Parnell, Steyn heroics not enough
Posted Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 19:12 © MWP
Wayne Parnell and Dale Steyn shared a ninth-wicket stand of 65 in 6.2 overs as South Africa fell one run short of beating India in the first one-day international in Jaipur on Sunday.
With South Africa chasing 299 and the top-order failing, it called for a Jacques Kallis special and the stand-in captain responded with a courageous 89 off 97 balls. But it was the partnership between Parnell and Steyn that took the biscuit after Kallis's dismissal left them staggering on 225 for eight after 43 overs.
Parnell was content to nurdle the ball around and showed great composure and patience in making 49 off 47 balls, and with Steyn blasting 35 off 19 balls, South Africa very nearly sneaked in at the death to steal the spoils.
Sixes by both Parnell and Steyn in the penultimate over bowled by Ashish Nehra ushered in a superb conclusion with South Africa needing 10 off the last over, and India bringing back Praveen Kumar to bowl it.
India celebrated wildly when Praveen bowled a splendid slower, leg-roller to bowl Steyn, but Charl Langeveldt managed a hook for three and hard-running and a wide meant three was needed off the last ball. Parnell sliced it to third man and could not make it back for a second run to tie as Shanthakumaran Sreesanth fielded, threw the ball in quickly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni did well to break the stumps from some way out.
"One run would have made all the made all the difference, but credit must go to the guys," stand-in captain Jacques Kallis said.
"We lost a lot of wickets when we probably didn't need to and put ourselves under pressure at the end."
While the tail-end heroics almost got South Africa out of jail, they should not obscure the fact that the top-order -- Kallis apart -- had failed to do their job. Too many of them played themselves in and were then dismissed playing low-return, high-risk strokes.
Herschelle Gibbs could have been out twice in the first eight deliveries, surviving a confident lbw appeal against Praveen and a catch behind off Nehra before he had scored. He survived to seriously injure Sreesanth's morale by taking 17 runs off his first over and South Africa were in a strong position on 56 without loss after eight overs.
But Loots Bosman, who was starting to get into his stride with 29 off 23 balls, couldn't stay put at the crease, backed away to leg and was bowled by a good-length Praveen delivery.
Gibbs departed to jeers shortly afterwards as he charged at young left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and was caught at long-off for 27.
Kallis and AB de Villiers provided some cheer for South Africa with a stand of 45 in eight overs, but De Villiers lost his head in trying to wriggle off the hook Jadeja had him on, trying to hack a full, straight delivery square on the off side and being unceremoniously bowled for 25 off 23 balls.
The umpires then made South Africa's life hell with two contentious decisions. Alviro Petersen (nine), coming back for a second run to third man, was adjudged to have not grounded his bat by TV umpire Sanjay "Hazy-Eyes" Hazare although replays were inconclusive. It was, however, a top-class throw by Sreesanth.
Nehra then won an lbw decision against Albie Morkel (two), but he was sure he had managed to get a bit of bat on to the ball before it skidded on to his pad.
At 142 for five after 28 overs, it called for something special from Kallis and he batted through to the 43rd over with an air of serenity despite wickets continuing to fall all around him.
The hill South Africa had to climb became steeper as Sreesanth had Mark Boucher (five) caught behind edging a cut and local hero Yusuf Pathan trapped a sweeping Johan Botha lbw for 10.
Kallis, though, marched on as he six fours and a six, before he missed a pull at Sreesanth and was bowled.
Parnell had already shared an eighth-wicket stand of 45 in eight overs with Kallis and he continued to make good on the faith former coach Mickey Arthur showed in him when he called the left-hander a future allrounder.
Steyn made a convincing argument of his own that he could aspire to such status as he blazed three sixes, but the two unlikely batting heroes fell just the agonising single run short.
Jadeja was the most impressive of the Indian bowlers with two for 29 in 10 superb overs and the worthy recipient of the man of the match award.
"When there are so many runs needed and when the number eight and nine batsmen are at the crease, you don't really expect your best bowlers to get hit the way they did," India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.
"Credit must go to the batsmen, but I'm sure we would do better in the next game if the conditions are the same," he added.
Kallis picked up three wickets in the Indian innings in another gold-star effort by the great all-rounder, who claimed his 250th wicket in ODIs and became the first man score 10 000 runs and take 250 wickets in both tests and ODIs.
The stand-in captain shut down the Indian batsmen to great effect in two spells, coming on in the 20th over and taking one for 22 in five overs, and then claiming two for seven in two overs from the 44th.
Kallis had earlier won the toss and elected to field first and South Africa made an early and major breakthrough when Sachin Tendulkar was run out for four. Tendulkar came charging down the pitch after Virender Sehwag had played a cavalier back-foot drive, but Sehwag was the caller and he knew he had mistimed the stroke and had also spotted Gibbs closing in, the fielder gently lobbing the ball to bowler Wayne Parnell to run out Tendulkar.
Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik then added 79 in 12.3 overs before another run out and, again, Sehwag had no fault in the dismissal. Karthik drove Charl Langeveldt straight, the bowler got fingertips to the ball and Sehwag, backing up, was stranded when the ball ricocheted into the stumps, run out for 46 off 37 deliveries.
Langeveldt then terminated Karthik's innings, the batsman adding just 13 more runs before he hooked at a bouncer that had more pace behind it and was caught at mid-on for 44.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also looking dangerous as he went to 26 off 29 balls, but Kallis ended his innings with a slower ball that was driven to mid-off.
Gibbs made his mark on his return to the national side by leading an excellent fielding display and he took a gem of a catch off Albie Morkel, diving low to his right at short midwicket, to remove Virat Kohli for 31.
Yusuf Pathan launched Parnell for a massive six over wide long-on in his 18 off 13 balls, but the left-arm paceman had the final word when a slower ball drew a leading edge from Pathan and he was caught at extra cover.
India were 231 for six in the 40th over, but the home side's batting line-up is long and Suresh Raina was still at the crease. The 23 year old is a dangerous batsman in limited-overs cricket and Raina and Ravindra Jadeja took India to 260 in the next four overs before Kallis brought them to heel.
The old team of Mark Boucher catching behind the stumps and Kallis doing the bowling dismissed both Raina (58 off 63 balls) and Jadeja (22 off 20).
Praveen Kumar (13) and Ashish Nehra (16*) took India through to the allotted 50 overs, with Nehra enjoying two moments of outrageous good fortune.
The first came before he had scored and Johan Botha threw down the stumps from deep mid-on. Nehra certainly wasn't a mile out and a subdued appeal by the South Africans was not referred by the umpire, with TV replays showing Nehra was, in, fact, marginally short of his ground.
The second came when Langeveldt, who also enjoyed a great night with the ball with one for 48 in 10 overs, yorked him, the ball cannoning into off stump but not dislodging a bail, and instead running away for four runs.
While Kallis and Langeveldt were the stars with the ball, Parnell, Morkel and Botha were less secure and conceded a flurry of runs.
Dale Steyn was excellent at the death and conceded just 46 runs in his 10 overs.
Teams
South Africa - Herschelle Gibbs, Loots Bosman, Jacques Kallis (capt), AB de Villiers, Alviro Petersen, Albie Morkel, Mark Boucher (wk), Johan Botha, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt.
Additional quotes from Reuters
