Second Test, day five: India (643-6 declared) beat South Africa (296 & 289) by an innings and 58 runs.

Harbhajan Singh claimed five wickets as India sealed a dramatic innings-and-57-run victory on the final day of the second Test against South Africa at Eden Gardens to draw the series 1-1 and retain their place at the top of the ICC rankings.

India, starting the day needing seven more wickets for victory, chipped away steadily at South Africa’s line-up through the day, but Hashim Amla provided another twist in a match that ebbed and flowed with a brilliant, unbeaten 123.

Amla had raised hopes of a draw for South Africa with a final wicket stand with Morne Morkel (12) that had spanned more than 20 overs, but Harbhajan returned to snare Morkel with about 15 minutes remaining in the day and dismiss the tourists for 290.

Having already lost over a day to rain and bad light, India suffered another blow before play resumed as strike bowler Zaheer Khan was forced to sit out the final three sessions due to a leg muscle strain suffered during play on Wednesday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni opened with part-time spinner Virender Sehwag and paceman Ishant Sharma, but shuffled his bowlers around and soon had spinners operating from both ends.

Harbhajan and leg-spinner Amit Mishra stuck admirably to the task, striking a probing line, but were thwarted for more than an hour in an extended morning session by Amla and Ashwell Prince (23).

Amla, on 49 overnight, went past the half-century mark and had painstakingly constructed a 47-run stand with Prince before the latter was dismissed by Harbhajan.

The off-spinner had the out-of-form left-hand batsman in all sorts of trouble and eventually had him dislodged with a ball that was pitched just outside off, Prince chipping carelessly to Ishant at mid-off.

Mishra then claimed his third scalp, trapping De Villiers (three) plumb in front with a googly while he played down the wrong line and the Proteas hobbled into the lunch interval still 183 runs behind, but crucially with only five wickets in hand.

India renewed their push for victory in the afternoon session with vigour and Harbhajan had JP Duminy’s scalp near the start of the session.

Duminy (six) rocked back to defend a delivery that was pushed slightly quicker through the air, misjudged the line completely and was hit on the back pad right in front.

South Africa were still 175 behind at that stage and Amla – the last recognised batsman – was left waging a lone battle with the tail.

Dale Steyn hardly troubled the Indians as he went quickly, leg before to Harbhajan who had shifted his line of attack from over to around the stumps.

Wayne Parnell (22), showing a far better technique against the spinners than most of the middle-order batsmen, stalled India’s attack but was let off on 14 when Suresh Raina, on the field for the injured Gautam Gambhir, grassed a catch at fourth slip.

Amla had moved into the 90s with consecutive boundaries off Ishant and raised his ninth Test century and third of the series with another off Mishra, who had shared the second new ball.

Parnell, however, was extracted in the fourth over after the tea interval, momentarily losing composure and handing Ishant his first success despite a strong showing from the medium-pacer.

Parnell went tamely, chipping a full delivery straight to Harbhajan at mid-on, his dismissal ending a stubborn eighth-wicket stand that had yielded 70.

Paul Harris (four) hung around for a while, negotiating 24 deliveries, but his resistance too was ended by Ishant, as he perished to an edge.

Morkel then joined Amla and India were put under severe pressure as the pair stood firm.

Even Sachin Tendulkar, who rarely bowls these days following a shoulder injury, twirled his arm without success.

But Harbhajan eventually trapped Morkel in front, sparking wild celebrations in the stands and on the pitch.

Harbhajan finished the day with five for 59, while Mishra ended with three for 78.

Amla was named man of the match though for his heroics. He finished the series with an average of 490 – the second highest, behind Wally Hammond, in the history of Test cricket.
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New Zealand’s batting is in disarray. Their top three average less than 20 in the series against Pakistan with one – Tim McIntosh – averaging less than ten. Their reliance on the No. 4, Ross Taylor, has been tremendous and thankfully for New Zealand, he has delivered.

