b Boje 13
M. Jayawardene c Rudolph b Boje 5
T. Samaraweera b Klusener 19
T. Dilshan lbw b Pollock 1
R. Kaluwitharana c Pollock b Boje 19
U. Chanadana c Dippenaar b Boje 29
C. Vaas not out 13
M. Muralitharan c Dippenaar b Boje 2
F. Maharoof not out 3
Extras (B-4 LB-1 NB-4 W-2) 11
TOTAL (9 wkts decl, 67 overs) 214
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-62, 2-89, 3-103, 4-140, 5-142,
6-166, 7-172, 8-199, 9-209.
BOWLING: Pollock 12-2-19-2 (NB-3 W-1),
Hayward 6-1-21-0 (NB-1),
Klusener 14-2-40-2,
Ntini 5-0-19-0,
Boje 22-0-88-5,
Kallis 8-1-22-0 (W-1).
SOUTH AFRICA - 2ND INNINGS
G. Smith not out 5
B. Dippenaar not out 0
Extras (B-1 LB-1) 2
TOTAL (no loss, three overs) 7
STILL TO BAT: M.van Jaarsveld, J.Rudolph, J.Kallis,
M.Boucher, S.Pollock, L.Klusener,
N.Boje, M.Ntini, N.Hayward.
BOWLING: Vaas 1-0-3-0,
Jayasuriya 1-0-1-0,
Dilshan 1-0-1-0.
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