Taylor averaged 70 after the first two Tests with three half-centuries in four innings. While his team-mates – Martin Guptill, McIntosh and Daniel Flynn – foundered against Pakistan’s three-man pace attack, and Mohammad Asif in particular, Taylor has succeeded. The only criticism against him is that he hasn’t converted his fifties into hundreds.

“The thing is getting forward,” Taylor told NPZA. “He [Asif] has been the pick of their bowlers, the most consistent the whole time. There hasn’t been a conscious decision to go out and hit him. I just try to see the ball and react to it really.

“I don’t mean go out there and smash the ball, it’s being positive in defence, positive in a leave and if there’s a half volley or a short, wide one …. have the confidence to put that away even if you’re not feeling that great.

“I guess every time I’ve batted in this series, we’ve lost early wickets and been under pressure the whole time. That’s just part of cricket. Hopefully this next deck in Napier is batter friendly and we can get a good start and work from there.”

After two consecutive batting collapses – 153 in Dunedin and 99 in Wellington – and another ordinary one in the final innings of the second Test, New Zealand were forced to rethink their batting line-up. However, they preferred not to make wholesale changes and axed only Peter Fulton, bringing in Northern Districts batsman BJ Watling. Taylor said he had been impressed by Watling’s work ethic and technique.

Watling scored 90 and 136 in the latest round of Plunket Shield matches and will form a new opening combination with McIntosh while Martin Guptill drops down to No. 3. “I feel good at the crease – I’m moving well and feeling confident. I’m working on playing the ball late, and having good positive intent with my feet,” Watling said. “I went to Dubai and played a couple of Twenty20s against them [Pakistan] so I know what they’re like. That was good experience coming into this match.”
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Pakistan’s security-based isolation from test cricket and a focus on the limited overs formats have combined to make life challenging on the current tour of New Zealand, according to coach Intikhab Alam.

Confined to just seven test matches in two years, a rebuilding team have had little scope to acquaint themselves with foreign conditions in the longest version of the game.

Although Pakistan are the reigning Twenty20 world champions and remain a competitive one-day unit, batting deficiencies were apparent at the highest level during their 32-run first test loss in Dunedin.

Pakistan mirrored New Zealand’s long-standing problems in the top and middle order, plummeting to 85 for five in the first innings and 24 for three in their unsuccessful run chase.

Openers Khurram Manzoor and Imran Farhat are under pressure to retain their places, and it has already been confirmed that Farhat will be replaced at first slip by Misbah-ul-Haq after dropping four catches at University Oval.

Article continues below

The middle order batsman will play the 16th test of an intermittent career at the Basin Reserve in Wellington starting on Thursday, but who makes way for the 35-year-old is a moot point.

Farhat, Manzoor and first drop Fawad Alam failed in both innings in Dunedin as Pakistan struggled to adapt to batting on a pitch offering variable bounce in chilly, blustery conditions.

Alam looked particularly ill at ease in the second innings, making five before falling to a fielding trap at silly mid-on set by Daniel Vettori for Shane Bond’s benefit.

The 24-year-old made the perfect start to his test career in Sri Lanka in July, becoming the 10th Pakistani batsman to compile a century on debut when he stroked 168 in the second innings at Colombo’s P Saravanamuttu Oval.

But since then four innings have yielded a highest score of just 29.

Manzoor, 23, also made an encouraging start to his test career with a 93 in the final test in Sri Lanka, but a move from the familiarity of the subcontinent has so far been unfulfilling after scores of six and four.

“You need to play test cricket regularly to apply yourself to conditions,” Intikhab said when explaining his batsmen’s substandard run production in Dunedin.

“The batting is a concern, especially the middle order and the opening batsmen. They are youngsters, it will take time.

“It’s a mental game, they’ve got to stay at the wicket.”

Until arriving in New Zealand, Pakistan had not played a series outside the subcontinent since January, 2007, in South Africa.

A terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus at Lahore in March has also removed the benefits of home advantage for the foreseeable future as they are forced to play in the United Arab Emirates or in their opponent’s backyard.

With a tour to Australia following the three-test series here, Pakistan face a daunting summer on the road.

Ul-Haq’s addition may not be the only change to the batting order because Salman Butt and Faisal Iqbal are also experienced alternatives within the squad.

Intikhab at least has few concerns about the quality of his bowling attack after 17-year-old Mohammad Aamer, fellow quick Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul caused plenty of problems for New Zealand’s strokemakers.

Aamer made early inroads in both innings in Dunedin while Asif marked his first test in two years with a match haul of eight wickets for 151.

Asif has lost a yard of pace during his two-year absence due to injury and drug bans but the 26-year-old’s line, length and variations were impeccable.

“He needs match fitness. I’m happy with the way he’s bowling,” Intikhab said.

“He’s bowled 130-132km/h consistently which is not bad if you’re getting wickets and swinging the ball.

“Bowlers get fit while bowling, not in the nets. The more you bowl in a match the better you will get,” Intikhab said.

That said, both teams will be keen to have a net session at the test venue today after rain forced them indoors yesterday.
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Cricketers young and old were celebrated at the launch of the 2009 South African Cricket Annual.

Among the annual’s five cricketers of the year were Claude Henderson, 37, and Wendell Bossenger, 33. When these two started their first-class careers, the other three were still playing mini-cricket in short pants.

The younger winners are JP Duminy, Imraan Khan and Roelof van der Merwe, who are 12 years Henderson’s junior.

The awards are distinct from the annual Cricket South Africa awards.

They were made at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg yesterday.

Bossenger has played 13 years of first-class cricket for Griqualand West. Henderson, a former Test spinner, is currently playing for the Cape Cobras, but has played extensively in English county cricket.

Among the previous winners are Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock.

Performances at the Champions Trophy and World Twenty20 tournaments earlier this year were not recognised, as the winners had already been chosen ahead of the production of the year’s annual.
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• Andrew Strauss says he may sit out Bangladesh tour
• ‘I’m not going to say I’m definitely on it or definitely not on it’

Andrew Strauss has admitted he may sit out England’s tour of Bangladesh in February in order to stay at the peak of his powers in the run up to the Ashes defence next winter.

England’s upcoming schedule is comparably frenetic, with a tour to South Africa followed by the Bangladesh trip and another World Twenty20 in the West Indies before the English domestic programme gets under way.

England appear likely to use the lower-profile February tour as a chance to rest some key players and although Strauss fell short of confirming he would not be in the squad, he conceded it was a possibility.

“I can’t guarantee anything, I don’t know what will happen in the next few months. We only select one tour at a time,” the England captain told BBC Radio 5. “The South Africa tour is a massive one and then we’ve got Bangladesh in February and March. When we select that we’ll sit down and see where we are as a side with injuries, niggles and all that stuff. We’ll sit down and decide the best course of action.

“We have a busy summer of cricket before the Ashes in Australia so there’s a lot of cricket ahead. The key is to make sure the players are fresh but at the same time you don’t want to be tinkering with the side too much.

“The Bangladesh tour is quite a useful one in our development in terms of playing on subcontinental wickets … I’m not going to say I am definitely on it at this stage and I’m not going to say I’m definitely not on it; we’ll just need to see where we are as a side.”

Should he not be part of the touring side, Alastair Cook would appear to be next in line to lead the team but Kevin Pietersen, whose acrimonious departure from the captaincy led to Strauss’ appointment, still has his supporters.

While it would seem unlikely for the South Africa-born Pietersen to make a return to the job so soon after his spat with the former coach Peter Moores, Strauss believes he may yet captain his adopted country again.

“I certainly wouldn’t rule it out. He’s got some attributes that make him a very good captain,” said the Middlesex opener. “He’s very confident in his own ability, he’s got strong views on the game and he’s got the ability to lead by example. I wouldn’t rule it out completely.”

“The timing [of Pietersen's appointment] wasn’t ideal because he and Peter Moores didn’t really see eye to eye and I think that is fundamental to being a successful coach or captain.”

Reflecting on the turbulence that led to his installation as England captain, Strauss said: “It seems like a long time ago but it was a pretty unpleasant time. I don’t think anyone liked the atmosphere in the team at that stage. It came to a head in a dramatic fashion and I suppose for a while English cricket was in the headlines for the wrong reasons. You knew there was a frosty relationship between the two of them and it just didn’t feel quite right.”
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Captain, run-maker, priest to a Test debutant and choreographer for the Andrew Flintoff farewell gig: Andrew Strauss is all of these at The Oval. Lennon’s line, “nobody told me there’d be days like these”, must be drifting from his inner jukebox as England’s lone centurion confronts a daunting task sheet.

Called to clear up the gore from Kevin Pietersen’s failed coup d’état against Peter Moores and his coaching staff back in early January, Strauss said: “Clearly the circumstances are less than ideal, in some ways.” This was the euphemistic, fire-dousing summation of the selfless solid citizen. Should England fall short of the victory they require to regain the urn from an Australia side with a disappointingly low problem count, this could end up as Strauss’s epitaph. “His circumstances were less than ideal, in some ways, but he always gave his best.”

A fortnight after the Headingley implosion it falls to him to steer Jonathan Trott through the most onerous Test debut in memory, stop the Flintoff swan song distorting England’s tactics and cleanse their heads of the thought that Leeds was a crash from which there can be no way back. A heavy load. “It is, but captaining England always is, and it’s probably been that way all the way through the series,” Strauss said after nets at The Oval. “I like that responsibility, I think it helps my cricket and I’m also very aware that my number one job is to go out there at the start of the innings and set a platform for the rest. I’m as determined as anyone to go out and get a big score this week.”

Leadership by deed, not by rhetoric. Strauss can see that his best pep talk would be a flurry of runs from the top of the order on opening day. Captaining England comes with its own special convoy of uncontrollable incidents – the wicketkeeper’s back going in the warm-up, or Kevin Pietersen’s achilles packing up at Lord’s – but the bat in the hand is a reliable instrument of destiny, hence the captain’s extra net session at lunchtime, when the rest of the team had melted from the scene.

Whether deputising for an injured Michael Vaughan, sponging Pietersen’s professional blood off the pavilion walls, or endeavouring to correct the aberrations that brought down his bowling attack in Leeds, Strauss has been the clean-up artist of English cricket. His runs have bailed out an underperforming middle-order, now rejigged to include the virgin, Trott.

Not only is the captain the only England batsman to have made a hundred (161, at Lord’s) this summer, his 344 runs put daylight between him and his nearest pursuer, Matt Prior, who has 239. As Australia’s most wanted, Strauss is averaging a fraction less than 50 (49.14), though his scores at Headingley (three and 32) raise the heat on him to reprise his first-innings 129 in the series-clinching Oval finale of four years ago.

By comparison, Ricky Ponting is in a dilemma-free paradise. Perky and pugnacious, as ever, Australia’s captain turned down the invitation to sympathise with his counterpart on the eve of what Strauss calls a “perfect storm” of a match. “Yeah, it’s fair to say he’s got a few more things on his plate than we have. But as we know, in this game of Test cricket things can change pretty quickly,” Ponting said. “It’s only a couple of weeks since I was sitting here answering those sorts of questions.

“If you look back to the start of the first Test there have been very few instances when we’ve played really poor cricket. Most of the games we’ve played we’ve had some really dominating periods in them. That’s what we need to do again this week. We need to keep England under pressure, and then some of the things Andrew is having to think about will raise their heads.”

Strauss’s quiet gallantry and home counties equanimity conceal the scale of his influence over the past four years. Few now talk about his role in 2005, when he was the only batsman on either side to score two centuries, and snaffled a slip catch that became a national work of art. On England’s calamitous tour as Ashes holders, in 2006-07, he fell under the wheels of the Flintoff celebrity juggernaut and was passed over as captain, only to be recalled when two billboard leaders, Flintoff and Pietersen, flamed out in a job for which both were ill-suited.

Strauss said: “The Ashes were the last thing on my mind when I took over. There were plenty of other things going on at the time.” Since then he has had to deal with the Flintoff no-show for the England bus ride to First World War graves at Ypres, and a pointed suggestion from the all-rounder’s agent that his client was fit to play at Headingley but “not wanted” by Strauss and Andy Flower.

“To restore unity” was Strauss’s mission at the outset, this winter. This must have strained his patience many times since, given the sporadic self-destructive tendencies of this generation of England cricketers.

“An Ashes series is an honour and a privilege and you get your highest moments in an Ashes series, but when things don’t go well it’s a tough series to play in and it asks a lot of questions about your temperament and your character,” Strauss said. Today he is required to be an enforcer, thinker, strategist, mentor to the inexperienced and star batsman.

“His weakness is probably his conservative approach. He will tend to take the safer option in most cases,” Justin Langer wrote in his scouting email to Australia’s coach, Tim Nielsen. But the part that really chimed was the former Test opener’s description of Strauss as “a very solid character and a good bloke”. It happens this way: sometimes a player is defined less by his own achievements than his ability to solve problems that were of somebody else’s making.

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The final day of the drawn third Ashes Test turned out to be a dramatic one off the field as a bomb threat during lunch break left the ground security staff in a tizzy.

According to media reports here, the staff at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground, where Australia held on a for a draw against England on Monday, received a bomb threat at lunch break.

“We can confirm a short security alert at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. Officers at the scene investigated and found this to be nothing of concern,” a West Midlands Police spokeswoman was quoted as saying by newspapers here.

“The scene has now been declared safe and this is a high profile event. There are enough officers at the location to ensure the safety of the crowd,” she added.

England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed that security had to be increased after the threat.

“Security has been increased at the back of the ground. That (area) has been secured,” an ECB spokesman said.
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The IPL and its commissioner, Lalit Modi, have come under heavy criticism from the Gauteng Cricket Board (GCB), which manages the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, over issues surrounding the hosting of matches at the ground during the second season of the Twenty20 league in South Africa early this year.

In a strongly-worded internal document (dated June 16) that has been circulated among members of the Gauteng board, Ray Wentzel, the GCB treasurer, has accused the IPL of violating various norms, especially for the semi-finals and final on May 24, including attempts to forcibly take over all stadium operations, such as ticketing and parking systems.

The issue has ramifications beyond the IPL and beyond sundry matters such as parking spaces and ticket prices; at stake is the future of the Wanderers, one of cricket’s most famous and historic grounds. The CSA board’s members’ forum has refused to allot any international matches to the Wanderers until the GCB apologises for its allegations and submits its match hosting conditions and, as a result, Wanderers has been stripped of a Test, an ODI and a Twenty20 game it was due to host during England’s tour later this year. This ban will not affect the Champions Trophy in September as it is an ICC event involving separate agreements but the tournament schedule released on Monday has only three matches at the Wanderers – which won’t host the final either.

Barry Skjoldhammer, the GCB chairman, said the document is “only a draft” and not the final report and hence cannot be treated as an “accepted official document”. However, he said it had been circulated among members of the GCB. “We have certain reservations about the conduct of the IPL,” Skjoldhammer told Cricinfo. “But these are not so much against IPL as with Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the way in which they left us to deal with IPL on our own. We are in discussions and I am confident that the issue will be resolved.”

When contacted, Modi dismissed the GCB’s allegations as “completely baseless” and referred to the “clean stadium agreement” that the IPL had signed, which gives the league complete control of the venue, including ticketing and parking. “The IPL has enjoyed close and wonderful cooperation with CSA and officials in the seven other provinces in the country where our matches were staged,” he told Cricinfo.

Gerald Majola, the CSA chief executive, said the South African cricket board has dismissed Gauteng’s allegations against the IPL and are awaiting an apology from the GCB in this regard.

The Gauteng document, which runs to 35 pages including annexures, points to a series of disagreements between the GCB and IPL on a number of issues, ranging from parking spaces, pouring (alcohol) rights, hospitality requirements and ticket prices. “We have been exposed to multiple threats and accusations of dishonesty and lying,” it says. “The IPL’s total disregard of ethics, manners and responsible negotiations protocols reflects an arrogant disregard of their status as guests in South Africa and guests of the South African cricket community.”

The document claims that “the most serious of all issues” was “Modi’s attempts to take control of the entire Stadium operation for the Semi-Final and Final, regardless of the cost or disruption”. It thanks the Gauteng provincial government and Johannesburg City Council for “assisting in what was a potentially catastrophic situation around the parking allocations, which had the potential to spill over into major tragedy along the lines of the Ellis Park disaster… if we had not been able to deal with this threat, GCB would have had no option but to have refused to allow the Semi Final to take place.”

The document suggests, for instance, that the tussle for parking space between Gauteng and the IPL was yet to be resolved with just hours to go for the semi-final between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Chennai Super Kings at the Wanderers on May 23.

The GCB’s biggest complaint against the IPL appears to be the manner in which it claims it has been misled on the requirement of parking during the semi-final and final. The internal document reproduces detailed email exchanges between Sundar Raman, the IPL CEO, and GCB in this regard and concludes: “When their demands for a re-allocation of the parking to which they had previously agreed in writing were rejected, the IPL initially put forward patently false claims that their demands were necessary for security reasons arising from the visit to the Final of President (Jacob) Zuma.

“When these claims were refuted by GCB on the strength of information given to us by the Presidential Security Unit and by the responsible arm of the SAP, the IPL simply persisted in its demands and threatened to disrupt the operational security and efficiency of the semi-final and the final unless its demands were met.”

The document ends with what appears to be a direct, personal attack against Modi. “With specific regard to any future dealings with the IPL and Commissioner Modi, in whatever capacity, the Board should be mindful of his unacceptable personal behaviour in a variety of different ways.”

The GCB document also accuses Majola of adopting “a consistently sycophantic attitude towards the IPL’s demands and his total disregard of the rights of the provinces and their supporters”. “We have also been dismayed by the politicizing of the IPL and GCB disagreements by the President of CSA Dr Mtutuzeli Nyoka,” the document states.

Majola said the CSA’s members forum, comprising all CSA affiliates, dismissed the criticisms by GCB against the management of the 2009 IPL by CSA, the IPL and the BCCI. “They [GCB] were instructed to apologise to all these parties and as yet no apology has been forthcoming,” he told Cricinfo. “GCB has called for a dispute with CSA to be declared, and this has pushed the matter into the legal arena and will be dealt with by CSA’s management committee.”

Wentzel, the GCB treasurer, says in the document that the purpose “of this report is to give Board members an overview of our dealings with the IPL and CSA over the period leading up to and during the hosting of the IPL tournament in South Africa. Many issues have arisen in regard to which the Board will need to make policy and operational decisions for future events of this nature where cricket is played at our Stadium outside the control of existing national and international structures.”
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South Africa off-spinner Johan Botha took three wickets to lead his team to a 12-run win over India on Tuesday, their fifth World Twenty20 victory in a row.

The South Africans, already through to the semi-finals, denied eliminated India a consolation victory with another clinical performance despite only scoring a modest 130 for five.

They restricted India to 118 for eight thanks to excellent bowling from the spinners.

Defending champions India, who lost all three second-round matches to West Indies, England and South Africa, reached 48 without loss in the seventh over but then lost wickets regularly. Opener Rohit Sharma top-scored with 29.

Graeme Smith’s South Africans will play Pakistan in Thursday’s semi-final at Nottingham. Sri Lanka and West Indies meet in the second semi-final at The Oval on Friday with a Lord’s final awaiting the winners on Sunday.

The South African slow bowlers strangled the Indian batsmen with Botha’s miserly figures matched by fellow spinner Roelof van der Merwe who took one for 14 from his four overs.

South Africa struggled in their innings.

Only AB de Villiers, with 63 from 51 deliveries, played the Indian bowlers with confidence, although Smith’s run-a-ball 26 gave the innings good early momentum.

South Africa rested Jacques Kallis, their top run-scorer in the competition, because of a sore back but he should return on Thursday.

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